Hector C. Miranda, Jr., Ph.D.
Acting Dean
Dr. Hector C. Miranda, Jr. assumed the role of interim dean of the Thomas F. Freeman Honors College in January of 2023. Dr. Miranda has served under three deans in the Honors College during the past 10 years, first as interim assistant dean, then as assistant dean.
During his early career years, Dr. Miranda worked as a naturalist studying the life history of the Philippine Eagle, one of the largest, rarest and most endangered birds of prey in the world. His work on the eagles and the rainforest was cited by National Geographic, and Der Spiegel in Germany. He led numerous expeditions in the remote jungles of the Philippines studying biogeography and molecular evolution in islands.
He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Cincinnati in 1997, where he worked on the molecular phylogenetics and biogeography of owls, a part of a large project supported by the John D. Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Grant to the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History & Science. Dr. Miranda also held several postdoctoral positions at the University of Cincinnati, and University of Michigan to do research on molecular phylogenetics and evolution of vertebrates. He spent some time at the Children’s Research Foundation in Cincinnati working on the molecular genetics of Gaucher's disease. He served as Science Director of the Philippine Eagle Foundation where he implemented novel programs in raptor ecology and conservation.
Dr. Miranda is a coauthor and one of the artists, for the book A Guide to the Birds of the Philippines, by Oxford University Press (2000), and has published more than 30 peer-reviewed papers, including authorship and co-authorship in many prominent book chapters, such as Avian Molecular Evolution and Systematics (Academic Press), The Eagle Watchers (Cornell University Press), and the Handbook of the Birds of the World,Vol.13 (Lynx Ediciones, Spain).
Before coming to TSU, Dr. Miranda was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Rollins College. He came to TSU in 2005 and introduced many novel courses, including evolutionary biology, conservation biology, and bioinformatics. He was a co-investigator of a NASA - funded Center for Biotechnology and Environmental Research. His recent research is focused on the phylogenetics of birds and rodents, phylogenomics of pheasants, and metagenomics of microbial environmental samples.
Dr. Miranda served as Interim Assistant Dean of the Honors College in 2013, then as Assistant Dean in 2018, where he focused mainly on undergraduate research and learning. He created the Freeman Research Journal, an open access digital journal dedicated to showcase the scholarly work of Freeman scholars for the global audience. As the Interim Dean of the Honors College, he manages all the affairs of the College and continues to oversee the senior thesis program.
Phone: 713-313-6720 Fax: 713-313-6772 Email: hector.miranda@tsu.edu