Terrie Williams (scientist)

Williams grew up in New Jersey.{{Cite web |title=Terrie Williams |url=https://winsatnyu.wordpress.com/2015/05/14/terrie-williams/ |last=McHale |first=Alexandra |website=NYU Women in Science |date=May 14, 2015 |access-date=December 15, 2024 |language=en}} She earned both a master's degree and a PhD in ecophysiology and exercise physiology from Rutgers University.{{Cite web |title=Spotlight on Science Writers: Terrie Williams |url=https://www.aaas.org/news/spotlight-science-writers-terrie-williams |last=Fearnley |first=Kirstin |website=American Association for the Advancement of Science |date=August 6, 2015 |access-date=December 15, 2024 |language=en}} She completed her post-doctoral studies at the San Diego Zoological Society and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.{{Cite web |title=Terrie Williams Honored by The National Academy of Sciences |url=https://www.wiareport.com/2024/02/terrie-williams-receives-medal-from-national-academy-of-sciences/ |website=wiareport.com |date=February 8, 2024 |access-date=December 15, 2024 |language=en}} Williams was originally interested in medicine but decided to pursue degrees in exercise physiology upon realization that animals were capable of “extraordinary feats of athleticism and disease resistance” compared to humans.

Williams has studied Weddell seals across the course of her career, including how the seals navigate, searching for evidence of geomagnetic perception. Williams has also pioneered techniques on how to study wild seals without resorting to animal sedation.{{Cite magazine |title=Animal Trainers Gone Wild |url=https://hakaimagazine.com/news/animal-trainers-gone-wild/ |last=Lombardi |first=Linda |magazine=Hakai Magazine |date=February 13, 2018 |access-date=December 18, 2024 |language=en}} In addition to seals, Williams has studied both the diving physiology of both dolphins and narwhals, using sensors to measure the animals' heart rate, depth, and acceleration.{{Cite magazine |title=In the face of a threat, narwhals respond in just about the worst possible way |url=https://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-narwhal-freeze-flee-20171208-story.html |last=Khan |first=Amina |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=December 8, 2017 |access-date=December 19, 2024 |language=en}}{{Cite magazine |title=Some Dolphins Are Bad Divers |url=https://hakaimagazine.com/news/some-dolphins-are-bad-divers/ |last=Beurteaux |first=Danielle |magazine=Hakai Magazine |date=May 29, 2017 |access-date=December 20, 2024 |language=en}}

In the aftermath of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, Williams directed the Valdez Sea Otter Rescue Center, in addition to studying the spill's effects on other mammals and sea birds.{{Cite magazine |title=Exxon Valdez oil spill was a turning point for biologist Terrie Williams |url=https://news.ucsc.edu/2014/03/exxon-valdez.html |last=Stephens |first=Tim |website=University of California, Santa Cruz |date=March 24, 2014 |access-date=December 20, 2024 |language=en}}

In 2013, Williams wrote a book about efforts to save an abandoned monk seal entitled The Odyssey of KP2: An Orphan Seal, a Marine Biologist, and the Fight to Save a Species.{{Cite web |title=Marine Biologist Terrie Williams And The Inspiring "Odyssey Of KP2" |url=https://www.boisestatepublicradio.org/show/readers-corner/2016-08-26/marine-biologist-terrie-williams-and-the-inspiring-odyssey-of-kp2 |last=Kustra |first=Bob |website=Boise State Public Radio |date=August 26, 2016 |access-date=December 21, 2024 |language=en}} The seal was the youngest monk seal ever brought to the mainland United States. Bob Kustra praised the book for the insight it provided into the rescue efforts for a young seal.

After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Williams explored the connections between COVID's effects on people and the "many physiological adaptations that have enabled marine mammals to tolerate low oxygen levels during dives".{{Cite web |title=What dolphins can teach us about surviving COVID-19 |url=https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/what-dolphins-can-teach-us-about-surviving-covid-19 |last=Stephens |first=Tim |website=University of California |date=December 10, 2020 |access-date=December 21, 2024 |language=en}}

Williams is currently a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California Santa Cruz.{{cite press release |author= |title=Dogs, cats, and big-wave surfers: Healthy heart lessons from animals and athletes |url=https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-09/uoc--dca090115.php |publisher=Eurekalert |date=September 1, 2015 |access-date=December 20, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150918205535/https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-09/uoc--dca090115.php |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 18, 2015}} Williams co-founded the Center for Ocean Health at Long Marine Lab. She is also the director of the Center for Marine Mammal Research and Conservation at the University of California Santa Cruz.{{Cite web |title=Six Alumni Honored in Annual Awards Ceremony |url=https://sebsnjaesnews.rutgers.edu/2016/05/six-alumni-honored-in-annual-awards-ceremony/ |website=Rutgers University |date=May 6, 2016 |access-date=December 19, 2024 |language=en}}

• In 2002, Discover magazine recognized Williams as one of the 50 most important women in science for her work on the physiology of marine mammals{{Cite magazine |title=The 50 Most Important Women in Science |url=https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/the-50-most-important-women-in-science |last=Svitil |first=Kathy A. |magazine=Discover magazine |date=November 1, 2002 |access-date=December 20, 2024 |language=en}}
• In 2005, USGS Antarctic site designation 18777, Terrie Bluff on Ross Island, was named in honor of Williams for her research on Weddell seals{{sfn|Terrie Bluff USGS}}
• In 2007, Williams won the Women of Discovery Awards for her research into Weddell seals in the Antarctic{{cite news |title=Women Shaping History: Women of Valor |url=http://www.educationupdate.com/archives/2007/MAR/html/cov-womenofvalor.html |last=Baum |first=Joan |newspaper=Education Update |date=March 2007 |access-date=December 21, 2024}}
• In 2024, Williams received the Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal from the National Academy of Sciences for her work on marine mammal conservation

• The Hunter's Breath: On Expedition with the Weddell Seals of the Antarctic. M. Evans and Company (2004). {{ISBN|9781590770283}}
• The Odyssey of KP2: An Orphan Seal, a Marine Biologist, and the Fight To Save a Species. Penguin Publishing Group (2013). {{ISBN|9780143123521}}

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Category:Living people

Category:20th-century American women scientists

Category:American women evolutionary biologists

Category:American evolutionary biologists

Category:American women marine biologists

Category:Ecophysiologists

Category:Rutgers University alumni

Category:Scientists from New Jersey

Category:University of California, Santa Cruz faculty

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)