Claire Williams
B.S., Geology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2020
Supervisor |
Claire Williams is a PhD student at the Jackson School of Geosciences. She has a B.S. in Geology and in Integrative Biology and a minor in Chemistry from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She is a biologist turned paleobiologist interested in conservation paleobiology.
Claire's dissertation combines fossil reef analysis, modern ecological monitoring, and ecological niche modeling to inform conservation strategies in the Caribbean. She have worked extensively in Portland, Jamaica, collaborating with a recently established marine protected area (the Alligator Head Foundation) establishing baseline conditions. She investigates how the reef community varies with time and space and incorporates how the community is being impacted by coastal pollution, ocean warming, and acidification in the area. She is a conservation paleobiologist at heart, so Claire also analyzed community change and established goals for future restoration using fossil and modern reef surveys.
The last chapter of Claire's dissertation uses ENM trained on both Holocene and modern coral occurrences to project habitat suitability for key reef builders (e.g., Acropora palmata) under future RCP scenarios. The models reveal future refugia, and areas where modern-only models fail to detect potential habitats, highlighting the value of paleo-informed modeling.
2024 Jackson Fellowship in Geohydrology - Jackson School of Geosciences (2024)
BIES Summer Research Travel Fellowship - British Irish and Empire Studies (2024)
ICRS Ruth Gates Fellowship Honorable Mention - International Coral Reef Society (2023)
Conservation Paleobiology Network Student Travel Grant - Conservation Paleobiology Network (2023)
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program - NSF (2022)
Whitney Endowed Presidential Scholarship - Jackson School of Geosciences (2022)
Society for the Study of Evolution Small Grants Program for Local and Regional Outreach Promoting the Understanding of Evolutionary Biology - Society for the Study of Evolution (2022)
Lerner-Gray Memorial Fund of the American Museum of Natural History - American Museum of Natural History (2022)
GSA Graduate Student Research Grant - Geological Society of America (2022)
Paleontological Society Student Research Grant - Paleontological Society (2022)
University of Illinois Geology Senior of the Year - University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Geology (2020)
Jackson School of Geosciences Fellowship - Jackson School of Geosciences (2020 - 2021)
Delcomyn International Study in Biology Award - University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Integrative Biology (2019)
Conference Travel Grant - University of Illinois Office of Undergraduate Research (2019)
Neer Peer Mentor, NSF GEOPaths Go Jamaica, NSF GEOPaths Go Jamaica (2024)
Webinar Representative, Conservation Paleobiology Network Student Panel, Conservation Paleobiology Network (2023)
Integrating Fossil Data Improves Predictions of Future Habitat for Key Caribbean Reef Corals, North American Paleontological Congress, Ann Arbor, Michigan (2024)
Combining Environmental Monitoring and the Fossil Record to Support Coral Reef Management in the East Portland Special Fishery Conservation Area, Jamaica, Geological Society of America, Anaheim, California (2024)
Combining Environmental Monitoring and the Fossil Record to Support Coral Reef Management in the East Portland Special Fishery Conservation Area, Jamaica, National Conference on Ecosystem Restoration, Albuquerque, New Mexico (2024)
Reef Survivor Jamaica- Modification of an undergraduate geoscience board game for Jamaican communities (middle school children and adults), Earth Educators Rendezvous, Pasadena, California (2023)
Ecological Niche Modeling of Ecologically Important Caribbean Coral Species, Geological Society of America, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (2023)
Community Abundance And Environmental Monitoring To Support Coral Reef Management in East Portland Special Fishery Conservation Area, Jamaica, 2nd Conservation Paleobiology Symposium, Gainesville, Florida (2023)
Ecological niche modeling of prominent Caribbean coral species, XXI INQUA Congress 2023, Rome, Italy (2023)
Community Abundance Analysis to Support Coral Reef Management in East Portland Special Fishery Conservation Area, Jamaica, Geological Society of America, Denver, Colorado (2022)
Community Abundance Analysis to Support Coral Reef Management in East Portland Special Fishery Conservation Area, Jamaica, International Paleontological Congress, Khon Kaen, Thailand (2022)
Morphological Changes in Cyclocardia Granulata Following the Plio-Pleistocene Extinction in Virginia and North Carolina, Western Atlantic, Geological Society of America, Portland, Oregon (2021)