Kate grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, and came out to California to attend college at Stanford University where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in biology. Except for a few stints living abroad, California has been home for Kate ever since.

Her childhood love of the oceans and marine life led her to study biology and to take advantage of every opportunity to learn more about life under the water. While living in Jamaica after graduation, she became fascinated with the incredible diversity of life on coral reefs. She returned to the Bay Area to earn her PhD in integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley, and spent much of her time in French Polynesia and Belize studying mantis shrimps and pygmy octopuses for her dissertation.

While conducting research in Belize, she witnessed a coral bleaching event at her study sites. This experience and others have led her to commit to doing everything she can to stave off the worst impacts of the climate crisis and to advocate for sustainability at every level.

Kate has taught biology, environmental science and research, and has developed an elective course in marine biology and a summer field course called Human Ecology.

She is an avid cook who loves to try new recipes from her extensive cookbook collection. Combining her love of cooking with her penchant for experimentation, Kate also developed an elective course in Food Science that she teaches at Sequoyah.