Biological Sciences and Psychology
Dr. Kim Kandl
Associate Professor of Biology
St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN
Dr. Kandl has a vigorous undergraduate research program having worked with 62 research students in the last 4 years alone! According to the writers of her nomination letter “she gets to know her research students strengths, goals, and career aspirations so that she can tailor her mentoring to best fit their needs”, and they particularly noted her efforts on the part of low income, first generation, and BIPOC students. Her dedication to the craft of teaching is evident in her record as an engaged and skilled teacher, in the testimony of her students, and in her service on the Education Committee of the American Society of Cell Biology. Her research and curriculum development are broadly interdisciplinary, and thus is particularly appropriate for an award that honors the spirit and legacy of Janet Andersen.
Physical Sciences, Mathematics and Computer Science
Dr. Shonda Kuiper
Professor of Mathematics and Statistics
Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA
Dr. Kuiper has been recognized as a leader in statistics education, developing lab-based curricula that have allowed colleagues across the world to access research-like activities for their students through her National Science Foundation grants, publications, textbook, and Stat2Labs website. She also has an outstanding record as a research mentor for undergraduate students. All of her courses involve group research projects and she encourages her students to submit their projects to the Undergraduate Statistics Project Competition (USPROC). Since 2014, twenty-eight of her groups of students have won USPROC awards, which is more than any other faculty member in the history of the award. Between the summers of 2017 and 2021, she mentored a total in forty-four individual research students as part of Grinnell’s Mentored Advanced Projects (MAPs) program. In the last two years, seven groups of her MAPs students have presented their research at professional conferences. Particularly relevant to the Janet Andersen award is the fact that she has mentored student projects from a variety of majors including mathematics, computer science, biology, biochemistry, economics and sociology.