The Knowles Science Teaching Foundation (KSTF) awarded the fifth cohort of Science Teaching Fellowships in March 2006. For more information about our fellows, click on a picture.

Aaron Debbink			Kristen Fancher	Jason Gipson-Nahman
Christy Metzger			Matt Randall	Katey Shirey
Cathy Tempest			Andrew Wild

Aaron Debbink

My childhood memories in Burlington, Wisconsin, include climbing trees, building forts and exploring the swamp behind our house with my brothers. After trying ten years to have children, my mother was not ready to part with us when it came time for our schooling. As a result, the first nine years of my education were under her careful guidance. Entering the public schools in 9th grade, I felt that my home schooling experiences had prepared a solid academic foundation and instilled in me a desire to be lifelong learner.

In high school, I found that physics was something I enjoyed and excelled at. This led me to pursue an engineering physics degree at Taylor University in Upland, Indiana, in hopes of becoming an engineer. After a summer job working to reverse-engineer a microchip and a senior project working on a small telecommunications satellite, I realized that long hours alone in a lab was not something I enjoyed. At the same time, my other college experiences were leading me toward something much more personally fulfilling. At Taylor I also worked as a laboratory assistant and physics tutor and volunteered with several different youth organizations, including a summer internship with Youth for Christ. It was through these experiences that I came to realize I have a desire to work with students and a passion for teaching.

Knowing that I wanted to teach, my physics advisor allowed me to teach a semester of physical science at a local private school for my college internship. The following year I was asked to join the staff as a full time teacher at the King's Academy. Since it was a small school I taught a little of everything: physics, algebra I, computer applications and physical education. I also coached cross-country and basketball, and taught a beginner guitar class. It was one of the most challenging years of my life, but also one of the most rewarding. My experiences at the academy confirmed that teaching was what I loved and what I would continue to pursue.

The following year I enrolled in a teacher licensure program and the physics masters program at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, so that I could continue to develop as a professional teacher.  While at Ball State I was awarded a GK-12 fellowship from the National Science Foundation, through which I worked with hundreds of students in science classrooms throughout the Indianapolis Public School system. The fellowship gave me an opportunity to put my science education training into practice and see many students turned on to science. 

For the last two years I have been teaching at Pendleton Heights High School in Pendleton, Indiana.  At PHHS I get to pursue two of my passions in life: physics and the outdoors.  In addition to teaching physics and AP physics B, I am a co-sponsor of the Outdoor Adventure Club where I get to introduce students to the joys of backpacking, rock climbing, caving, camping, canoeing and skiing. 

Kristen Fancher

I was born and raised in the suburbs of Detroit.  I attended Troy High School and took as many math and science classes as I could fit in.  This is where my love for chemistry began as I had two wonderful teachers who really made the subject come alive! 

While completing my undergraduate work at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, I was able to do quite a bit of research in different areas.  My first research experience was in a physical chemistry lab where we were studying the electron transfer rate in DNA.  During my third year at OU, I decided to take a semester off and do some research at Mote Marine Laboratories in Sarasota, Florida.  This was probably the best experience of my undergraduate career.  I did immunology studies and cancer research on sharks and skates.  Then in my fifth year at Oakland, I switched to an organic chemistry lab where I worked on a DNA-ligand binding project as well as a project to synthesize the precursor to a C-5' radical of a nucleoside.

In addition to the research positions I held, I worked as a tutor, a lab report grader, and a teacher's assistant for several general chemistry labs.  I really loved these jobs - they were actually the only jobs I always looked forward to doing.  It was so fun and rewarding to work with the students.

I graduated from OU in December 2003 with a BS in chemistry and a BA in biology without any clue as to what I wanted to be when I "grew up."  So worked at a chemical company in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for two years as a synthetic organic chemist, even though I knew the lab was not where I wanted to be.  I want to do something more fulfilling.  About six months into working at the chemical company, I realized my true passion was in teaching - this was where I could make the greatest difference.  I finally made my dream a realization when I completed the Master's in Education with Secondary Certification program at the University of Michigan.  I did my student teaching at Romulus High School in Romulus, Michigan, and was able to confirm my love of teaching.  I thoroughly enjoyed working with the students and watching them learn and grow as individuals.

I am in my second year teaching at Dansville High School, which is in a rural school district near Lansing, Michigan.  I currently teach chemistry, geometry, and consumer's math.  This year is already so much less stressful that my first year of teaching.  I feel more comfortable teaching and am better prepared and equipped to handle the stresses that come with my exciting and rewarding job.  This year I have taken on the additional responsibilities of being sophomore class co-adviser, National Honors Society co-adviser, Rachel's Challenge (a foundation aimed at helping students see they have the power to make permanent, positive, and cultural change in their schools and communities) committee member in Dansville, and adviser to our newly founded Recycle Club.  These positions have made me very busy, but I am finding so much joy in spending time with my students apart from the classroom.

When I have free time, I like to spend it with my husband, Jesse, and our small family of animals - two dogs, two cats, and two rabbits.

Jason Gipson-Nahman

When I was in middle school, my mother told me that I should dedicate a few years of my life to teaching, in an effort to give something back to the world. I swore that teaching was not for me, and that I would always have a career that was financially rewarding. Now, I’m convinced that I jinxed myself that day. 

I am a native Texan. Born and raised in Houston, I attended the University of Texas at Austin where I earned a BS in mechanical engineering and a BA in Spanish. My fascination with high school physics led me to choose engineering as my first major. My love for Spanish goes back to kindergarten, when I first started learning the language. While in college, I interned for three summers with Texaco and Ford Motor Company, including a summer spent working on offshore production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, 120 miles from the Louisiana coast. During my last internship with Ford, however, I was forced to spend many hours playing with manufacturing software and, as a result, I caught the “computer bug.” After graduating in 2000, I worked as an information technology consultant for a small software development company for more than two years. At first, the weekly travel was fun and the job was definitely financially rewarding, but sitting in airports and living in hotels soon grew old. 

