Kristen always loved science and even as a young child was encouraged by her parents to follow her curiosity as far as it would lead her. After an eighth-grade science lesson on levers and inclined planes, she decided to be a physicist. She was a physics major and women's studies minor at UC San Diego, where her childhood interest in astronomy was rekindled. She did her graduate work at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in upstate New York and earned a PhD in physics. Her astronomy research took her to Australian and South African telescopes, and she still enjoys traveling the world. She has lived in Bellingham with her husband since 1998. She loves teaching at Western.