Cat Fong is a marine ecologist whose work focuses on understanding how human activities shape coastal and marine ecosystems. She earned her PhD in Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where her research examined species interactions and ecological dynamics in nearshore systems. As an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow, she expanded her work to quantifying drivers of state transitions and stability on tropical reefs. As a Researcher at UCSB’s National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS), Cat has worked on interdisciplinary projects that integrate ecological theory, large-scale data analysis, and environmental policy. Her research spans topics such as coral reef change, ecological modeling, and the impacts of fishing and aquaculture, with the goal of informing sustainable management of marine systems.