Katie Fiske is a Post Doc/lab technician in Dr. Gonthier’s lab at the University of Kentucky in the Entomology Department. She received her PhD in Entomology from UK in 2024 and a bachelor’s degree in Sustainable Agriculture from UK in 2014. While pursuing her undergraduate degree, she was a staff member of the UK Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program where she gained valuable experience ranging from greenhouse seeding, transplanting, cultivation, harvest and post-harvest handling, equipment operation, and customer interaction. A brief stint in Wisconsin after graduation on an organic dairy farm taught her that milking cows was not something she wanted to do in the future, but was vital in teaching her about canning, raising poultry and learning what it’s like to live on a “real” family farm. Back in Kentucky, she picked up where she left off with the UK CSA and continued there until 2019 where she joined Dr. Gonthier’s lab as a graduate student. 

Katie’s past research focused on the disease, insect, pollination, and weed management of cucurbit crops within the mesotunnel system. Questions of profitability about the mesotunnel system led her to studying how the mesotunnel systems can be used on multiple crops in a single growing season, comparing different types of netting and row covers to organic and conventional pesticides. Understanding the best types of row covers to use in the mesotunnel system and with which crops to use them on will help farmers maximize their profits.