Katherine St. John Research    Teaching    Service    Office Hours




I am a professor in the Department of Computer Science at Hunter College of the City University of New York (CUNY). I also hold appointments to the doctoral faculty of anthropology and of computer science at the Graduate Center of CUNY, as well as being a research associate at the American Museum of Natural History (invertebrate zoology and NYCEP). I earned my Ph.D. from UCLA, my masters from Johns Hopkins University and my bachelors degree from Smith College. I did postdoctoral work at University of Pennsylvania and University of Texas, Austin.

My research interests lie in the intersection of biology, computing, and mathematics, focusing on tree structures used to model evolutionary histories, binary search trees, and ways to compare and visualize these structures. See my research page for recent publications and grant funding.

I was the interim chair of computer science at Hunter College for Spring 2021 (departmental questions should be directed to the regular chair: Dr. William Sakas). Additional service focuses on making computational and mathematical concepts more accessible. My recent teaching echos the same theme.

If you would like to reach me, the best way is email to: stjohn AT hunter cuny edu.