Kaitlyn Venneman

Professional Background

I completed my Bachelor of Arts in creative writing with a double minor music theory and biology at Knox College in 2012. Prior to seeking a Ph.D. in the biological sciences, I received my Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Eastern Washington University in 2014. In 2017, I received my Master of Arts in English literature and rhetoric from the University of Missouri – Kansas City. For the next six years, I taught discourse and composition at UMKC and MCC, respectively, and worked as the writing tutor for KCKCC’s Trio program. Looking to shift to a career in the sciences, I began research in the lab of Dr. Leonard Dobens in 2018, where I investigated the role of a suspected PEST domain in the Drosophila melanogaster Tribbles protein. I was accepted into the IGPBS program at KUMC in 2021, and I joined the lab of Dr. Udayan Apte in the summer of 2022.