Dr. Garza is an assistant professor in the Division of Science and Environmental Policy at CSU Monterey Bay. He received my B.Sc. in Biology from CSU Los Angeles and his Ph.D. in Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology from UC Santa Barbara. He has also held postdoctoral positions with the USEPA Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program and the Center for Environmental Analysis at CSU Los Angeles. Prior to arriving at CSUMB he was a research ecologist with NOAA. As a NOAA scientist he served as a scientific liaison to and chief scientist for the USEPA Long Island Sound Study.
His research interests are in the area of marine landscape ecology. Currently he serves as Co-Director of the CSU COAST Geospatial Research, Education and Technology Network (GREAT). He uses GIS modeling and spatial statistics to study how habitat complexity can affect the relationship between physical forcing factors and patterns of species distribution and abundance in subtidal and intertidal marine communities. He also studies scale dependence in the relationship between physical forcing factors and patterns of species distribution and abundance.