Karen Breitbach

Karen started her career in the Materials lab at the John Deere Tractor Works in Waterloo, Iowa. Working on her Master’s degree in Chemistry persuaded her to pursue education. She spent the next 20 years teaching high school science, every discipline at one time or another. Mentoring aspiring science teachers from the nearby university was also a rewarding aspect of her teaching career. These days, she finds herself teaching Materials Chemistry (many of her students work for John Deere) and Physical Science for elementary/middle level education majors at the collegiate level, and collaborating with Emily Starr and Tricia Hoover on StarrMatica’s texts.