UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #864
FOREST, KATRINA
							
FOREST, KATRINA (1966- )
Associate Professor, Department of Bacteriology, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences
At UW: 2002-

Interviewed: 2007	
Interviewer: Sandy Pfahler
Length: 1.5 hours

Abstract: Family life and early education; undergraduate study at MIT; doctoral work at Princeton; research and dissertation; postdoctoral position at Scripps Research Center in San Diego; hiring by UW; the UW Department of Bacteriology; research and teaching; grants; tenure process; campus committees, status of women in the sciences at UW; family and personal life.
							
Interview Session (April 30, 2007): Tape 1

Tape 1/Side 1

00:00:48	Forest was born in Honolulu.  Her father was in the Navy.  They moved to Philadelphia when she was an infant. Then they moved to the Baltimore area.  Her father was an engineer.  They moved to Madison during 6th grade.

00:02:21	She talks about spending her junior year of high school studying in Germany.  Her mother’s background and work.

00:04:02	Forest talks about her high school years.  Family encouragement to go into science.  

00:06:10	She explains how she chose her college. She opted for MIT. KF discusses her college years at MIT. She spent part of one year at UW, while her mother was ill with cancer. Academic and social life.

00:09:10	Forest talks about influential courses and professors at MIT.  Interest in languages and literature.  

00:12:15	She talks about female science professors at MIT.  Women in science.  She discusses the trajectory of her path into graduate school and the desire to enter academia.

00:15:20	She and her husband went to graduate school at Princeton.  The program and faculty at Princeton. She talks about the development of her research interests.

00:16:33	She discusses the pros and cons of studying topics that are different from most of the people in the department. Cross-departmental research.

00:19:45	Forest did a postdoc at the Scripps Research Center in San Diego.  Protein crystallography.  

00:20:00	She discusses her research and some of the applications of her work.  

00:22:05	KF talks about significant changes in the field during the last 15 years. National organizations. The development of molecular biology. Synchrotron radiation.  Preservation of crystals using very cold temperatures.

00:23:45	She talks about the ways high speed computing has helped with data processing.  

00:26:24	Forest explains how she was hired on the UW faculty.  She and her husband were both able to get jobs in Madison.

00:28:50	KF assesses the laboratory facilities of the department.  She is housed in one of the oldest science buildings on campus.  A new microbiology building is under construction at this time.

00:31:55	She discusses the reputation of the department. She talks about the focus at UW on graduate student research. Concern about funding for graduate students.  Federal and state funding of science research and education.  

00:35:25	She talks about the grants that fund her research. The Tech Foundation. NIH and NSF grants.  

00:36:05	Forest talks about going through the tenure process. Her application went through the divisional committee twice before passing.  

00:39:02	She describes some of the courses that she teaches at UW. Mentoring graduate students.

00:43:09	Writing instruction.  Academic writing and publishing.

00:46:15	End of Side.

Tape 1/Side 2

00:46:10	Katrina Forest talks about her first scientific paper and learning to write academic papers.

00:46:40	KF talks about her service on campus committees.  Graduate student committees.  Grant and journal article reviews.  Women in Science and Engineering Residential College (WISE).

00:50:44	She discusses her involvement in the cluster hiring process.  She has been involved in the hiring of several new faculty members.  

00:53:00	Steering committee of the Life Sciences Collaborative Access Team. Information Technology Committee.

00:54:35	She talks about the national professional and academic organizations she belongs to.

00:56:05	She lists several fellowships and awards that she has won during her career.

00:57:30	Forest talks about the status of women in the sciences at UW. 

01:01:25	She talks about her family and the problem of balancing work and recreation/personal time.

01:06:43	End of Side.  End of Tape.  End of Interview.
				
End of Oral History #864