Katriona Shea

Professor Katriona Shea holds the position of Professor of Biology and Alumni Professor in the Biological Sciences at Pennsylvania State University, within the Eberly College of Science's Department of Biology. She is affiliated with the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences and the Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics (CIDD). Her research focuses on theoretical applied ecology, particularly invasion biology, epidemiology, and the impacts of climate change on ecological systems. She earned a B.A. in Physics from New College, Oxford, and a Ph.D. in Theoretical Population Ecology from Imperial College, University of London. Postdoctoral training included studies at UC Santa Barbara, CSIRO Australia, and UC Santa Cruz.

Her work integrates ecological theory with practical management, addressing challenges in invasive species control, disease dynamics, and conservation. Key areas include the ecology of outbreaks in disturbed environments, management under uncertainty, and disturbance regime impacts on biodiversity. She leads the Shea Lab, which collaborates on projects involving field studies, computational models, and interdisciplinary approaches. Her research has informed pandemic responses, such as during the COVID-19 crisis, through multi-model decision frameworks.

Publications span high-impact journals like *Science*, *PNAS*, and *Ecology*, emphasizing outbreak management, climate effects on species, and ecological modeling. Her lab's contributions include developing strategies for invasive species control and optimizing vaccination strategies during epidemics.