Michael Ceballos

After serving three years as a Chemistry and Physics instructor at a tribal college in western Montana, Michael Ceballos moved his research activities to The University of Montana where he established the Native American Research Laboratories (NARL). During 2007, this new research center opened its doors to provide “hands-on” research opportunities and advanced laboratory training for indigenous students and faculty from across the Nations. Michael Ceballos serves as a Research Assistant Professor in the Division of Biological Sciences at The University of Montana and directs the NARL. Ceballos is completing his Ph.D. in Integrative Microbiology and Biochemistry.

The focus of Michael Ceballos’ work in astrobiology at The University of Montana

With funding from both the National Science Foundation and NASA, his lab focuses on studying heat-shock proteins in hyperthermoacidophilic archaea as well as host protein-viral protein interactions. His laboratory also studies protein-protein and protein-nucleic acid interactions in lentiviral systems. Ceballos spends time mentoring more than eight undergraduate researchers in his lab on projects in microbiology, molecular/cellular biology, biochemistry, and biophysics.

Ceballos completed his bachelor’s degree in Physics/Math at The University of Alabama in Huntsville in 1994 where he concurrently worked for the Boeing Company on the NASA Space Station project. He later completed a master’s degree in Neuroscience at The University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Ceballos’s paternal family is full-blood Tepehuan while his maternal family is descended from the Choctaw and Cherokee tribes. His paternal grandfather’s family left their homelands to work on the Santa Fe railroad during the early 1900’s and later settled in southern California. Ceballos was born in San Diego, California but has lived in the southeastern United States, Mexico, and Honduras. He is the first in his family to obtain an advanced degree and hopes to encourage other Native scholars to pursue interests in the sciences and mathematics. Ceballos speaks often at national conferences and workshops about the rich history of science in pre-colonial America and how Native people can again become leaders in science and engineering.

For more information about The University of Montana Native American Research Laboratories, please visit http://www.umt.edu/narl or email Michael Ceballos at rmichael.ceballos@umontana.edu.

Michael Ceballos’ student researchers