Catherine Walker is a National Board Certified Teacher who teaches oceanography, marine biology, unmanned aviation science and Project Lead the Way engineering essentials to students in grades nine through 12 at Dimond High School in Anchorage, Alaska. Walker fell in love with teaching while serving in the Peace Corps in Mali from 2002-2004 as a Natural Resource Management Volunteer. She has taught science and career and technical education classes since 2006 and also sponsors the Battle of the Books, Gender Sexuality Alliance, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Ocean Guardian and National Ocean Science Bowl clubs. Walker also teaches courses for educators new to science at Prince William Sound College. 

Walker is a member of the Pacific Ocean Educators Network and a board member for the Alaska Society for Technology in Education. Walker has a Master of Arts in teaching from the University of Alaska, Anchorage, and a Bachelor of Science in biology from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. She completed the Semester in Environmental Science at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and won the Eleanor B. Schick Award for Environmental Excellence from Brandeis University.  

She is the Alaska science awardee for the 2015 Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching. In 2019, Walker earned her National Geographic Educator Certification and attended the National Geographic Education Summit in Washington, D.C. In 2023, Walker was awarded the Alaska Marine Science Outreach Award, the National Science Teaching Association’s Shell Science Teaching Award and the Alaska Oil and Gas Association Teacher Grant. Walker is a 2023 Earthwatch Project Kindle Fellow and a 2023 Lindblad National Geographic Grosvenor Teacher Fellow.