Matt Randall

I was born in Snohomish, Washington, raised by my two very supportive parents, Dean and Rosemary, and had the pleasure of sharing my childhood with my two younger siblings, Mike and Lauren. As a kid, my life revolved around sports, video games, and school. As it turns out, my life still revolves around two of these three things; I'll leave it up to you to guess which ones.

After graduating from Snohomish High School, I moved on to the University of Washington, where I earned degrees in both physics and applied mathematics. Along the way towards earning my degree in physics, I had the good fortune of becoming involved with the Physics Education Group (PEG) at the UW. I took a class called Physics by Inquiry in order to get my endorsement in physics, and came away with a different perspective on teaching. The professors challenged me to deepen my understanding of physics and develop the skills of listening and asking questions that are so important in teaching. This class was also the first place where I realized that as a teacher I need to be able to teach in ways that are different from the ways that I happen to learn well. After taking a few more classes at PEG, they let me stick around and TA in their undergraduate physics classes and also hired me as an instructor at workshops that they run during the summer. This experience with PEG has truly shaped the way that I think about teaching.

As an undergraduate, I continually found myself in a variety of teaching and coaching roles. I first fell in love with coaching as the cross-country coach at Zion Lutheran Middle School during my sophomore year in college. I enjoyed it so much that I continued to coach both cross-country and track there for four years. Among other things, I worked as a tutor in college, English teacher and basketball coach in Ethiopia, and camp counselor in Haines, Alaska. The overwhelming theme of my college years was the enjoyment that I found working with adolescents in a variety of settings. After getting my undergraduate degree, I then went on to get a Masters in Teaching at the University of Washington.

I now teach and coach at Lindbergh High School in Renton, Washington. While I originally thought of myself as a physics teacher, this year I couldn't be happier; I have been entrusted with students in freshman physical science and robotics. I am honored to be a part of the Knowles Science Teaching Foundation. Each Knowles meeting is an inspiring and humbling experience. I look forward to continually developing as a professional in order to better serve the upwards of 150 wonderful and unique students that I will get the chance to meet and explore the wonders of science and engineering with every year.

Katey Shirey

Though the subjects of art and physics may seem unrelated at first glance, through the course of my education, I have come to find them inextricably linked. During high school in Arlington, Virginia, I enjoyed both art and physics, though my love for each began differently. I always took art classes as a young child, but it wasn't until eleventh grade that I discovered that there was a name for all the interesting stuff that was always going on around me: physics.

After high school I moved to Chicago to study sculpture but missed the rigor of physics, and after a year I returned to Virginia to study both physics and sculpture at the University of Virginia. I graduated with a BA in both physics and studio art, and a minor in art history.

I used physics in my art from almost the very start of my undergraduate career. I tried to explain physics and physical phenomenon through large-scale kinetic sculptures and installations. This combination seemed natural and necessary for me to express. Physics was always on my mind, even as I planned sculptures and pushed my aesthetic and technical prowess. In physics classes, I tried to incorporate art from the process of smelting bronze to the rotational acceleration of a potter's wheel.

In 2004, I was awarded the Fifth-Year Aunspaugh Fellowship in the McIntire Department of Art at UVA for the 2004-2005 school year. The fellowship gave me a chance to work as an artist and sculpture teacher's assistant. While working with the art students I realized that I wanted my students to learn more about their world through their art, and that sculpture class was not the place to teach it. I made the decision to return to school to study physics education with the hopes of eventually developing a curriculum that can teach physics using art. What I really like about art and physics is that both subjects have the potential for infinite possible outcomes, and thus they encourage the artist or physicist to take varied approaches supported by strong reasoning. By teaching how abstract thought and creative problem solving can yield positive results, students will learn how to better understand physics and their world.

I attended the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia where I became a firm believer in the differentiated classroom, as well as in emphasizing the nature of science and the history of science as parts of the physics curriculum.  Currently I am in my second year of teaching at Washington-Lee High School in Arlington, VIrginia.  It is still my hope to one day develop a curriculum that bridges art and physics allowing access for more students into the deep understandings of Physics.

Cathy Tempest

Everyone told me that it will get better your second year. Well, they were right.  I have now started my second year of teaching at Ardrey Kell High School in Charlotte, North Carolina, and I can already see a huge difference. I have more confidence in myself and what to expect. I have a better idea of what works and what doesn't, and how to handle day to day challenges. And I have lessons plans to give me a starting point.

While at Duke University preparing for my Master of Arts in Teaching degree, I never imagined the gravity of the profession I was about to take on. It wasn't until I was a full-time teacher did I realize the amount of responsibility that was now in my hands. I discovered a new-found respect for teachers and all that they do. I don't think you can ever really appreciate the amount of work a teacher does until you've done it yourself. And even then, you are challenged day by day, and even minute to minute. But it is a profession unlike any other. When your students return to see you after a long summer break and greet you with a huge smile and big hug, you never knew how much they really liked you after all. Or what kind of an impact you really had. I enjoyed so much our first day back at school this year, and the hugs continue even as the weeks pass on.

I imagine things will get even better as the years pass on and I am able to see the results of my hard work. Students are starting to ask for college letters of recommendation. My department and administration are handing me more responsibility. I no longer feel like the new kid on the block, but a contributing member of a science department that works hard to give our student body the best education only we know how to provide them.

Andrew Wild