Kent E. Carpenter

Dr. Kent E. Carpenter is a professor of biological sciences at Old Dominion University , in Norfolk, Virginia who is notable for having two fish species named in his honor, Paracheilinus carpenteri Randall and Lubbock, 1981, known as "Carpenter's Flasher Wrasse", and Meganthias carpenteri Anderson, 2006, known as Carpenter's Yellowtop Jewelfish.

Dr, Carpenter earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Marine Biology at Florida Institute of Technology and his Doctor of Philosophy degree in Zoology at the University of Hawaii. His research emphasis is in the systematics and evolution of marine fishes. His work in marine biogeography for the Indian and West Pacific Oceans has led to work in marine conservation and comparative phylogeography using population genetics, with a special interest in the Philippines.

He is also a long-term collaborator with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Species Identification and Data Programme for Fisheries, producing identification guides for regions such as the western Pacific, western Atlantic, and eastern Atlantic oceans. He has done fieldwork in the Caribbean, West Africa, and the Philippines. In addition to research and teaching responsibilities, he is also the Coordinator for the IUCN Global Marine Species Assessment, completing the first global review of every marine vertebrate species, and of selected marine invertebrates and marine plants, to determine conservation status and possible extinction risk for approximately 20,000 marine species.