Caroline Williams, a graduate student in Western’s Department of Biology received the Scholander award for the best presentation at the meeting of the American Physiological Society in Denver, Colo., last week.
This is the highest award for a trainee in comparative physiology, and Williams, a 3rd year PhD student, topped nine other graduate student and postdoctoral fellow finalists from universities across North America, including Harvard, Stanford and the University of British Columbia.
Williams’ research focuses on the effects of climate change on overwintering butterflies. In the award-winning talk, she described how a West Coast species is impacted by warm winters, which cause the butterflies to use more energy.
Williams works with Biology professor Brent Sinclair, who says “the award is a huge deal – these are the best trainees in the field, and it places Caroline among the best in her field worldwide.”