William Burdine

Joined in Fall 2019

Formerly a commercial/military diver, I’m currently studying marine biology with a focus on corals and reef environments. The anthropogenic factors that are wreaking havoc on coral reefs globally has concerned me my entire life. The trend of the health of our oceans over the past decade has really driven me to return to school to finish my undergraduate degree. I hope to be able to carry my work experience, skills learned with CREST CAChE, and knowledge from my education here at FIU into a career as a marine biologist fully prepared to tackle the challenges that the marine scientific community will undoubtedly face in the coming years. The emerging field of epigenetics is very interesting to me and I think it could serve as a very useful tool for conservationists and reef restoration experts. I’m currently working alongside other CREST students doing DNA extractions and various assays, coral sample processing, aquaria care, and data collection both in the field and the laboratory.