She joined the department after several years as an Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia where she remains an adjunct faculty. In 2001-2002, Kathy was the staff economist in charge of agriculture for the Council of Economic Advisors in the White House, and in the mid-1990s, she worked as Executive Secretary of the National Farmers Union in Canada. She earned her PhD from the University of California at Berkeley in 2003, where she specialized in international agricultural policy and trade. Her research evaluates agricultural, conservation and trade policies and their effect on environmental and food security outcomes in China, India and Sub-Saharan Africa. Currently she leads an initiative at the University of Illinois on using big data for international food security and the environment.