B.S., Marine Science and Mathematics; minor, Chemistry Eckerd College 1998

Ph.D., Biology, Florida International University 2004

Dr. Shawn Clem is the Research Director of Audubon Florida's Western Everglades Research Center, located at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. Dr. Clem is a community ecologist with twenty years of experience in researching and describing the ecology, hydrology, and impacts from environmental stressors on our region, with past positons and projects at Everglades National Park, Audubon’s Everglades Science Center in Tavernier, and Big Cypress National Preserve.

Helping establish our research center in 2013, Dr. Clem is focused on filling science gaps in order to answer critical questions about Western Everglades’ conservation and restoration. Current long-term monitoring projects include tracking and understanding hydrology, Wood Storks and other wildlife changes at Corkscrew, gauging restoration success on Panther Island Mitigation Bank, and documenting changes in fish communities within the Picayune Strand Restoration Project. Under her direction, Audubon’s research program is focused on better understanding and describing our region’s unique ecology in light of increased environmental pressures, and using this understanding to guide wetland conservation, stewardship, and restoration throughout the boundaries of Corkscrew and beyond.

Dr. Clem is the founder and leader of the annual Corkscrew Watershed Science Forum, co-director of Corkscrew’s Conservation Internship program; co-organizer of Audubon Florida’s Conservation Leadership Initiative; adjunct graduate faculty at Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU); and a Research Affiliate of FGCU's Everglades Wetland Research Park.