My name is Stephen Baca. I was born and raised in Gallup, a small town in western New Mexico abutting the Navajo Nation. Since I was a child I had a fascination with the natural world, especially anything that crawled on the ground. My journey to become an entomologist and evolutionary biologist was non-traditional. After leaving college and taking some time in the workforce, I went back to community college and eventually found my way back to biology. I completed my undergraduate work at the University of New Mexico and went to the University of Kansas (KU) for graduate studies. I completed an NIH-IRACDA postdoctoral fellowship, conducting research with the Moyle lab of Avian systematics at KU and teaching at Haskell Indian Nations University. I now continue my work in studying the complexities of aquatic insect diversity and evolution and applying my skillset to other systems as an assistant professor in the LSU AgCenter department of Entomology.  

See my CV and select media and visit the links below to learn more about me and my journey.