Katherine J. Curtis is Vilas Associate and Professor of Community & Environmental Sociology and Director of the Applied Population Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Curtis earned her PhD in Sociology at the University of Washington, where she trained in demography, social stratification, and research methods. She pursued additional training in spatial data analysis in her post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Demography and Ecology. Curtis’ faculty position is partially supported by UW-Extension to pursue applied demographic research. Her work is centered in demography and extends to spatial, environmental, rural, and applied demography, and focuses on two central themes: population-environment interactions, most centrally the relationship between demographic, economic, and environmental forces; and spatial and temporal dimensions of social and economic inequality, most centrally historical and local forces perpetuating racial disparities. In her work, Curtis adopts place-based theoretical frameworks and employs advanced spatial and spatio-temporal statistical approaches to analyze questions about inequality, which has profound and far-reaching impacts on population wellbeing. Currently funded projects focus on spatial differentiation in migration and fertility responses to environmental events (NICHD and NSF), later life health impacts of early childhood environmental conditions (NIA), age- and race-specific net migration (NICHD), and natural resource competition and rural livelihoods (USDA).