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Katriona Shea is a British-American ecologist. She is currently the endowed Alumni Chair of Biology Science at Eberly College of Science, Pennsylvania State University.^[1][3]

Shea studied physics at New College, Oxford, and graduated in 1990.^[4] She joined Imperial College London where she completed a Natural Environment Research Council sponsored PhD in population ecology. Her thesis, Matrix Models in Population Ecology, was supervised by Michael Hassell.^[2]

After completing her PhD, Shea joined University of California, Santa Barbara as a postdoctoral researcher working with Robert Nisbet and Bill Murdoch.^[4] In 1996 she joined the CSIRO Cooperative Research Centre for Weed Management. She was invited to work at the Australian National University between 1996 and 1997.^[4] In 1999 she returned to California, working at University of California, Santa Cruz with Marc Mangel.^[5] She explored decision theory in conservation biology.^[6]

In 2001 Shea was appointed Assistant Professor at Pennsylvania State University. She became a professor in 2011.^[4] Her research uses ecological theory in population management.^[7][1][8] She helps conservation efforts as well as the control of invasive diseases and pests.^[9] She has worked in rainforests in Guyana and the Serengeti National Park.^[9]

Shea uses a range of empirical and quantitive methods to study ecology of outbreaking species.^[10][11] She worked with Matthew Ferrari on adaptive management to combine scientific understanding with policy development.^[9][12][13] She has studied the way to manage populations during the Ebola outbreaks.^[14][15] They used adaptive management to retrospectively study measles outbreaks.^[16] She demonstrated that speedy interventions by policymakers can limit the health and cost impact of outbreaks.^[9] In 2016 she was elected a fellow of the Ecological Society of America.^[17] Shea has contributed to The Conversation and Science.^[18][19]

• 2018 Named Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)^[20]
• 2011 Pennsylvania State University Dean's Climate and Diversity Award^[9]
• 2004 Pennsylvania State University Edward D. Bellis Award^[9]