Dr. Cathy Whitlock

Affiliations

Education

Ph.D. University of Washington, 1983

B.A. Colorado College, 1975

Research Interests

Quaternary environmental change and Quaternary paleoecology
Vegetation, fire, and climate history of the western U.S. and southern South America
Conservation applications of paleoecology
Climatic variability through the Cenozoic
Data-model comparison of past climate change

Teaching Interests

Paleoecology and Paleoclimatology
Quaternary pollen and plant macrofossil analysis
Biogeography, plant geography
Cenozoic vegetation history, environments, and climates

Selected Intellectual Contributions

• Pederson, G., Stahle, D., McWethy, D., Toohey, M., Jungclaus, J., Lee, C. M., Martin, J., Alt, M., Kichas, N., ... Whitlock, C. (2024) Dynamic treeline and cryosphere response to pronounced mid-Holocene climatic variability in the US Rocky Mountains. . PNAS: v. 122 i. e2412162121
• Wendt, J., Argiriadis, E., Whitlock, C., Bortolini, C., Battistel, D., McWethy, D. (2024) A 2000-year record of fecal biomarkers reveals past herbivore use and impacts in a catchment in northern Yellowstone National Park, USA. . PLOSONE
• Whitlock, C. (2021) Climate Change and Human Health in Montana [Chapter 2] . Climate change and human health in Montana: a special report of the Montana Climate Assessment. Institute on Ecosystems, Center for American Indian and Rural Health Equity: p. 7-23
• Adams, A. K., Byron, R., Maxwell, B., Higgins, S., Eggers, M. J., Byron, L., Whitlock, C. (2021) Climate change and human health in Montana: a special report of the Montana Climate Assessment. Montana State University, Institute on Ecosystems, Center for American Indian and Rural Health Equity, Montana Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate: p. 191
• Whitlock, C., Adams, A. K. (2021) Introduction [Chapter 1]. Climate change and human health in Montana: a special report of the Montana Climate Assessment. : p. 1-5
• Nanavati, W., Whitlock, C., Outes, V., Villarosa, G. (2020) A Holocene history of monkey puzzle tree (pehuen) in northernmost Patagonia.. Journal of Biogeography
• Schiller, C., Whitlock, C., Elder, K. L., Iverson, N. A., Abbott, M. B. (2020) Erroneously old radiocarbon ages from terrestrial pollen concentrates in Yellowstone Lake, Wyoming, USA. Radiocarbon
• Marguerie, D., Krause, T. R. (2020) What was burning? Charcoal identifications supplement an early-Holocene fire-history reconstruction in Yellowstone National Park, USA. What was burning? Charcoal identifications supplement an early-Holocene fire-history reconstruction in Yellowstone National Park, USA. . Quaternary International
• Iglesias, V., Whitlock, C. (2020) If the trees burn, is the forest lost? Past dynamics in temperate forests help inform management strategies. . Royal Society of London Philosophical Transactions B
• Heyerdahl, E., Whitlock, C., McWethy, D. (2020) Fire History. Encyclopedia of Wildfires and Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) Fires. Springer

Selected Awards

• Fellow (2023)
  American Geophysical Union
• MSU Presidential Fellow (2020)
  Montana State University
• MSU Spring Convocation Speaker (2020)
  Montana State University
• Excellence in Outreach Award (Faculty) (2020)
  Montana State University
• Induction (2019)
  National Academy of Sciences
• Elected as 125 Extraordinary Women (2018)
  Montana State University

Selected Grants

• Understanding past linkages between hydrothermal activity, climate change, and ecosystem dynamics., from National Science Foundation (NSF).
  
  

Selected Engagement, Outreach, and Service

• Committee Member (2024-2027), NASEM Advisory Committee for US Global Change Research Program
• Committee Member (2022-2025), NASEM Advisory Committee for the Board on Environmental Change and Society
• Committee Member (2022-2025), National Science Foundation Advisory Committee for Environmental
• Committee Member (2022-2024), National Science Foundation Advisory Committee for the Geosciences Directorate
• Committee Member  (Jun 2019 - Present) Geological Society of America, Donath Award Committee
• Guest Editor  (Jan 2019 - Present) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
• Reviewer/Referee  (Jan 2019 - Present) External tenure & Promotion reviews
• Editorial Review Board Member  (Jan 2017 - Present) The Holocene
• Editorial Review Board Member  (Jan 2017 - Present) The Quaternary