Meet Catherine Reinke
Activate the Discovery Gene
Meet Catherine Reinke
Once a first-generation college student, now a dedicated member of Linfield’s science faculty, Catherine Reinke comes alive when she blends teaching with her research as a cell biologist. Both worlds collide auspiciously at a university with collaborative experimentation in its DNA.
When Catherine was looking for a teaching position, she knew exactly what she wanted: an institution dedicated to well-rounded excellence, where she could engage students from across disciplines in hands-on science. She found that at Linfield, along with exactly the kind of students she wanted to teach: inquisitive, earnest, and eager to discover.
To Catherine, Linfield is the ideal ingenuity incubator, where she can actively engage students in her work identifying the location of genes in DNA. While they learn genomics, students make real contributions to science. Because she wants all students to have this opportunity, Catherine helped launch the Genomics Education Partnership, a collective of 100-plus schools dedicated to immersing a diverse student population in the study of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Her efforts secured a $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation, advancing a visionary teaching approach that connects learners and educators through a passion they share: exploring new frontiers.