Dr. Rowe received her Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in 2007 from the University of Illinois, USA where her research focused on reproductive behavioural ecology and molecular genetics of a North American songbird. Since her degree, she has worked as a visiting fellow at Southern Cross University, NSW on population genetics and systematics of endangered Australian fauna, and as a post-doctoral associate at the University of California, Berkeley on the Grinnell Resurvey Project, using historical museum records to document mammalian and avian responses to 100 years of climate change.
Karen joined Museum Victoria in May of 2011, and her current research uses historical museum records to evaluate shifts in the distribution of species through time in the context of global change, particularly in mammals of the US and Victoria. She also took part in the recent Museum Victoria faunal surveys in Wilsons Prom and Neds Corner as part of the mammal team.