Dr. William C. Daniels

Dr. William C. Daniels
Dr. William C. Daniels
Postdoctoral Scholar
2019-2020 Cohort
University of Haifa
Department of Marine Geosciences
  • Basin Analysis and Petrophysical Laboratory
  • Nicolas Waldmann Lab website

Dr. Daniels earned his PhD at Brown University in the Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences.

At the University of Haifa, in the Department of Marine Geosciences, Dr. Daniels will examine core samples from Lake Hill, located on an island in the center of the Bering Sea, to research the following aspects of this sensitive region: the history of migration of indigenous people in the Americas, factors in megafauna extinction, climate drivers, and sea level reconstruction. The samples, collected by scientists in 2013, offer a unique opportunity to evaluate deglacial and Holocene climate changes in the region, which is now believed to be a late-persisting site for the occurrence of woolly mammoths. Using multi-proxy paleoclimate reconstructions to contextualize the climate in which these mammals lived and perished (approximately 5,600 years ago) should offer important insights into the ecology of these important megafauna. Dr. Daniels hypothesizes that sediments from Lake Hill can also serve as excellent archives for studying the environmental settings that prevailed in the region.

During his time as a Zuckerman Fellow, Dr. Daniels will travel to Alaska to continue the teaching he has been doing in the Kaktovik Oceanography Program, a weeklong science camp for Inupiat (native Alaskan) children in Kaktovik, AK.