Catherine Kemp is an Instructor of Biology and a House Counselor in Stearns House. Before coming to Andover, Kemp studied genetics and environmental science as a research scientist at the National Institutes of Health and Oregon Health and Sciences University. As an avid rower, she is an active USRowing licensed referee and a coordinator and athlete of Dartmouth Alumni Rowing. In her free time, Kemp enjoys embroidery, camping in the mountains, and spending time with her son.
What drew you to the field of biology?
I always liked being outside and going outdoors. I grew up with my father, who loved nature and getting outside. As a student in school, I did not like biology. Ninth-grade biology was pretty awful, and when I went to college, I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I knew it wasn’t going to be math or science. After my first year of college, I was working this job at an airplane tire retread factory, and I said to myself, I never want to sit at a desk or wear pantyhose again in my life… I had to sign up for classes for my second year of college, and I looked at the entire course catalog, and all I was thinking was, “What major will not lead to wearing pantyhose?” I got to the section of ecology, and it was all like go catch frogs in ponds, go outside, and go run around in the woods… I thought if I get an A, I’m going to major in ecology.
What’s the most meaningful part of redesigning the BIO100 curriculum?
Our hope was that we could at least take the list of things you have to memorize, which is part of biology, and try to at least show the context of how it shows up in the world. When we talk about things like sex determination, that is really important in a lot of our cultural conversations right now. At least we could say yes, we have to memorize this stuff, but we can also see how it shows up in the world and why it might be useful to know that. When we were trying to intentionally capture contemporary topics of importance, that was the part that meant the most to me.
What was a scientific research project you worked on that was especially challenging or meaningful to you?
Most of my scientific work now has been as a mentor rather than the work that I’ve done myself. That’s particularly through our biology research course [BIO600] because that’s authentic original science research… The ones that feel most meaningful to me are by students [who] are really passionate about the real-world impact of the research, and a lot of times that tends to break down issues of marginalization… This one fascinating project by Amara Neal ’22 was thinking about homelessness and about the ways in which homelessness might impact health through underlying molecular mechanisms in the body. This included feelings of being socially disconnected, and how that could influence your baseline physiology and… gene expression, the fundamental way your body takes advantage of your DNA and uses it differently.
How do your experiences in research influence the way you teach biology in your classes today?
When I have a choice, I try to let my students ask their own questions and push in as much research as I can. A lot of times in our courses, that’s fixed in a different way. Because I’m a research scientist, I believe in evidence, and so everything I do as a teacher I’m doing because I went and read a bunch of literature about experiments, about learning and education… I’m trying to implement that into the context of our student body and the courses that we have. That’s the biggest thing, trying to be evidence-based in whatever we’re approaching in class.
What makes Andover a meaningful place for you?
[Intentional diversity has] given me the opportunity to be exposed to so many other different perspectives and worldviews. That’s been a big part of this growth, seeing there’s actually other ways to approach a problem or other ways to think about it or [seeing] different value systems. It helped me challenge assumptions and then think about what’s authentic to who I am… I’ve never been in another community or place in my life where there’s been so much diversity, and that has really been essential.
Throughout your career in science, athletics, and education, what accomplishment are you most proud of so far?
That I’ve been able to change my mindset and grow [is something] I’m thinking a lot about. In terms of athletics, I used to be very performance-oriented and hard on myself. I can’t tell you how much more fun I am having now that I’m running around eating Little Debbie Snack Cakes in the woods. I’m not trying to be the fastest person out there and I am so happy and still doing big things, but I’m much happier doing big things. The fact that I’ve been able to grow in particular ways that feel a little bit countercultural.
How did you first get into rowing?
My brother had started a rowing team at his high school. He’s 6’5’’, so he looked very sporty. I often got dragged in, and I was always the worst, dead last at everything like field day. I hated sports… I did a week-long rowing camp and I don’t know what was different, but it made sense, possibly because I was sitting down so I couldn’t trip and fall over. It was completely different than anything else, which had been a total train wreck in my entire life. So that was nice… for me, [rowing] is very soothing. I like working out really hard because then your brain shuts up. It’s very mindfully present… you’re just gasping for air and I like that.
If you could have dinner with any famous figure, dead or alive, who would you choose? Why?
I want to talk with Ann Trason. She’s an early groundbreaking, legendary ultramarathon runner, and she was one of these amazing women in the sport. She won Western States [Endurance Run] 14 times in a row and set all of these course records that have stood for decades, but she was doing that decades ago, and I saw that she just recently hit 100 miles at another event a week or two ago. She’s at a point in life now where she needs a walker to do it, and I would love to talk to her about where she is.
What is a hidden talent or skill you have that most people don’t know about?
I am amazing at writing math word problems. My son is 10 years old in fourth grade, and he hates school. He needs to work on his math, but I’ve taken it on myself to try and write math problems that are genuinely interesting to a 10-year-old who has gotten obsessed with video games. I write word problems that are a mashup of Pokémon crossed with Legend of Zelda and maybe some Minecraft thrown in, and then I’m trying to think about how you hide order of operations and multiplication in between. One night was a taco truck where you had salsas you could put on that had different attack power-ups. The flaming Frijole salsa was plus 27 attack power, but the punchy pineapple was a three-times multiplier.
What is your favorite Andover tradition?
As students are leaving classes, they say thank you. That’s something that’s special about our community and something that feels generally meaningful to me that’s like an Andover tradition. It doesn’t seem like a formal one, but that means a lot.
