Katherine Charton

Institute on the Environment Postdoctoral Associate 

Dr. Katherine T. Charton (she/her) is an applied ecologist broadly interested in how climate and disturbance shape plant communities. At the Institute on the Environment, she collaborates with Dr. Jessica Hellmann and U.S. Geological Survey partners at the Midwest Climate Adaptation Science Center to understand ecological responses to climate and other environmental changes and develop solutions-oriented management strategies that help people and ecosystems adapt to these changes. She is also committed to co-creating and operationalizing accessible climate adaptation communication materials, leveraging her problem-solving, creativity, and interpersonal expertise to engage regularly with managers and policymakers.

Katherine earned her Ph.D. in Integrative Biology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she led two long-term field experiments on the impacts of management and climate on tallgrass prairie plant communities and their function. One study focused on the interaction between winter snow cover and prescribed fire, while the other examined woody plant management and drought. She was awarded a Midwest Climate Adaptation Science Center Graduate Student Fellowship, P.E.O. Scholar Award, WISCIENCE Public Service Fellowship, Botanical Society of America Public Policy Award, and Arboretum Leopold Research Fellow, among other honors, which supported her dual passions for applied ecology and community engagement throughout her graduate studies.

Katherine previously completed a B.S. in Conservation and Resource Studies at the University of California-Berkeley and worked as a Research Assistant in the Plant Ecology Laboratory at Archbold Biological Station in south-central Florida. Though she grew up in northern California and has lived in many parts of the United States, Katherine has now fully embraced life as a Midwest transplant. She enjoys swimming, cooking, reading fiction, and enjoying winter from the warmth of indoors.