<b>C&amp;EN talks with Kate Biberdorf,</b> science entertainer known as Kate the Chemist

Kate Biberdorf knew she wanted to be a chemist from the age of 15. She attributes her decision to the passion of a high school teacher who had a knack for engaging students by running around the classroom and lighting things on fire. But Biberdorf, now popularly known as Kate the Chemist , didn’t know she wanted to become a science entertainer until her first year as a faculty member at the University of Texas at Austin. “A month or so into the position, I realized that, because I wasn’t running a research group, I had a lot of extra time on my hands, and I was getting bored quickly,” Biberdorf recalls. “So I went to my boss and said, ‘You’ve got to give me another job or I’m gonna quit.’ ” That’s what prompted the university’s “Fun with Chemistry” outreach program, under which Biberdorf would visit local elementary schools and