Achievement

Trainee Kelly Hillbun was invited to orally present before the Geological Society of America--a highly competitive meeting where few submissions are accepted for oral presentation. Her presentation was superb and her work was very well received. Her research focuses on the causes and events of the Late Devonian mass extinction which occurred approximately 375-385 million years ago. At her current field site in the Canning Basin of Western Australia, she is working on a multi-disciplinary chronostratigraphy project that seeks to better understand the ancient environments and life forms that persisted during the Devonian. Within the larger project, she is looking closely at the Devonian aged reef system in order to learn about extinction events and ancient reef systems worldwide. The study of mass extinction events leads to a better understanding of early earth environments and supports an informed search for possible life that has endured similar catastrophes on Earth-like planets.