Katherine Shek
I am a microbial ecologist broadly interested in understanding the microbial controls on biogeochemical cycles, particularly in response to climate variability and change. I recently finished my tenure as an NSF Earth Sciences Postdoctoral Fellow, where my work focused on microbial trait-environment interactions across scales of ecological organization (populations, communities), space, and time. I utilize a multi-omic approach with machine learning-based ecological modeling, aiming to identify generalizable principles governing microbial controls on emergent ecosystem functions.
My previous research during my PhD at the University of Oregon characterized patterns of soil fungal community assembly and function in managed and unmanaged systems ranging from tropical to temperate agricultural systems, forests and urban environments. Overall, my work has focused on the biogeochemical consequences of human impacts on the structure of ecosystems through the lens of microbial ecology.
