Faculty Profiles

Juan Aldana, Instructor

Education & Credentials:

• Doctor of Philosophy – Biology (emphasis in Plant Biology), 2018.
  University of Victoria. Victoria, British Columbia (Canada).
• Master of Science – Biological Sciences (emphasis in Evolutionary Biology), 2007.
  University of the Andes. Bogota (Colombia).
• Bachelor of Science – Biology, 2003.
  National University of Colombia. Bogota (Colombia).

Began teaching at MHC: 2021

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Dr. Juan A. Aldana has always been curious about the intricate mechanisms of Nature, which led him to pursue post-secondary studies in Science early in his life. As an undergraduate student, he did an Honor’s Thesis modeling physiology of weightlifting athletes. Then, Juan completed his Master’s degree working with tropical cactophilic Drosophila flies.

Juan’s passion for Science next led him to land a job at a then starting-up company in Vancouver in 2011. His work there resulted in a patent where he is one of the inventors (US Patent No. 9,510,572 B2). That same year, he started his Doctoral Degree in Victoria (British Columbia, Canada). During his spare time in the Doctoral program, Juan worked at a scientific journal (ISSN: 1755-0998). After receiving his Doctorate’s, he moved to Edmonton (Alberta, Canada) in 2019 where he did postdoctoral research at the University of Alberta. Dr. Aldana’s research interests are in the fields of Plant Biology and General Biology (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6226-4181).

Beyond Science, Juan’s other passion is education. He has been teaching in post-secondary institutions since 2004 both in Canada and Colombia. His teaching philosophy has a pedagogical purpose, where his goal is to sow the seed of curiosity in the students that will lead to a generation of rigorous graduates that use state-of-the-art technology, knowledge, and tools, but who also respect Nature and make a responsible use of it. Nature has always amazed Juan, and his curiosity and the need to share what he learns has shaped his teaching philosophy. Three pillars are part of Dr. Aldana’s teaching philosophy: i) curiosity encouragement, ii) critical thinking promotion, and iii) guidance.

On his spare time, Juan likes to spend it with his daughters and family. He also likes travelling, watching movies and documentaries.