Dr. Kathryn Beheshti is an assistant researcher at the University of California, Santa Barbara’s Marine Science Institute. Kat is a coastal marine ecologist that specializes in restoration ecology of salt marsh, seagrass, and kelp habitats. Kat received her Ph.D. from the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2021. Soon after, she served as a California Sea Grant State Fellow for the California Ocean Protection Council’s Climate Change Program where she worked on a range of topics from sea level rise to ocean acidification. Currently, she is a co-principal investigator with the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station Mitigation Monitoring Program (SONGS MMP). In this role, Kat manages the long-term monitoring of two large-scale mitigation projects (artificial reef; Wheeler North Reef and restored wetland; San Dieguito Wetlands Restoration Project) and associated reference sites. Kat works at the interface of science, industry, and policy.
