Kate Trinajstic

Professor Kate Trinajstic or Katherine M. Trinajstic is an Australian palaeontologist, evolutionary biologist, and winner of the Dorothy Hill Award. She is the Dean of Research, Faculty of Science and Engineering at Curtin University.

Early life and career
Trinajstic was awarded a Bachelor of Science, (Hons), in ecology and evolutionary biology, from Murdoch University in 1996. She then was awarded a PhD in palaeontology from the University of Western Australia, in 2000. She joined Curtin University in 2009 as a Curtin Research Fellow. In 2011 she was awarded an ARC QEII Fellowship, titled 'Fleshing out the fossil record', which was designed to investigate the development of early vertebrates, and the skeleton and specific musculature. She was both a Curtin Research Fellow, as well as an honorary Research Associate at the University of Western Australia.

Her career has specialised in vertebrate palaeontology, and also how early vertebrate were able to evolve unique morphology, including complex musculature and internal skeletons. She has experience in the use of micro-CT scans as well as scanning fossils using a syncotron, to examine fossil materials. Her work has included how the earth has responded to climate change.

Trinajstic has also conducted research on fossils and palaeongoloy using techniques such as micro-CT and the synchrotron, which enables her to see through rock and determine how fossils of animals such as fish, were able to develop teeth. During her career, she has also named seven taxa.

Women in Science
Trinajstic commented in 2020 on a campaign for attracting science and engineering academics, where only women were welcome to apply. The campaign was designed to address the gender balance in the workforce, and while Research Dean for the faculty, she commented that the program was "a good starting point to attracting talented academic females into the Faculty" and "The benefits of increasing gender representation can start to be realised ensuring we continue to grow a diverse and inclusive environment for all"

She worked on a new metric to assess academics, with the aim of overcoming bias in gender and valid across various career stages.

Publications
Trinajstic's google scholar page lists her publications, which have over 2,000 citations. Trinajstic's publication record is noteworthy for having a significant number of peer-reviewed publications in the presigious, international scientific journals, Nature and Science.



Media
Trinajstic has written various articles for the media, including The Conversation, describing links between sharks and human disease. She has also published in The Conversation on research on vertebral sexual organs, and how they may have evolved as an extra pair of legs. She has also published in the media, describing her research on the fossils of ancient fish, and land movements of extinct fishes, based on new modelling.

She has also published in the ABC, on asteroids and excavated fish fossils, from a site in North Dakota, and how an asteroid was potentially linked with a mass fish death, and published in the media on her research around ancient fish.