San Francisco / Oakland cohort
Kate Montana (she/her) is a scientist, community builder, and lifelong learner. She is currently pursuing her master’s degree in integrative biology at San Francisco State University and the California Academy of Sciences, where she studies evolutionary relationships between spiders and uncovers untold narratives in the Academy’s archives. She is constantly in awe of nature and the communities nature hosts, both human and non-human. Kate’s past work has included projects on the genetics of frogs and sea slugs, curating a comedy show centering Asian American identity, interning on Capitol Hill, gearing people up to play outside at REI, helping to teach her favorite field course on vertebrate natural history, and collecting scorpions throughout northern California. She also loves to explore by bicycle. Kate was a member of the spring 2021 Outdoor Educators Institute cohort and is thrilled to take on a leadership role for fall 2021 as a Program Assistant. She takes great joy in facilitating powerful relationships between marginalized folks in the outdoors and is honored to continue to do so with Justice Outside.