Assistant Professor Kate Hayes studies the past, present and future of forest systems

Western Washington University published this notice on 2026-10-14. The following highlights are selected excerpts from the full source.

This fall, the College of the Environment welcomes Assistant Professor Kate Hayes, who specializes in forest systems, wildfire and climate change.

Hayes was most recently an assistant professor of forest ecology at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks and a National Science Foundation postdoctoral research fellow in the Forest Futures Lab at the Cary Institute of Ecosystems Studies. She has a bachelor’s degree in geography, Spanish and environmental studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison; a master’s in geography from the University of Oregon; and a Ph.D. in integrated and systems biology from the University of Colorado-Denver.