Catherine Simpson is an assistant professor in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences in the College of Agriculture Sciences and Natural Resources. She earned her Ph.D. in Horticulture at Texas A&M University in 2013 studying abiotic stress physiology in citrus and watermelon crops. Catherine was an Assistant Professor of Citrus Physiology at Texas A&M University-Kingsville from 2015-2019. There she pursued diverse research on citrus production, physiology, and sustainability. In 2019, she accepted a position at TTU as Assistant Professor of Horticulture and Sustainability.

Her previous research expertise includes: plant abiotic stress physiology, nutrition, water use efficiency, sustainable management practices, plant-soil-water relationships, remote sensing in perennial systems, and citrus physiology. Her current research spans the multifaceted areas that bridge horticulture and urban and peri-urban environments. These projects include water resource and soil sustainability, people-plant interactions, plants for human health, plant nutritional quality and phytochemical composition, functional plant products, and horticultural therapy.