Iliana Baums | |
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Alma mater | University of Miami |
Scientific career | |
Institutions | Pennsylvania State University |
Thesis | Genetic status of the Caribbean reef-building coral, Acropora palmata (2004) |
Iliana B. Baums is a professor at Pennsylvania State University known for her work on coral reef ecology.
Baums' education began at the University of Tuebingen and the University of Bremen. She earned a Ph.D. from the University of Miami in 2004, where her dissertation received the F.G. Walton prize for best dissertation. [1] In 2017 and 2018 Baums was a fellow at the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany. [2] [3] Baums joined the Pennsylvania State University in 2006 [2] and, as of 2022, is a professor in the department of biology. [1]
Baums' early research examined the genetic diversity in Elkhorn coral [4] [5] and the use of genetic tools to aid restoration efforts in coral reefs. [6] She has used genetic tools to track the distribution of Porites lobata , [7] Porites astreoides , [8] and the connections between corals and the organisms that live within the coral tissue. [9] [10] Following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Baums investigated the impact of the dispersant on deep-sea corals in the Gulf of Mexico. [11] [12] Baums' research has revealed that when corals mutate, they are able to pass on beneficial mutations to the next generation [13] and she has dated elkhorn corals found in the Caribbean to more than 5000 years old. [14] [15]