Chair: Dr. Tatiana Sánchez Parra

Katie Simmons is an artist, educator, wildlife biologist and anthropologist from the Appalachian mountains in east Tennessee. She earned undergraduate degrees in visual art, art history, and wildlife biology as well as her MA in Education. In 2026 she received her MFA from Colorado State University.

Based on her work as an ornithologist and experience as a victims advocate at the Sexual Assault Victim Advocacy Center in northern Colorado, Katie’s research has previously explored the parallels between the exploitation of human bodies through sex trafficking and more-than-human bodies via environmental exploitation in the anthropocene. Her research has been supported by several grants, including funding from the National Science Fund.

In addition to her research, her studio practice examines similar themes. She works with plants, lichens, algae and fungi from which pigments can be extracted and applies these to substrates on which she creates drawings in ballpoint pen, investigating death, decay, and growth. Now in her first year as a PhD student at the University of Tennessee, Katie is interested in using her interdisciplinary background as well as her experience as a survivor herself to explore the role of art-based languages in collaboratively documenting the experiences of trafficking survivors and the physiological and social mechanisms that underlie their related health outcomes.

Katie’s research and artwork has been presented in numerous conferences and solo exhibitions, both nationally and internationally, and she has been a visiting artist and artist in residence at multiple colleges, universities, and other AIR programs. Katie is the recipient of many artistic awards as well as the Keith Foskin MFA Scholarship, the Charlie and Gwen Hatchette Creativity Scholarship, and the College of Arts and Sciences Graduate Fellowship. In her free time, she loves ultra trail running, spending time with her family, and watching bad tv with her dog.