Dr. Megan Wise de Valdez is Chair of the Department of Natural Sciences and Professor of Biology at Texas A&M University–San Antonio, where she has been a faculty member since 2010. She began as the university’s first full-time biologist and founding coordinator of the Biology program, later serving as interim chair of Life Sciences and now chair of a merged department that includes Biology, Chemistry, and Water Resources. Over the years, she has also held leadership roles in faculty governance, including Faculty Senate President. Her research focuses on urban mosquito ecology and vector-borne disease, often involving undergraduate and graduate student collaborators. She is a 2022 Minnie Stevens Piper Professor and a graduate of the HERS Leadership Institute.