She received her PhD in Anthropology at the University of Washington in 2009 and was a post-doctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Institution’s Natural History Museum. Catherine’s research focuses on the effects of Holocene climate change and human-animal interactions on prehistoric subsistence in coastal Alaska, and how the archaeological record can be applied to contemporary environmental issues. She is a member of the National Science Foundation's New Generation of Polar Researchers, and her work is funded by the National Geographic Society and the National Science Foundation.