CV

Heather McCandless CV

UC Riverside – hmcca005@ucr.edu, (714) 642-4844

Education _

PhD. Earth and Planetary Sciences; University of California, Riverside; Expected Start October 2022, Expected Graduation June 2026; Advisor: Mary L. Droser

M.S. Earth and Planetary Sciences; University of California, Riverside; Expected Graduation June 2022; Advisor: Mary L. Droser

B.A. Integrative Biology; University of California, Berkeley; Graduated May 2020; Advisor: Seth Finnegan

Experience _

Graduate Researcher; University of California Riverside; September 2020-Present; Preservation and ecology of South Australian Ediacaran fossils from Nilpena Station

Department Social Media Manager; University of California Riverside Earth and Planetary Sciences Department; September 2021-Present

Undergraduate Researcher; University of California, Berkeley; 2018-2020; Changes in community composition of benthic foraminifera in response to Pliocene climate change in the Tanner Basin, California

Undergraduate Researcher; University of California, Berkeley; 2018; behavioral ecology of Spirobranchus giganteus in Mo’orea - French Polynesian archipelago

Undergraduate research apprentice; University of California, Berkeley; 2017-2018; biomechanics of hummingbirds

Research assistant; University of California, Berkeley; 2018 – 2019; paleoclimate reconstruction of Plio-Pleistocene Southern California

Honors and Awards _

Chancellor’s Fellowship; University of California, Riverside; awarded upon admission; Fall 2020

Honor’s Award; University of California, Berkeley; awarded for thesis project in the Finnegan Lab; Spring 2020

2019 A-STEP FELLOW; Professional development program through School of Rock; 1.5 week field and lab course; Fall, 2019

Scholarship Recipient for the California Ocean Alliance; Marine Mammal Online Experience 2-week course; Summer, 2020

Student Research Award Recipient; Geological Society of America; 2021

Graduate Student Research Award Recipient; Paleontological Society; 2021

Lerner-Gray Fund for Marine Research; American Natural History Museum; 2022

Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration in Field Research and Astrobiology; American Philosophical Society; 2022

Student Grant Award; Evolving Earth Foundation; 2022

Publications _

Evans, S., Tu, C., Rizzo, A., Surprenant, R., Boan, P., McCandless, H., Marshall, N., Xiao, S., and Droser, M. Environmental drivers of the first major animal extinction across the Ediacaran White Sea-Nama transition. PNAS. 2022 (in press).

Droser, M., McCandless, H., Hughes, I., Murdoch, C., Murdoch, J., Boan, P., and Surprenant, R. Bringing the world-famous half billion year old Ediacara Biota to South Australian students: In the classroom and in the field. South Australian Science Teachers Association Journal. 2022 (in press).

Presentations _

McCandless, H., Kahanamoku, S., and Finnegan, S. 2020. Plio-Pleistocene benthic foraminifera trends at ODP site 1014A in the California Borderland Basins; presented at Geological Society of America Annual Meeting, Online, 28 October.

McCandless, H., Droser, M.L. 2021. Ridge over troubled water: Investigating the life habit of Attenborites Janae; presented at Geological Society of America Annual Meeting, 11 October.

Teaching Experience _

University of California, Riverside

GEO 002: Earth’s Climate Through Time; Teaching Assistant Winter 2021

GEO 003: Headlines in the History of Life; Teaching Assistant Spring 2021

GEO 012: At Home in the Universe; Teaching Assistant Winter 2022

Equity and Justice Work _

ACCESS Paleo Program; Virtual lab developer for Ediacaran biota lab; Fall 2020 – Spring 2021

Unlearning Racism in Geoscience; UC Riverside graduate student pod member; January 2020 – Present

Woman in STEM Panel Member; University of California Museum of Paleontology; November 2019

GEOP Outreach Volunteer; participant in UC Riverside graduate student outreach to local community; September 2020 – Present

Field Experience _

Nilpena Station South Australia; 6 weeks, Summer 2021

French Polynesian archipelago – Mo’orea field course; 9 weeks, Fall 2018

San Diego School of Rock; 1.5 weeks, Fall 2019

Fitzgerald Marine Reserve; Day trip, Fall 2019

Purisima Formation at Capitola Beach; Day trip, Spring 2018

Organizations and Memberships _

UCR Earth and Planetary Science Graduate Student Association; Member; September 2020 – Present

Geologic Society of America; Member July 2020 – Present

Paleontological Society; Member February 2021 – Present

Society for Sedimentary Geology; Member February 2021 – Present