Dr. Kathryn Stanchak

Kathryn Stanchak has the distinction of having been a top scholar at two Lorain City High Schools. Katie attended Lorain Catholic High School until that high school closed its doors in 2004. Kathryn attended Admiral King High School in her senior year, graduating in 2005. Katie was involved in many activities during her high school years. She participated in Varsity Volleyball, Varsity Track and Field, and Varsity Cross Country while attending Lorain Catholic HS. She participated for the Academic Challenge Team and played first singles for the tennis teams at both Admiral King and Lorain Catholic High Schools. Kathryn also worked part time for the Lorain Palace Theater, and she worked two summers at Camp Ideas.

Katie’s educational history is quite extensive. Attending MIT from 2005-2010, Katie earned her Bachelor of Science from the Department of Mechanical Engineering. From 2011 through 2013 she did additional coursework in Economic Theory, and Ecology and Evolution at Tufts University and Harvard University. Katie earned her Ph.D. from the University of Washington’s Biology Department; she then continued her education as a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Biology Department at the University of Washington.

Kathryn’s professional history is as intensive, but more diverse than her educational history. From 2010 through 2014 she was employed by the U.S. Department of Transportation as a Mechanical Engineer. For the next five years she was a biology teacher and Research Associate. Her position as a Postdoctoral Scholar lasted until 2023. Her career path change occurred in 2024 when Katie was employed by the Seattle Department of Transportation as a Transportation Planner. Later that year, Kathryn accepted a position as the Water Quality Planner for King County, Washington. A major aspect of this position was to ensure the clean waterways of the Pacific Northwest for the salmon routes.

The additional honors and accomplishments achieved by Kathryn are numerous and varied. Katie was awarded research grant funding from the University of Washington, the Paleontological Society, the Washington chapter of the Wildlife Society, the Washington Research Foundation, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. Kathryn was invited to present at Western Kentucky University, the University of Western Washington, the University of Akron, the annual meeting of the American Society of Mammalogists, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, and the International Congress of Vertebrate Morphology.

Three highlights of Katie’s high school career are: playing first singles in tennis and being selected to represent Lorain Catholic and Admiral King on their respective Academic Challenge Teams. A final favorite memory for Katie was working at Camp Ideas before and after her senior year in high school.

Katie and her partner, Eric Gilbertson, have been lucky enough to include traveling to many continents as Eric continues his mountaineering and “high pointing” efforts.

Dr. Kathryn Stanchak's Induction Speech