Katie Hornick

Katie Hornick is working in the NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service’s Office of Habitat Conservation as a Habitat Restoration Specialist. She is working on a range of topics related to developing monitoring and evaluation approaches for Deepwater Horizon restoration.

Katie obtained her bachelor’s degree in natural science from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, CA. After graduating from Loyola Marymount University, Katie spent a year and a half in Puerto Montt, Chile, studying the effect of salmon aquaculture on microbial diversity and community composition of sediments. She then went on to pursue a Ph.D. at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science’s Horn Point Laboratory in Cambridge, Maryland under the direction of Dr. Louis Plough. Her dissertation research examined, focusing on Harris Creek, the largest oyster sanctuary in the world.  She used molecular tools to compare genetic diversity of restored and wild oysters and built a computer model that integrated oyster genetics and biology with real-world restoration scenarios.

In her spare time, Katie enjoys making jewelry, kayaking, hiking, and exploring new places with her pug, Oliver.