Major Katie M. McCarty is an Intermediate Level Education (ILE) Fellow at the Institute for Future Conflict and an instructor in the Department of Computer and Cyber Sciences at the U.S. Air Force Academy. In this role, her research focuses on how commercial companies have successfully used artificial intelligence to provide recommendations to the U.S. Space Forces to accelerate their adoption of artificial intelligence.

McCarty received her commission in May 2012 as a distinguished graduate from the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC) at the University of Colorado, Boulder with a B.A. in Astronomy. She later earned a Master of Science in Aeronautics with a specialization in Space Studies from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Her operational experience includes satellite command and telemetry networks, cyber defensive operations, service transition management, program management, intelligence systems, information systems incident response and operational test and evaluation. She is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School Space Test Course, and in 2016 she deployed to Ahmed Al Jaber AFB, Kuwait in support of Operation Inherent Resolve.