Rate My Professor Maria C. Esposito

Maria Cristina Esposito is a Professor Titular at the Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA), where she has been affiliated since 1993. She holds a bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences (Bacharelado and Licenciatura) from the Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) obtained in 1985, a master's degree in Ecology from UNICAMP completed in 1991, and a doctorate in Biological Sciences with a specialization in Entomology from the Universidade Federal do Amazonas (UFAM) and the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA) awarded in 1999. Her doctoral research focused on the fauna of blow flies (Diptera, Calliphoridae) in the Amazon region, including studies in Caxiuanã and Portel, Pará.

Throughout her career at UFPA, Esposito served as coordinator of the Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zoologia (PPGZOOL) under the UFPA-Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi agreement from 2002 to 2004 and of the Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia (PPGECO) under the UFPA-Embrapa agreement from 2015 to 2017. She was Associate Director of the Instituto de Ciências Biológicas at UFPA from 2010 to 2013 and Director of International Academic Mobility at the Pró-Reitoria de Relações Internacionais from 2019 to 2022. Her research centers on zoology and insect ecology, with emphasis on the taxonomy and ecology of Diptera, community inventories of flies, biodiversity conservation, and the use of insects as bioindicators of environmental impacts. She has supervised students in graduate programs in zoology and ecology and contributed to professional master's programs in biology teaching. Esposito was a CNPq Research Fellow (Level 2) from 2014 to 2023 and continues as a voluntary collaborator following her retirement in December 2022. Her work has advanced understanding of Amazonian insect communities and their roles in biodiversity assessment.