Cristián Samper
Encyclopedia
Cristián T. Samper Kutschbach (born September 25, 1965) is a Colombian-American biologist
Biologist
A biologist is a scientist devoted to and producing results in biology through the study of life. Typically biologists study organisms and their relationship to their environment. Biologists involved in basic research attempt to discover underlying mechanisms that govern how organisms work...

 and Director of the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...

's National Museum of Natural History. He was acting secretary of the Smithsonian from 2007 to 2008, the first Latin American to hold the position.

Career

Samper graduated in 1987 from the University of the Andes
University of the Andes, Colombia
The University of the Andes , is a coeducational, nonsectarian private university located in city centre Bogotá, Colombia. Founded in 1948, the University has 9 faculties: Administration, Architecture and Design, Arts and Humanities, Sciences, Social Sciences, Law, Economics, Engineering and...

 in Bogotá
Bogotá
Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...

, Colombia, with a B.Sc.
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...

 in Biology. He then moved to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 to attend Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

, where he graduated in 1989 with a M.Sc.
Master of Science
A Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences including the social sciences.-Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay:...

, and received his Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

 in Biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...

 in 1992 with his dissertation Natural disturbance and plant establishment in an Andean cloud forest.

Back in Colombia, he participated and collaborated with the creation of the Colombian Ministry of Environment
Ministry of Environment, Housing and Territorial Development
The Ministry of Environment, Housing and Territorial Development , is the national executive ministry of the Government of Colombia charged with determining and regulating the standards and guidelines for the protection of the environment, the improvement and availability of potable water, and the...

 in 1993, and was successful in conceiving the Alexander von Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute
Alexander von Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute
The Alexander von Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute , sometimes referred to simply as the Humbold Institute, is an independent non-regulatory research institute of the Executive Branch of the Government of Colombia charged with conducting scientific research on the biodiversity of...

, a public funded research institute of which he became its first Director from 1995 to 2001. In 1999 he was appointed Chairman of the Subsidiary Body of Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 Convention on Biological Diversity
Convention on Biological Diversity
The Convention on Biological Diversity , known informally as the Biodiversity Convention, is an international legally binding treaty...

, a post he held until 2001. He was Deputy Director and staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, the only bureau of the Smithsonian Institution based outside of the United States, is dedicated to understanding biological diversity. What began in 1923 as small field station on Barro Colorado Island in the Panama Canal Zone has developed...

 in Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...

.

Since 2003, Samper has been the Director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History
National Museum of Natural History
The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. Admission is free and the museum is open 364 days a year....

 in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

, and served as the Smithsonian's Acting Secretary in 2007 and 2008. In 2006, he made some controversial changes to an exhibit at the National Museum of Natural History
National Museum of Natural History
The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. Admission is free and the museum is open 364 days a year....

 on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a national wildlife refuge in northeastern Alaska, United States. It consists of in the Alaska North Slope region. It is the largest National Wildlife Refuge in the country, slightly larger than the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge...

, "Seasons of Life and Land".

Samper is on the board of the Nature Conservancy and the World Wildlife Fund.

Personal life

Samper was born on September 25, 1965 in San José, Costa Rica
San José, Costa Rica
San José is the capital and largest city of Costa Rica. Located in the Central Valley, San José is the seat of national government, the focal point of political and economic activity, and the major transportation hub of this Central American nation.Founded in 1738 by order of Cabildo de León, San...

, the youngest child of Armando Samper Gnecco
Armando Samper Gnecco
Armando Samper Gnecco was a Colombian agronomist and engineer. He served as Minister of Agriculture of Colombia, was a founding member and first Director of the International Center for Tropical Agriculture, General Director of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture , Dean of...

, an Agronomist and Economist from Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

, and Jean Kutschbach, an American from New York State. He was raised in Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

, the country of his father, Armando Samper, from one year of age. His other siblings were Marta, Belén, and Mario. In 2002 he married Adriana Casas Isaza, an environmental law
Environmental law
Environmental law is a complex and interlocking body of treaties, conventions, statutes, regulations, and common law that operates to regulate the interaction of humanity and the natural environment, toward the purpose of reducing the impacts of human activity...

yer from Colombia with whom he has two children, Carolina (b. 2006), and Martín (b. 2009).

External links

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