Crowley, Katherine, PhD

Biography

Kathy is a broadly trained biologist and ecologist.  She teaches a range of courses in biology and ecology and conducts research in forest and wetland ecosystems, focusing on the role of plants in a changing environment.  Kathy uses field research and modeling approaches to investigate how plant species change interacts with environmental stressors to affect how ecosystems function.  She is currently involved in developing the Spe-CN forest ecosystem model to investigate the interacting effects of invasive insects and disease, climate change, and atmospheric nitrogen pollution on northeastern U.S. forests.

Before joining Husson University, Kathy worked as an Assistant Professor of Plant Biology at Unity Environmental University in Unity, Maine.  She has also taught plant identification courses for professional biologists through the Center for Wildlife Studies.  Prior to these positions, she worked as a Postdoctoral and Research Associate at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in New York. 

Kathy received her Ph.D. from the Cornell University Department of Natural Resources, where she investigated the influence of rich fen mosses on vascular wetland plants via effects on the biogeochemistry of shallow soils.  She pursued her M.S. degree in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior at the University of Minnesota and her B.S. in Botany and Zoology at Michigan State University.

In between graduate programs, Kathy worked as a wetland environmental consultant in Nevada and as an associate ecologist for the New Hampshire Natural Heritage Bureau and The Nature Conservancy.  She draws on these diverse professional and academic experiences both in her teaching and in her commitment to helping students develop their professional interests and work toward career goals.