Dominican historian Frank Moya Pons has been awarded the prestigious title of “National Scientific Researcher” for 2024 by the National Council for Higher Education, Science and Technology (Conescyt) under the Ministry of Higher Education (Mecyst). This recognition highlights lifelong Moya Pons’ significant contributions to the research and dissemination of Dominican history. Moya Pons was the first Minister of Environment to implement Environmental Law 64-00. As part of the award, Moya Pons will receive a cash prize of one million Dominican pesos.
Upon making the announcement, Conescyt president and Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Franklin García Fermín, lauded Moya Pons’ intellectual prowess, describing him as one of the Dominican Republic’s most active intellectuals. García Fermín emphasized Moya Pons’ extensive research on Dominican history, spanning from the Spanish colonial period to the present day, and his unwavering commitment to ethical principles.
Joining Moya Pons in this year’s honors are distinguished scholars from various scientific fields, including the social sciences, humanities, and arts. Other awardees this year are Pedro Antonio Núñez Ramos in Agrofood Sciences, Ramón Delanoy de la Cruz in Physics and Chemistry, Martín Medrano in Health Sciences, Néstor Francisco Guerrero in Engineering and Related Fields, Odalis Pérez in Social Sciences, Humanities, and Related Fields, Víctor Gómez Valenzuela in Biochemistry, Environmental Sciences, and Biology, and posthumously, Monseñor Agripino Núñez Collado, Príamo Rodríguez Castillo, and José Rafael Abinader Wasaf.
Born in La Vega in 1944, Frank Moya Pons is one of the Dominican Republic’s leading contemporary historians. His extensive body of work includes the publications “Manual de Historia Dominicana” (1992), “Between Slavery and Free Labor: The Spanish” (1988), “The Dominican Republic: A National History,” and “History of the Caribbean: Plantations, Trade, and War in the Atlantic World” (2007).
Moya Pons received his PhD in Latin American History and Economic Development from Columbia University in New York. For years he was a professor of Latin American History at Columbia University and of Caribbean History at the University of Florida. He has also taught Dominican History at the Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, in Santiago. He was director of investigations at the Institute of Dominican Studies at The City College of the City University of New York (CUNY), and director of research for the Fund for the Advancement of Microenterprises, FondoMicro, in Santo Domingo.
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MESCYT
Acento
Global Foundation
5 August 2024