Dr. Luiz Rocha​ is Follett Chair and Curator of Ichthyology at the California Academy of Sciences. His research centers on the evolution, phylogeography, biogeography, systematic, and community and behavioral ecology of coral reef fishes. This interdisciplinary research tests existing hypotheses (and proposes new ones) about what generates and maintains the extremely high biodiversity in tropical coral reefs. Rocha is a co-leader of the Academy’s Hope for Reefs initiative to explore, explain, and restore global coral reefs.