Dra. Ligia Pérez Cruz

About Me

I am a senior researcher at the Institute of Geophysics at the National University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City. Since April 2017, I have been appointed as the Director of the UNAM Research Vessels, which operate the “Justo Sierra” and “El Puma”. The vessels have conducted oceanography and marine geophysics expeditions in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of California, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea.

I earned a bachelor’s degree in biology, which provided me with a valuable opportunity to gain a comprehensive understanding of the diversity and complexity of life’s evolution and the organisms that have inhabited the planet. Afterward, I began studying fossil microorganisms in sediment cores and bottom samples and subsequently expanded into other research endeavors. I hold an MSc degree in Marine Sciences from the National University, graduating with Summa Cum Laude honors. I spent two years working as a micropaleontologist and serving as Chair of the Scanning Electron Microscopy and Microanalysis Laboratory at the Mexican Institute of Petroleum (IMP). 

Later, I earned a Ph.D. in Marine Geology from UNAM, with Summa Cum Laude honors. For four years, I worked as a researcher in the Geophysical Exploration Division at the IMP, where I participated in the Drilling and MetOcean projects in the Gulf of Mexico.

My research is interdisciplinary, as I utilize various tools from micropaleontology, geochemistry, isotopes, sedimentology, and magnetic properties, focusing on marginal and axial basins. This involves drilling and coring, examining the water column and ocean currents, and conducting bathymetric surveys. 

I have been studying and exploring the Gulf of California, with a focus on paleoclimate and ocean variability, their mechanisms, and teleconnections. In 2019, I participated in IODP Expedition 385 on the JOIDES Resolution, which provided an excellent opportunity to study and understand the Guaymas Basin—its evolution, processes, and dynamics—in the Gulf and the tropical Pacific. I feel fortunate to have been part of the drilling expedition. International drilling programs offered exciting opportunities, and that one was an obvious choice for me.

I am also working on the Chicxulub impact crater, located on the Yucatan Platform, and mass extinctions, having participated in 2016 in the IODP Expedition 364 on the drillship L/B Myrtle and the ICDP drilling projects. They cover a wide range of themes, including studies of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum and other hyperthermal events during the Cenozoic Era. The significance of these studies lies in understanding how life recovered after a mass extinction and the consequences of global warming. 

I was the former president of the Mexican Geophysical Union (UGM), elected by my peers. In this role, I helped promote geosciences in Mexico and the Americas. The UGM Annual Meeting is the largest in Latin America, with over 1,000 participants. I served as Vice President (President-elect) of UGM (2016-2017) and Outreach Secretary of UGM (2012-2015). 

I was a member of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Cowen Award Committee (2008 -2014) and chair of the Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology section in the AGU-Joint Assembly (May 2013).  I served as the International Secretary of the AGU and was the North American Committee Chair for AGU’s Global Engagement Committee. I was also the international secretary of the AGU Board of Directors and a member of the AGU Executive Committee from 2021 to 2024. 

I am currently a UNESCO-IGCP Scientific Board member (since 2020).