Katy first became interested in ocean science and exploration in high school when she learned how to SCUBA dive in San Diego. She went on to earn her S.B. in Ocean Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and M.S. in Maritime Archaeology from the University of Southampton (UK), and along the way has participated in a number of maritime archaeology projects. Katy is now a PhD student in Archaeological Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography.