Catherine Ishida grew up in Tokyo, New York , and London, which is why she studies astronomy. After moving from city to city, she decided that learning about things that are true everywhere in the Universe might be a good strategy. In fourth grade, she went camping in the countryside and had a chance to stay up late. Seeing the beauty of the night sky undiluted by city lights filled her with wonder and reaffirmed her earlier decision. As an astronomer, Catherine has been studying collisions of galaxies and how they lead to the birth of stars. Living in Hilo makes it easy for her to pursue many of her interests, which include day dreaming about being a country girl.

Catherine obtained her undergraduate degree in physics and astronomy from Yale University in 1993 and her graduate degree in astronomy from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa in 2004. She has given presentations to people of all ages on topics ranging from the distance scales in the Universe to the connection between science and optimism.