Iliana Baums | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 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]