Ira Rubinoff

Research centered on evolution of isolating mechanism among marine populations. Also, engaged in studies of diving behavior in sea-snakes. Most of his career has been devoted to science administration of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama including the management of the Barro Colorado Nature Monument as a reserve for rainforest research.

He also developed the first marine laboratories on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of Panama and other innovative research facilities including the first use of construction cranes to access the canopy of forests for research purposes and the establishment of the Smithsonian's Global Environmental Facility -- a network of  large scale forest plots in over 60 forest research plots across the Americas, Africa, Asia and Europe monitoring the growth and survival of approximately 6 million trees and 10,000 species that occur in these plots.

He is currently Director Emeritus of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and is working on a memoir of his experience of more than 50 years at the Smithsonian Institution.