Tatum Katz is a 5th year PhD candidate. She studies vectors and reservoirs of the amphibian-killing pathogen Bd, specifically by using field data to parameterize and ground-truth a variety of statistical and mathematical models which investigate how these alternative sources affect amphibian population dynamics. She also recently earned her M.A. in statistics here at UCSB, and is excited by all types of statistical analyses, especially machine learning

I am broadly interested in disease transmission dynamics, specifically how host community composition alters the prevalence of tick-borne pathogens. Previous research of mine has investigated the host-vector-pathogen interface by examining the effect of larval host blood meal identity on tick nymphal vector competency to Borrelia burgdorferi. 

Interested in using empirical & theoretical frameworks to understand the ecology and evolution of vector-borne diseases in a changing climate.