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Katherine McHugh is a post-doctoral scientist working with the Chicago Zoological Society’s Sarasota Dolphin Research Program (SDRP). With a lifelong interest in marine wildlife conservation, she began studying wild dolphins with the SDRP as an intern in 2000 while completing B.S. and M.S. degrees in Earth Systems at Stanford University. After a short detour that included assisting with small cetacean research in the Bahamas and New Zealand and a yearlong fellowship working on marine protected area fisheries management at Environmental Defense, Katherine returned to the SDRP as a graduate student researcher in 2004, completing her Ph.D. in animal behavior at the University of California Davis studying juvenile dolphin behavior and the effects of harmful algal blooms on dolphins. Since completing her Ph.D., Katherine has remained with the SDRP working on research aimed at understanding and mitigating adverse human-dolphin interactions, and she is also responsible for coordinating training programs for undergraduate interns and international trainees.