Alumni Profiles

B.S., double major in Biology and Physics with Concentrations in Mathematics and Chemistry, 2005

Laboratory Technician

University of Vermont

Burlington, Vt.

Kristi Herzer doesn’t just say hello; she says it with a big hug. She’s so outgoing, if you ever get to spend time with her, you’ll be a happier person. We met in downtown Burlington, Vt., and within seconds we were laughing. By the middle of the meal, those around us in the restaurant were laughing, just from the influence of Kristi’s aura.

She grew up in southern Maryland and in Manteo, N.C., but she chose to live and work way up on the northern border of Vermont, almost in Canada. Why? “I prefer my winter wardrobe.”

That’s not the kind of witty response you might stereotypically expect from an acclaimed biology and physics major who’s considering earning a Ph.D. in microbiology, but Kristi is not typical. In fact, it was mainly Burlington’s political climate that she found appealing.

She doesn’t mind the cold winters, though. She even adds that the cold of Vermont often reminds her of what she experienced when she climbed to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, a beautiful mountain in Tanzania that is also the highest peak in Africa.

“The biology and geology departments at Guilford College sponsored a trip to study in East Africa, and it was amazing,” says Kristi. “I went there to study cheetahs, and I got academic credit for the work. I also loved every minute of the trip, and I especially loved the cold weather of Kilimanjaro.”

She also chose Burlington for some of the same reasons she chose to enroll at Guilford College — for the openness and sense of community. “When I was in high school I went to an Indigo Girls concert in the Greensboro area, and I decided to visit Guilford while I was there. I fell in love with it and knew right away that it was where I wanted to be.”

Kristi says that the Quaker traditions at Guilford College were defining factors during her years there: “The college definitely increased my awareness of three things — sustainability, community and my inner self.” She adds that the college “added physics to my life, and even today that shapes the way I analyze problems. It also increases my persistence in solving them.”

She explains that the Guilford College approach to physics “was not the usual, formal method; it was much more a process of discovery, of inventing ways to find solutions. It meant we had to learn all of the aspects of the problem first and then devise an approach to solving it! It was both frustrating and exciting.”

Her physics thesis, titled “Physics in Microbiology,” was a real challenge, she says. She did research for it at the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, “and it was really frustrating, really a trying exercise for me. But now I see that my work on that thesis shaped who I am as a scientist and as a responsible adult. It taught me to work professionally, to devise ways around roadblocks, to finish the task.”

Kristi says she now works in the endocrinology department in a Type 2 Diabetes research lab that has “the most amazing people and the best boss in the world.” After Guilford College, she found ads for two different jobs at the University of Vermont, she says, and she was torn between them, trying to decide which to apply for. So, having stayed in touch, she called her Guilford College advisor to get some advice.

“I actually wanted the job I ended up with because the boss here was very much like the people at Guilford College — very welcoming, warm, friendly. I had grown accustomed to that! But the other job was good too, so I described both to my former advisor. She said, ‘Both of them are great jobs, Kristi. My advice is, just listen to your heart.’ So that’s what I did.”

Kristi not only stays in touch with people at Guilford College, she also returns to campus every two years for a Physics Department Alumni Reunion. “I know it’s unusual for departments to have reunions, much less to have high attendance the way we do, but the experiences at Guilford College meant so much to us, we want to go back. In fact, you want to know the worst thing about Guilford College for me? I graduated.”

She adds that part of the physics training at the college included public speaking, almost weekly, and that was “invaluable.” She says: “That plus my physics defense gave me skills that definitely helped me in job interview situations.”

Will she be at that job another five years? “Well, I do know I’ll be working in a lab, and I’ll be in nature in all my spare time, hopefully working in my garden.” That makes sense — when she’s asked how others might describe her, Kristi immediately says, “The really fun dork who likes veggies.”

She has this advice for those who might be considering Guilford College: “I absolutely loved it, but of course it’s not for everyone. It gave me very important life skills, but you need to check it out. Visit. Then just listen to your heart.”