Principles of Natural Systems

Dr. Katherine von Stackelberg is a senior research scientist in the Department of Environmental Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She is a co-leader of the Biogeochemistry of Global Contaminants Group at Harvard University. Von Stackelberg has 30 years experience developing integrated, risk-based modeling approaches to support sustainable environmental decision making. She has published on ecological resilience, uncertainty analysis, bioaccumulation modeling, and use of decision analytic approaches to integrate ecosystem services and risk assessment for more effective decision making. Von Stackelberg is a frequent peer reviewer for the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the European Commission, and has served on a National Academies of Science panel on coral reef resilience. She served on the Board of Scientific Counselors at the US EPA for six years and was chair for the last three. She led the effort to explore the use of decision analytic tools and methods to support environmental decision making within the US EPA Office of Research and Development. She is a member of the Scientific Advisors on Risk Assessment for the European Commission in Brussels, has served as treasurer and is current president for the Society for Risk Analysis, and served on the board of directors and as treasurer for the Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. She recently attended COP15 (Global Biodiversity Framework) as an Estonian delegate and is a contributor to several working groups on finance for nature and economic incentives for nature positive decision making.