{"id":26296,"date":"2026-02-11T08:35:05","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T13:35:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/?p=26296"},"modified":"2026-02-11T08:35:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T13:35:06","slug":"wait-what-to-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wait-what-to-heres-why\/","title":{"rendered":"From ‘Wait, What’ to ‘Here’s Why,’ Stevens-Truss Champions Science"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\n
\"'Wait,
Emily Dalecki \u201926, Morgan Paye \u201926, Dorothy H. Heyl Professor of Chemistry Regina Stevens-Truss and Anoushka Soares \u201926 worked together in the Stevens-Truss lab last summer.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"Regina
Stevens-Truss and student Ava Apolo ’25 point to Apolo’s photo in a display highlighting that year’s Senior Integrated Project students in Stevens-Truss’ lab. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n

Some people spend years searching for their calling. For Regina Stevens-Truss, the Dorothy H. Heyl Professor of Chemistry at Kalamazoo College, finding her calling was different. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure that it was a matter of finding what I wanted to do,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was more like destiny. I have always loved science and math!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That destiny has taken her on a remarkable journey. She\u2019s gone from a 14-year-old immigrant\u2014arriving in Brooklyn, N.Y., with limited English\u2014to a nationally recognized biochemistry educator who has spent 26 years inspiring students at K. And career success is why the United Nations is celebrating women like Stevens-Truss today, February 11, the International Day of Women and Girls in Science<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the U.N., a significant gender gap has persisted throughout the years at all levels of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines all over the world. Even though women have made tremendous progress toward increasing their participation in higher education, they are still underrepresented in these fields. The U.N.\u2019s hope is that role models like Stevens-Truss will continue inspiring young women to stay with STEM\u2014in academics and their professions\u2014for years to come. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u2018Wait, What\u2019 Kid<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Born in Panama, Stevens-Truss arrived in the United States in 1974 with an insatiable curiosity that often tested her father\u2019s patience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was that kid who wanted to know \u2018Why? How?\u2019\u201d Stevens-Truss said. \u201cMy dad would say to me in Spanish all the time, \u2018C\u00e1llate, Regina,\u2019 because I would always ask why. Yes, I was that \u2018wait, what?\u2019 kid in school.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her transition to the U.S., though, wasn\u2019t easy. Placed in eighth grade despite limited English proficiency, Stevens-Truss faced isolation as a self-described scrawny Black Latina in 1970s Brooklyn. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI got picked on a lot and had very few friends,\u201d Stevens-Truss said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what could have derailed her education became her anchor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat grounded me was school, and in particular my math classes.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those early teachers, none of whom looked like her, saw something special and encouraged her learning. When her family moved to New Jersey, she found community among her white classmates at Cherry Hill West High School.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThose were hard years because I was an outcast yet again,\u201d Stevens-Truss said. \u201cI only had three Black friends. My friend groups were all white women, and they helped keep me in science and math because we all loved these subjects. We were taking these classes together, we lived near each other, and I belonged.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finding Her Path<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At Rutgers University, Stevens-Truss initially pursued medicine\u2014like many first-generation students\u2014to fulfill family expectations. Later, a turning point came at the University of Toledo while she was working as a part-time research technician for Richard Hudson \u201961. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Regina
Stevens-Truss stands with Kaleb Brownlow ’01, the first SIP student she had in her tenure at K.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
\n
\"'Wait,
Dalecki shared her portrait of Stevens-Truss during a Fun Friday activity last summer in which students painted their principal investigators.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Hudson was a K chemistry alumnus who would later become her Ph.D. advisor. One day he walked into the lab with unexpected news and said, \u201cRegina, you need to go do something else.\u201d Thinking she was being fired, Stevens-Truss asked why. His response changed her life: \u201cBecause I can tell you\u2019re bored. You need to go get a Ph.D.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was right. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love learning, and when it gets stagnant, I get bored,\u201d Stevens-Truss said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That restless curiosity that made her the \u201cwait, what?\u201d kid still drives her today, pushing her to constantly find new ways to reach students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Biochemistry Connection<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

What captivates Stevens-Truss about biochemistry now is the intersection where chemistry illuminates biology. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLiving systems are so complex and yet work so well that I, still to this day, find it exhilarating to learn about them,\u201d she said. \u201cMy chemistry classes felt like work, and my biology classes made no sense to me. It\u2019s always been awesome when I could connect my chemistry knowledge to biological phenomena\u2014hence the reason I consider myself a medicinal biochemist. I love to understand living systems through how chemical changes impact them.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This philosophy permeates her teaching. Ask her biochemistry students, and they\u2019ll tell you she constantly pushes them to ask how and why\u2014the same questions that defined her childhood. Her current research focuses on ESKAPE pathogens, as she and her lab students study how antimicrobial peptides and hybrid compounds\u2014developed in the K labs of Kurt D. Kaufman Associate Professor of Chemistry Dwight Williams and Associate Professor of Chemistry Blake Tresca\u2014work against dangerous bacteria like E. coli and S. aureus.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twenty-Six Years at K<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Hudson had more career advice for Stevens-Truss when she was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRichard called the lab one day and said to me, \u2018Regina, I have the job for you: teaching chemistry at Kalamazoo College.