Katherine is a researcher at SI. Her current project, an implementation award for a Science Gateways Community Institute, is funded by the National Science Foundation. This institute (and the conceptualization award that preceded it) is based on the recommendations of a prior study looking at factors that influence science gateway success. From 2008-2012, she also managed special projects and community engagement initiatives at the Office of Research Cyberinfrastructure (within the U-M Office of the VP for Research, now called ARC: Advanced Research Computing), including Cyberinfrastructure Days. Previously, she designed and taught SI 422: "Evaluating Systems and Services," an undergraduate Informatics course.

When she is not working at the University of Michigan, Katherine facilitates retreats and focus groups for organizations and departments and gives presentations on creativity, improvisation, and collaboration. In the past, she worked as a moderator for management webinars at Harvard Business Publishing and volunteered on the Board of Directors of the Ann Arbor Learning Community, a K-8 public charter school. She is the co-author of Creativity at Work: Developing the Right Practices to Make Innovation Happen with Jeff DeGraff.