Michelle María Early Capistrán is a Cultural Anthropologist and Marine Scientist (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 2021). She is currently a visiting scientist at the Mathematical Ecology Lab at CICESE in Ensenada, Mexico. Her transdisciplinary research focuses on integrating local ecological knowledge and marine ecology to improve conservation outcomes. She is the Associate Director of the Next Generation Sonoran Desert Researchers since 2016, promoting research, collaboration, and outreach across borders.