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her response was, \u201cKalama what?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was 26 years ago. What keeps her engaged after more than two decades? The students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTheir curiosity amazes me, and their true interest in knowing makes me want to know and keeps me questioning and finding out,\u201d Stevens-Truss said. \u201cThey make me laugh daily.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her impact extends far beyond K. The 2023 ASBMB Award for Exemplary Contributions to Education<\/a> recognized her decades of work on classroom and social issues affecting student success.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBeing selected for this award was incredibly humbling,\u201d she said. \u201cIt also helped validate my career.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That commitment to student success has taken many forms. In 2016, she received K\u2019s highest teaching honor, the Florence J. Lucasse Lectureship for Excellence in Teaching<\/a>. In 2018, she was named the College\u2019s director of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Inclusive Excellence grant<\/a>, awarded to K\u2019s science division. She\u2019s also been a faculty leader for Sisters in Science<\/a>, a student organization that visits local schools to encourage young women to pursue science; and Sukuma, a peer-based study group for students of color in the sciences.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Message for the Next Generation<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When she was asked what message she hoped her students would carry forward, Stevens-Truss didn\u2019t hesitate, though she acknowledged it might sound clich\u00e9d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTruly, follow your dreams,\u201d she said. \u201cDon\u2019t let naysayers tell you that you don\u2019t belong and that you can\u2019t.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She encourages students to ask themselves key questions: How did you get here? Why do you want to be here? Who inspires you? Who gives you the brutal truth? Who supports you when you\u2019re down? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnswers to these questions will help keep you on track,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her advice for finding your passion is simple yet profound. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe thing that you go to bed at night thinking about, the one that gets you up in the morning ready to go do it, is your passion and what you should do. Make a career out of that and you\u2019ll be happy.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s advice that comes from experience. Stevens-Truss never stopped being that curious kid who wanted to know why and how. She just found a way to build a life and help hundreds of students build theirs around asking those questions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As she puts it, \u201cFiguring out how and why something changed, to this day, brings me joy, so I think being a scientist is what I was made to be.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Once a ‘wait, what’ kid, Regina Stevens-Truss, the Dorothy H. Heyl Professor of Chemistry at Kalamazoo College, tells her students to follow their dreams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":147,"featured_media":26298,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[233,3],"tags":[53,50,39],"post_formats":[],"class_list":["post-26296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty-staff","category-news","tag-biochemistry","tag-chemistry","tag-faculty"],"yoast_head":"\r\n'Wait, What' to 'Here's Why:' Stevens-Truss Champions Science<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Once a 'wait, what' kid, Regina Stevens-Truss, the Dorothy H. Heyl Professor of Chemistry at K, tells her students to follow their dreams.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wait-what-to-heres-why\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"From 'Wait, What' to 'Here's Why,' Stevens-Truss Champions Science\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Once a 'wait, what' kid, Regina Stevens-Truss, the Dorothy H. Heyl Professor of Chemistry at K, tells her students to follow their dreams.\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wait-what-to-heres-why\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News and Events\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/KalamazooCollege\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-11T13:35:05+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-11T13:35:06+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/02\/Regina-2.png\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"551\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"351\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andy Brown\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"From 'Wait, What' to 'Here's Why,' Stevens-Truss Champions Science\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@kcollege\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@kcollege\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Andy Brown\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wait-what-to-heres-why\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wait-what-to-heres-why\/\",\"name\":\"'Wait, What' to 'Here's Why:' Stevens-Truss Champions Science\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wait-what-to-heres-why\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wait-what-to-heres-why\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/02\/Regina-2.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-11T13:35:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-11T13:35:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8b54e37c984840c05e9ec797b6616166\"},\"description\":\"Once a 'wait, what' kid, Regina Stevens-Truss, the Dorothy H. Heyl Professor of Chemistry at K, tells her students to follow their dreams.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wait-what-to-heres-why\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wait-what-to-heres-why\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wait-what-to-heres-why\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/02\/Regina-2.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/02\/Regina-2.png\",\"width\":551,\"height\":351,\"caption\":\"Stevens-Truss and student Ava Apolo '25 point to Apolo's photo in a display highlighting that year's Senior Integrated Project students in Stevens-Truss' lab.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wait-what-to-heres-why\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"From ‘Wait, What’ to ‘Here’s Why,’ Stevens-Truss Champions Science\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/\",\"name\":\"News and Events\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8b54e37c984840c05e9ec797b6616166\",\"name\":\"Andy Brown\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a85189587f7af74a5efd2cb4233df125?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a85189587f7af74a5efd2cb4233df125?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Andy Brown\"},\"description\":\"As the Director of News and Social Media, Andy shares the stories that distinguish Kalamazoo College through social media, the Web and the news media. Contact him at abrown@kzoo.edu.