Kate Thompson, Ph.D.

Katharine “Kate'' Thompson is a postdoctoral researcher at the Columbia Climate School and presidential postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Anthropology at Penn State University. She received her BA in Anthropology and BS in Community, Environment, and Development from Penn State University, and both her MA and Ph.D. in Anthropology from Stony Brook University. Her research interests include human-wildlife interactions, human behavioral adaptations to climate change and zoonotic disease, and natural resource use as a form of resilience for indigenous communities. Her dissertation investigates the interconnected socioeconomic, food-security, and sociocultural factors that drive illegal wildlife consumption in Western Madagascar. At the OTB lab, Kate is currently developing qualitative survey toolkits that assess barriers to community agency and improve broader impacts through facilitating co-produced solutions in Southern Madagascar. Kate is also developing the first large-scale, cross-disciplinary analysis of the adverse events scientists experience while conducting fieldwork. Kate believes that real inclusivity and equity in STEM fields must include data-informed safety protocols and risk management practices that better protect researchers in urban and remote wilderness locations alike. To contact Kate, please email [email protected] and visit her website.