The Amato Lab participates in many outreach activities in the greater Chicago community as well as within the international scientific community. These activities engage the public in our research and teach students about the microbiome.
– Katie was the local organizer and hosted the American Primatological Society Meeting which was held jointly with the Midwest Primate Interest Group in Chicago (2025).
– Listen to this Socializing with Scientists podcast episode where Katie talks about what it means to be human (2025).
– Listen to this ISAPPScience podcast episode featuring Katie providing insights into the gut microbiome and fermented foods (2025).
– Listen to Katie’s talk at the Microbiome Virtual International Forum on Healthy collaborations: sharing benefits and considering consequences (2024).
– Get a sneak peek into our lab in this Northwestern University STEMs Lab tour video highlighting how undergraduate students actively contribute to ongoing research in our lab and other labs at the University (2023).
– Katie was interviewed for a popular press article covering the benefits of eating bugs on the human gut (2023).
– Katie was an invited speaker at the virtual symposium on the latest cutting edge microbiome research hosted by the Institute for Systems Biology. Watch her talk about the human gut microbiome and health inequities here (2022).
– Katie was invited as a speaker at the virtual Oxford Evolutionary Medicine and Public Health lecture series (2022).
– Melissa shares her research on the ecological and environmental determinants of infant microbiome at the Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems Lightning talks (2022).
– Katie gave a lecture titled “Using anthropology to integrate evolutionary perspectives into microbiome research” at the Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (2021).
– At Futures Unlimited Workshops, we have presented microbiome modeling activities, led virtual lab tours, and shared at-home activities for middle school girls interested in STEM.
– At Expand Your Horizons Workshops, we have led activities on primatology and fieldwork, as well as DNA sequencing. This event is dedicated to inspiring middle school girls to pursue a career in STEM.
– As a part of the virtual Darwin Day Roadshow in 2021, members of the Amato Lab presented an in-class workshop on the microbiome as well as a keynote address to students, parents, and faculty at a high school in New Jersey.
– While local high schoolers participated in remote learning in 2020, The Amato Lab participated in virtual workshops and Q&A sessions that exposed students to “a day in the life of a STEM-tist.” Watch this video where Soumya, Melissa, Katie and Maddy explain how they do their research in the lab (2020).
– Katie co-organized a workshop on the Gut Microbiome in Human Biology with Chris Kuzawa in 2019. She also gave a talk on how the human gut microbiota compares with other primates and mammals. You can watch her lecture recording here.
– Katie gave a TED talk at TEDx Jackson Hole in October 2014. Watch it here.