Biography
Katey Queen is a MS. candidate in Environmental Science at Western Washington University in Bellingham,WA. She is under the advisement of Dr. Angela Strecker. She is a research assistant at the Institute for Watershed Studies. Katey completed her undergraduate at UW-Bothell (BS Biology), graduating in 2020. There, she carried out research on plant community assemblages and successional changes in the blast zone of Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. While researching in the monument as an undergrad, she observed the debris-avalanche created ponds formed from the massive landslide following the eruption in 1980 and began to question how the aquatic communities were also affected and evolving in this heavily disturbed landscape. Katey’s master's research at WWU aims to investigate the terrestrial-aquatic linkages, climate change effects, and succession in this ecosystem using zooplankton community changes as a bioindicator. Katey’s homebase is in Washington state with her husband, goldendoodle, and three black cats but she is often found recreating in the mountains and waterways of the entire PNW. Katey hopes to increase the visibility of the OLA, expand student engagement in the association's goals, and promote lake stewardship.
