Rate My Professor Lotanna Micah Nneji

Lotanna Micah Nneji, PhD, serves as Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at Howard University, where he directs the Nneji Ecology, Genetics, Evolution and Conservation (NEGEC) Lab. His research examines the evolution, systematics, biogeography, phylogenetics, comparative genomics, and trophic ecology of tropical fauna, with a focus on the diversity, distribution, adaptation patterns, and conservation status of amphibians, reptiles, and fish in tropical regions. Employing integrated approaches including field surveys, morphological analyses, ecological modeling, and genetic techniques, Nneji investigates evolutionary processes shaping tropical wildlife diversification and the effects of human activities and climate change on their biodiversity. Nneji earned his PhD in Genetics from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2018, MSc in Zoology (Ecology and Environmental Biology) from the University of Ibadan in 2015, and BSc in Biology from the University of Abuja in 2011. His academic journey includes a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship at Princeton University's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from 2021 to 2023, and a postdoctoral position at the Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, from 2018 to 2020. Earlier roles encompass teaching assistantships and graduate assistance in Nigeria.

Nneji has garnered major awards including the Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship at Princeton University, Chinese Government Scholarship for his PhD, and recognitions as best graduating student at the University of Ibadan, University of Abuja, and Federal Polytechnic Oko. He has secured extensive funding from organizations such as National Geographic, Rufford Foundation, Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, Conservation Leadership Programme, and PADI Foundation for projects conserving threatened Nigerian species like the Niger stingray, Ondo Forest gecko, and montane herpetofauna. Key publications include 'First Chromosome-level Genome Assembly and Annotation of the Smooth Stingray (Fontitrygon garouaensis)' (2026, Scientific Data), 'Cryptic diversity of Nigerian Agama within West African Radiation' (2017, Russian Journal of Herpetology), 'DNA barcoding of economically important fish species of North-Central Nigeria uncovers cryptic lineages' (2018, Ecology and Evolution), 'Assessing the effectiveness of molecular data for species identification and diversity studies of Nigerian herpetofauna' (2019, Mitochondrial DNA Part B), and 'Earthworm-assisted bioremediation of petroleum hydrocarbon-contaminated soils' (2016, Bioremediation Journal). At Howard, his students have received the Ecological Society of America's 2026 Graduate Student Policy Award.