As a first-generation college student, Kristy Hopfensperger never imagined she would end up as a college professor with a Ph.D., impacting students every day through research and leadership. Originally from Wisconsin, Dr. Hopfensperger discovered her love for environmental science and nonprofit work during a high school environmental science class.

“I didn’t know it at the time, but what an opportunity it was to have an environmental science class in high school,” she says. “It just blew my mind because it was stuff that wasn’t really covered in biology class. I was always wanting to learn more and it just really excited me, so that’s what led me towards pursuing wildlife science and biology in college.”

After earning her bachelor’s from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and a master’s degree from Washington State University, Dr. Hopfensperger joined a project through the University of Maryland’s Center for Environmental Science. There, she worked on wetland restoration in partnership with the National Park Service and gained the confidence to begin her Ph.D. with the goal of working for a university that mentored undergraduates in research opportunities. 

“I got to do a lot of community engagement work with the scientific research I was conducting on plants and nutrients and water quality,” Dr. Hopfensperger says. “I really enjoyed being exposed to all of that, and after a year I had so much data that I decided maybe I actually could get a Ph.D. I realized I really wanted to be working with undergraduate students to give them the opportunities that I had.” 

In Maryland, she also realized her passion for useful research; Dr. Hopfensperger wanted to conduct research and collect data that people could use—a value she still carries 20 years later.  

“In ecology, and in a lot of science, there’s always theory,” she says. “We ask a question and then look for the answer, and that never sat right with me. I thought if I’m going to spend all this time, I want it to be what we called applied ecology. At the time, so much of our field was theoretical, but I’ve always been really driven towards data being used to make our environment better.”

After earning her doctorate in environmental science at the University of Maryland and completing post-doctoral work at Colgate University in New York, Dr. Hopfensperger decided it was time to settle down somewhere closer to her home state of Wisconsin; so, she interviewed for an assistant professor position at Northern Kentucky University under the late president James Votruba. 

“It was just so clear the commitment that NKU had to their community, and that just really sat with me,” she says. 

Whether it was through local initiatives like the Big Brothers Big Sisters program or engaging with local neighborhoods through her research, Dr. Hopfensperger always made an intentional effort to be an active member of the community wherever she lived. When talking with then-president Votruba, she was excited about joining a state school like NKU where she could relate her own experience and bring opportunities to her students.   

Dr. Hopfensperger arrived on campus in 2009. After teaching both biology and environmental science courses for a few years, the head of the program moved on, and she was named director. Since then, she developed the program to include more classes taught by actual environmental scientists, even developing a new major: the Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Science. 

“There are a lot of jobs out there like environmental journalism and things that don’t necessarily require working in a lab, so we developed the Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Science, and what I really love about it is that it’s unique compared to other programs at nearby institutions,” Dr. Hopfensperger says. 

NKU’s Bachelor of Arts program stands out from other universities because students are required to take introductory sciences courses that will allow them to understand the scientific concepts behind environmental issues. Students pick between different degree tracks where they can experience upper-level electives and branch out beyond the sciences into fields like humanities, social sciences, public health, advocacy, communications, sustainability management and more. Not only that, but as an R2 institution, NKU is able to provide undergraduates with hands-on research experience that is typically only reserved for graduate students at other universities. 

“As a faculty at a school that doesn’t have this as a graduate program, we have to do research differently,” Dr. Hopfensperger says. “We don’t have technicians and graduate students to maintain machinery and be out in the field all the time. So, we teach a lot and we do research on a different time scale.”  

As the head of the Environmental Science program, Dr. Hopfensperger allows her students to do the bulk of hands-on work for research projects in her lab. By training students to collect data both in the field and in the lab, they are able to learn methods that will allow them to excel in graduate school and careers after graduation. Dr. Hopfensperger also has partnerships with several local organizations, providing a network of pathways for students to land internships and job opportunities. She is a fellow with an organization called Green Umbrella, where she launched the Climate Research Incubator, a group in the region that brings community organizations and academics together to conduct climate research. She also participates in air quality work through the University of Cincinnati’s RISE program and the UC Climate Change and Health Center. Dr. Hopfensperger is also currently working with the Cincinnati Nature Center and Greenacre Foundation to study restoring pollinator habitats and has been working on a climate resilience project called Climate Safe Neighborhoods with Groundwork Ohio River Valley, a Cincinnati nonprofit organization. 

“It’s really important to have community partners in research because they are the ones that would do this at a large scale in real life,” she says. “Having them as part of the research process from the very beginning allows us to incorporate their insights into all of our methods. It’s fine for scientists to have an experiment, but is it actually affordable or feasible for a land manager to be able to do this once the scientists are done?” 

Traditionally, scientists in ecology and biology were trained to conduct and lead research projects by themselves, but Dr. Hopfensperger prioritizes projects that involve collaboration. 

“It’s just so enjoyable working with other ecologists and bringing people together,” she says. “Being collaborative is really fun, and being part of the community goes back to the work being impactful and applied and useful to society, and that is just important to me.”  

Dr. Hopfensperger says she’s worked on too many research projects to be able to pick a favorite, but that she feels grateful and privileged for the community climate work that she has a hand in. She also hopes that, from the work they do together, students see the value of equity and the importance of applying their knowledge as a scientist for society. 

“Honestly, I just think of all of it as a privilege,” Hopfensperger says. “I’m in the position of a professor, and there’s so many things about our job that we’re so fortunate to have. I’ve always had such a big appreciation for the students at NKU. It took me a while to get an understanding, because I had to adjust to the demands on our students outside of college life. They balance so many things, they have so many life-demands and hiccups and road bumps, but they keep going. That gives me motivation and makes me so happy to see them graduate. Just to be here and help people get where they want to go—I think it’s a privileged job, and it’s really awesome.”