Katya Wowk is an expert in using inter- and transdisciplinary approaches to strengthen community resilience to disasters and environmental change.

Previously, she served as Chair for Community Resilience at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies (HRI), Texas A&M University Corpus Christi (TAMUCC), where she led a diverse team focused on co-producing the science needed to understand and advance resilience at the local level, and cofounded the Texas Coastal Bend Regional Resilience Partnership, a formal association between TAMUCC and the Coastal Bend Council of Governments focused on building local capacity to mitigate disaster risk.

She also held the position of Director of the Texas OneGulf RESTORE Center of Excellence, where she and the team advanced co-produced science with five Texas state agencies. Prior to her positions with HRI, Katya served as Senior Social Scientist to the Chief Economist for the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Senior Policy Official to the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Conservation and Management, and Program Coordination Officer to the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere (NOAA Administrator).Katya holds a Ph.D. in International Coastal and Ocean Policy from the University of Delaware and an M.P.A. in Environmental Science and Policy from Columbia University.