Kate Willis
PhD, Environmental Science
Kate is director of the Data Visualization Lab at Boston College, where she specializes in the geospatial applications of environmental science. She teaches Geographic Information Systems (GIS) courses and workshops and collaborates on research projects with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Boston College School of Social Work.
She has worked across academia and the public and private sectors on a wide range of environmental initiatives, including quantifying landscape change in national parks, monitoring drought impacts on vegetation, reconstructing past Arctic climates, mapping equitable access to Boston’s MBTA services, and modeling sustainable agriculture practices.
Previously, Kate taught geography and GIS at UCLA, served as lead GIS instructor at Unity College, and taught GIS courses at Brown University. She has authored and co-authored several peer-reviewed academic articles.
She earned a PhD and MA in Geography from UCLA and a BA in Environmental Science and Policy from Clark University.