Claire Benjamin

Claire Benjamin was the PETROSS project's communications manager. She oversaw strategic communications to increase the visibility of the project's mission and scientific advancements. She began her career as a science writer at the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology where she wrote about DNA debunking war elephant myths, animal models paving the way for life-saving medical devices, and how PETROSS can help fuel the world. Her stories have been picked up by Yahoo News, Wired, Smithsonian Magazine, Motherboard, and other publications. She earned her bachelor's degree in agricultural communications and went on to earn her master's degree in advertising at the University of Illinois. She went on to become the Associate Director of Communications for the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Illinois.