Kathleen Kay Treseder is an American ecologist who specializes in the interplay between

global Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to: Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989 * ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015 * Bruno ...

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

and

fungal A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from th ...

ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

. She also serves as a member of the

Irvine City Council The Irvine City Council is the governing body for the city of Irvine, California. The city operates under a council-manager form of government with a separately elected mayor and a council-appointed city manager A city manager is an officia ...

after being elected to the position in 2022. She is currently a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and pr ...

. She is a Fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

, the

American Academy of Microbiology The American Society for Microbiology (ASM), originally the Society of American Bacteriologists, is a professional organization for scientists who study viruses, bacteria, fungi, algae, and protozoa as well as other aspects of microbiology. It wa ...

, and the

Ecological Society of America The Ecological Society of America (ESA) is a professional organization of ecological scientists. Based in the United States and founded in 1915, ESA publications include peer-reviewed journals, newsletters, fact sheets, and teaching resources. I ...

. As an undergraduate she co-authored a research paper that was published in ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...

'' and was featured on the cover of the issue. Since then, Treseder has published over 90 peer-reviewed scientific papers that have been cited over 19,000 times.

Education and academic appointments

Treseder graduated from the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

in 1994 with an Honors Bachelors of Science in biology with a minor in chemistry. She obtained her Ph.D. in biological sciences from Stanford University in 1999, her dissertation title was “Plant-soil interactions across a fertility gradient in Hawaii : nutrient acquisition strategies and effects of genetic variation on ecosystem function” and her primary advisor was Peter Morrison Vitousek. She was a

postdoctoral fellow A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to p ...

at the

University of California, Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public land-grant research university in Riverside, California. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on in a suburban distr ...

, from 1999 to 2000. She was an assistant professor in the Department of Biology at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

from 2001 to 2003, before moving to the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Irvine in 2003. She became an associate professor in 2006, and a full professor in 2011.

Activism work

Treseder was an integral part of the initial anti-sexual harassment initiative in UC Irvine and continues to be a strong proponent for gender equality and safe working spaces in STEM, often using # STEMtoo on social media platforms. Beginning in November 2017, Treseder along with 3 other identified members of the School of Biology, Jessica Pratt, Benedicte Shipley, and Michelle Herrera, filed official complaints of sexual harassment against Francisco Ayala, an evolutionary biologist, eventually leading to Ayala’s termination with the university.

Other honors and awards

Treseder was a Chancellor's Fellow at the

from 2012 to 2015. In 2015, she was chosen as a United States Representative for the publication "''Young Women Scientists: A Bright Future for the Americas''", 2015, InterAmerica Network of Academies of Sciences

References

External links

Treseder laboratory website

Faculty page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Treseder, Kathleen Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American ecologists University of Utah alumni Stanford University alumni University of Pennsylvania faculty University of California, Irvine faculty Fellows of the Ecological Society of America Women ecologists