Julia Clarke is a professor in the Department of Geological Sciences in the Jackson School of Geosciences at The University of Texas at Austin. She is also Jackson Chair in Geobiology and a member of the Graduate Faculty in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior at UT.

She has published over 150 papers including 16 in the journals Nature and Science. She has an international field program in paleontology (e.g. in Antarctica, South America, Asia) and has led highly interdisciplinary collaborative teams integrating data on living animals to ask new questions of the fossil record.

Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Humboldt Foundation, The National Geographic Society, Explorers Club, AAAS, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and has been covered by NPR’s Science Friday, The New York Times, Washington Post, National Geographic Magazine, NOVA, and other outlets. She is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, American Ornithological Society, and The Anatomical Society. She has a Ph.D. from the Department of Geology and Geophysics at Yale University and a B.A. (Comparative Literature and Geobiology) from Brown University.

 

Select Research Grants and Fellowships (see CV)

  • 2026-2028 NSF EAR RISE 2629253 Mentoring Innovation Network: Building Conference-Based Mentoring Infrastructure for Early-Career Development in Paleontology.

    2018-2025 (NCE) Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Grant #GT10473 Professor Program. $1,000,000 over 5 years (Clarke sole PI; COVID Impact NCE 2 years to 2025).Includes research support (~$250K) and funding of students and postdocs working on the studied models.

  • 2014-2018 (NCE) Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Grant 4498. The evolution of avian vocalization: an integrative approach utilizing the fossil record, physiology of vocal behavior, and comparative transcriptomics (Clarke PI $740,000+65,000 supplement in 2017, with C. Tabin, F. Goller and T. Riede).

Awards

  • The Anatomical Society, Honorary Fellow Hon. FAS, 2020

  • American Ornithological Society, Elected Fellow 2019

  • Outstanding Educator Award

    Jackson School of Geoscience 2019

  • Royal Society of Biology, Fellow, (FRSB) 2018

  • American Ornithological Society Elected Member 2017

  • Outstanding Service Award

    Jackson School of Geoscience 2017

  • Knebel Distinguished Graduate Teaching Award,

    Jackson School of Geosciences 2017

  • Provost's Teaching Fellow
    The University of Texas, 2016

  • Humboldt Research Award
    Humboldt Foundation, 2016

  • Outstanding Research Award
    Jackson School of Geosciences, 2013

  • Knebel Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award
    Jackson School of Geosciences, 2012

  • Gigapan Science Outreach Fellow
    Fine Foundation/NASA/Carnegie Mellon Robotics, 2010

  • National Geographic Society, Explorer (2008-)

  • Outstanding Faculty Member Engaged in Outreach Award
    North Carolina State University, 2008

  • NSF Research Highlights
    OISE Directorates, 2007

  • Distinguished Alumna
    Argentine Fulbright Commission, 50th anniversary volume, 2006

  • G.G. Simpson Award
    Yale University, 2006

  • Sigma Xi Full Associate Member
    Brown University, 2004

  • Orville Prize for best dissertation in the Earth Sciences
    Yale University, 2001

  • G.G. Simpson Award
    Yale University, 2001

  • Hutchinson Prize Fellowship for Biospheric Studies
    Yale Institute, 2000

  • Estwing Hammer Prize for outstanding research in Geology
    Yale University, 2000

  • Henry Gardiner Ferguson Fellowship in Geology
    Yale University, 1999

  • Graduate Student Fellowship
    National Science Foundation, 1997–2000

  • Arnold Prize Fellowship for undergraduate achievement and an original research project ($15,000; declined to accept Fulbright Grant)
    Brown University, 1995

 

Contact Julia