Kata Beilin is a researcher, fiction writer and documentary film director. She holds the position of a Professor at the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.  She is affiliated with Holtz Center for Science and Technology Studies, and Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, and Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies Program which she directed between 2019-22. In 2022 Kata was also a co-Chair of LASA Conference Program.
 
Kata researches Maya culture of Yucatan peninsula.  She promotes transdisciplinary and collaborative research across different fields of studies, including non-academic partners and indigenous knowledges. She is particularly interested in human relationships with forests, water and bees.