Presenters & Moderators

Dr. Mario Gil is an Assistant Professor in the UTRGV Department of Psychological Science, with a joint appoint in the UTRGV School of Medicine Neuroscience Institute/Department of Neuroscience, and he holds a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Florida State University. He is an academic scientist with 15 years of experience in animal behavior research. His main research focus is social and reproductive neuroscience. He teaches an Animal Behavior course (PSYC 3383) and other related courses.

Dr. Patrick M Burchfield has worked professionally in the zoo and animal management field for more than 60 years. He has a background working with a wide variety of Endangered species and has developed breeding programs for many of them. He has a background with venomous snakes and snakebite treatment and antiserum production and helped to establish the Clodomiro Picado Institute in Costa Rica in the late 1960’s.

In addition to his responsibilities as Executive Director of Gladys Porter Zoo, he has headed up the US Field Assistance Group for the Binational Kemp’s ridley sea turtle recovery program in Mexico for the last 40 years.

Ashley Grady is a junior at UTRGV pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology, and is a Primate Keeper at the Gladys Porter Zoo caring for great apes, old world monkeys, new world monkeys, and lemurs. Originally from Florida, she earned her Associate's Degree in Zoo Animal Technology back in 2018 from the Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo. She has been in Brownsville for a little over two years now working with the Gladys Porter Zoo, and her project showcased at the symposium is focused on the interactions of two lemur species that reside on the same island and the potential for aggressive tendencies around feeding times, non-feeding times or both between the two species.

Patricia Scanlan is a Brownsville native and mother of one, and has always known she wanted to work with animals, therefore gravitated towards courses such as Animal Science, Biology, and Animal Behavior. As many students do, her major shifted a few times during her time as an undergrad, eventually settling on what would be a multidisciplinary approach to her career. Patricia graduated from The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (2018) with a Bachelor's in Liberal Arts - Multidisciplinary Studies with a concentration in Anthropology & History. She is currently pursuing a Master's of Liberal Arts in Anthropology Degree with concentrations in Animal Behavior (PSYC) and Art History.

She began with Gladys Porter Zoo back in 2003 as their Senior Aquarist, later moving into reptiles as the demolition and construction of the new Russel Aquatic Center began. In approximately 2014-2015, she took on the role of Enrichment and Training Coordinator marking her entry into zoo-wide animal welfare. Currently, Patricia serves as Gladys Porter Zoo’s Curator of Behavioral Husbandry where she strives to promote and maximize the overall well-being, both physical and mental, of the animals within the zoo's care in compliance with Gladys Porter Zoo, USDA, and Association of Zoos and Aquariums standards and guidelines.

Linda M. Salinas is a 2008 graduate from the University of Texas at Pan American where she earned a BA in Social Studies. In 2016, she attended Texas A&M Kingsville and earned her MS in Educational Technology.

She is a passionate innovator with Harlingen CISD with over twelve years of experience in designing and implementing engaging learning experiences for students at the secondary level. Salinas has been recognized with: Humanities Texas Outstanding Teaching of the Humanities, HCISD Secondary Teacher of the Year, PBS Learning Media Digital Innovator, Dr. Cano Freshman Academy Teacher of the Year, and HCISD Teacher of the Week. She was a guest blogger for TASA's Vision in Practice and a guest moderator for #TxEduChat on Twitter. Salinas currently serves as a Project Lead the Way teacher at STEM² Preparatory Academy where she focuses on the engineering design process while teaching courses such as Flight and Space, Design and Modeling, and Automation and Robotics.

Joseph Caleb Cantu is a 2nd year student in the Clinical Psychology program at UTRGV. He graduated in 2019 with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology, with a minor in Rehabilitation. In his undergrad, Caleb had previously been a part of Dr. Yu-Cheng Lin's Cognitive Science of Language & Education Lab, and is currently part of Dr. Gil's Behavior & Systems Neuroscience Lab, as well as Dr. Montiel-Nava's Child Developmental Lab. His interests lie in neuropsychology, cognitive psychology, and psychopathology. After graduation, he plans on obtaining his LPC and eventually his PsycD in Clinical Psychology.