By: Sophie Wang

There was a chemist named Kelly Knight and she liked science a lot. When Knight entered 11th-grade anatomy, she learned blood analysis by analyzing a crime scene scenario.

“Nowadays, forensics is very popular,” said Knight. “You see it on TV shows. But there was no CSI when I was in high school.” Knight’s job wasn’t an easy job. Knight was very anxious and struggling academically in college. During these horrible struggles, she found her dream job—it was crime scene investigation. When Knight was in college, she started to like research and remembered enjoying blood typing labs in high school. Knight’s GPA was not good in college. Knight studied hard, then, she was waitlisted in Virginia Commonwealth University for her Masters’s degree. Luckily, she was eventually accepted.

After researching blood typing, Knight started to like researching DNA. She worked in a large private DNA laboratory. Her mentor helped Knight a lot.

Knight found that when she cares for herself, she understands her work better. Knight doesn’t overwork herself, as she said in an interview, “Sometimes when you’re too close to a project or you’ve spent too much time on it, you get this tunnel vision.” Sometimes, she used to research DNA at 3 in the morning.

Now, Knight is an educator. Knight was very excited when she got her Teaching Excellence Award in 2020. The reward for Knight was not the award itself, but the process to apply for that award was a huge exercise in reflecting on her own teaching practices and the impact she has had. Knight’s students have told her that she was a great teacher and they learned lots of things with her.