Canadian Mennonite University Professor Doctor Rachel Krause's journey with science was inspired in part by her upbringing as the daughter of a scientist.

Doctor Rachel Krause is an Assistant Professor of Biology at Canadian Mennonite University. She teaches students with different ranges of scientific knowledge in her courses during the school year and often spends her summers working in the field.

Dr. Krause's scientific interests are in ecology, parasitology, the environment, and global health, She has worked on various projects across Canada studying life found in waterways and is currently working on a project looking at the intestinal health in Panama's preschool-aged children.

Family Business

Dr. Krause grew up in British Columbia, with her mother as a role model for women in science. Her mother influenced Dr. Krause to purse science at a young age and is now using her knowledge as a biologist to create art.

The professor notes that when her mother was studying the sciences, women were not always treated as well as their counterparts and her mother was fortunate to have had a good experience in school.

"That was never my experience," she adds. "I feel very fortunate."

Dr. Krause and her mother even shared the same professor when Dr. Krause was in her undergrad.

Women and Girls in Science

The students that Dr. Krause sees are both new and well versed in the sciences, but Dr. Krause works to make science feel inclusive for everyone. Field journals requiring drawings and trips to the zoo are all ways the professor incorporates different styles of learning.

"This is a really good time to be a woman in science," she says. "We get to do what we want...our gender does not matter."

Dr. Krause relates to young women entering the sciences and sees herself as being able to be a role model, as her professors were to her.

"There are a few female professors that had a big impact on me," she says. "They were able to follow their passions.

 

Krause 2

God and Science

Dr. Krause sees God in her work studying living creatures living inside of other living creatures.

"I think there are lots of ways scientists who are Christians connect to their work naturally," she says. "We are fortunate enough to think about all the things God created."

Dr. Krause uses her work to look at children's health and nutrition, connecting the work she does as her way to live out her faith.