Dr. Katie Carpentier

Dr. Katie Carpentier joined the Department of Natural Sciences in the fall of 2021. Dr. Carpentier earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Carroll College in Helena, MT, and a Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. Following graduate school, Dr. Carpentier spent four years as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Colorado School of Medicine studying host defenses to mosquito-borne viruses. In addition to her research efforts, Dr. Carpentier also found opportunities to engage with students in the classroom, running labs and giving lectures in graduate and medical school classes at the University of Colorado, and teaching at Front Range Community College.

While Dr. Carpentier has an extensive background in research, her passion lies in teaching. As a product of a liberal arts education, Dr. Carpentier understands the value of an education that spans multiple disciplines, providing unique perspectives that foster creative thinking and the ability to critically analyze information. She also highly values the active participation and engagement that small class sizes allow. As a professor, Dr. Carpentier strives to be accessible to students and works to adapt her teaching to meet their needs.

In her free time, Dr. Carpentier likes to spend time enjoying the outdoors with her husband and daughter, and her golden retriever named Waffles.