Katie earned her bachelor’s degree from John Carroll University in University Heights, OH where she majored in biology and minored in computer science. Following this, she moved to Syracuse, NY and attended the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry where she earned a master’s degree in conservation biology. While at ESF, Katie worked in the American Chestnut Research and Restoration Program where her thesis research was focused on examining non-target impacts of a transgenic American chestnut.

After earning her master’s, Katie moved to Ithaca, NY and started a position as a molecular biologist with the USDA Agricultural Research Service. She worked on the Pseudomonas Systems Biology team focused on identifying and characterizing small RNAs contributing to virulence in plant pathogenic bacteria. Katie then attended the Ohio State University where she earned her PhD in the Translational Plant Science graduate program. While at Ohio State, she applied for and received a USDA NIFA Predoctoral Fellowship for her research on aging in perennial plants using almond (Prunus dulcis) as a model. For her dissertation, she studied the age-related disorder, non-infectious bud failure and identified epigenetic biomarkers associated with its exhibition in almond.

Following her graduation in 2021, Katie joined the Phytobacteriology Lab at NCSU as a postdoc working with Dr. Alejandra Huerta. Her research is focused on the ecology and evolution of bacteriophage and plant pathogenic bacteria using peach and Xanthomonas. Katie earned a USDA NIFA Postdoctoral Fellowship for this project that started in February 2022.