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/contact-us\/\"]}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"'Wait, What' to 'Here's Why:' Stevens-Truss Champions Science","description":"Once a 'wait, what' kid, Regina Stevens-Truss, the Dorothy H. Heyl Professor of Chemistry at K, tells her students to follow their dreams.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wait-what-to-heres-why\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"From 'Wait, What' to 'Here's Why,' Stevens-Truss Champions Science","og_description":"Once a 'wait, what' kid, Regina Stevens-Truss, the Dorothy H. Heyl Professor of Chemistry at K, tells her students to follow their dreams.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wait-what-to-heres-why\/","og_site_name":"News and Events","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/KalamazooCollege","article_published_time":"2026-02-11T13:35:05+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-11T13:35:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":551,"height":351,"url":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/02\/Regina-2.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Andy Brown","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"From 'Wait, What' to 'Here's Why,' Stevens-Truss Champions Science","twitter_creator":"@kcollege","twitter_site":"@kcollege","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Andy Brown","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wait-what-to-heres-why\/","url":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wait-what-to-heres-why\/","name":"'Wait, What' to 'Here's Why:' Stevens-Truss Champions Science","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wait-what-to-heres-why\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wait-what-to-heres-why\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/02\/Regina-2.png","datePublished":"2026-02-11T13:35:05+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-11T13:35:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8b54e37c984840c05e9ec797b6616166"},"description":"Once a 'wait, what' kid, Regina Stevens-Truss, the Dorothy H. Heyl Professor of Chemistry at K, tells her students to follow their dreams.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wait-what-to-heres-why\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wait-what-to-heres-why\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wait-what-to-heres-why\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/02\/Regina-2.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/02\/Regina-2.png","width":551,"height":351,"caption":"Stevens-Truss and student Ava Apolo '25 point to Apolo's photo in a display highlighting that year's Senior Integrated Project students in Stevens-Truss' lab."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wait-what-to-heres-why\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"From ‘Wait, What’ to ‘Here’s Why,’ Stevens-Truss Champions Science"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#website","url":"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/","name":"News and Events","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8b54e37c984840c05e9ec797b6616166","name":"Andy Brown","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a85189587f7af74a5efd2cb4233df125?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a85189587f7af74a5efd2cb4233df125?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Andy Brown"},"description":"As the Director of News and Social Media, Andy shares the stories that distinguish Kalamazoo College through social media, the Web and the news media. Contact him at abrown@kzoo.edu.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/contact-us\/"]}]}},"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/02\/Regina-2.png","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/02\/Regina-2.png","author_info":{"display_name":"Andy Brown","author_link":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/author\/abrown\/"},"guten_post_layout_featured_media_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/02\/Regina-2.png",551,351,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/02\/Regina-2-150x96.png",150,96,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/02\/Regina-2-300x191.png",300,191,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/02\/Regina-2.png",551,351,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/02\/Regina-2.png",551,351,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/02\/Regina-2.png",551,351,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/02\/Regina-2.png",551,351,false],"ab-block-post-grid-landscape":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/02\/Regina-2.png",551,351,false],"ab-block-post-grid-square":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/02\/Regina-2.png",551,351,false],"pl-blogpost-landscape":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/02\/Regina-2.png",551,351,false],"pl-blogpost-square":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/02\/Regina-2.png",551,351,false],"guten_post_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/02\/Regina-2.png",551,351,false],"guten_post_layout_portrait_large":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/02\/Regina-2.png",551,351,false],"guten_post_layout_square_large":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/02\/Regina-2.png",551,351,false],"guten_post_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/02\/Regina-2.png",551,351,false],"guten_post_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/02\/Regina-2.png",551,351,false],"guten_post_layout_square":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/02\/Regina-2.png",551,351,false],"campus-posts-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/02\/Regina-2-300x300.png",300,300,true],"gform-image-choice-sm":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/02\/Regina-2.png",300,191,false],"gform-image-choice-md":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/02\/Regina-2.png",400,255,false],"gform-image-choice-lg":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/02\/Regina-2.png",551,351,false]},"category_info":"<a aria-label=\"archive of category Faculty & Staff\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/category\/faculty-staff\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Faculty & Staff<\/a><a aria-label=\"archive of category News Stories\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/category\/news\/\" rel=\"category tag\">News Stories<\/a>","tags_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/tag\/biochemistry\/\" rel=\"tag\">biochemistry<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/tag\/chemistry\/\" rel=\"tag\">chemistry<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/tag\/faculty\/\" rel=\"tag\">faculty<\/a>","social_share_info":"<a data-share=\"facebook\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wait-what-to-heres-why\/\" class=\"pl-facebook-share social-share-default pl-social-share\" target=\"_blank\"><i class=\"fab fa-facebook-f\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/a><a data-share=\"twitter\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wait-what-to-heres-why\/\" class=\"pl-twiiter-share social-share-default pl-social-share\" target=\"_blank\"><i class=\"fab fa-twitter\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/a><a data-share=\"linkedin\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/shareArticle?url=https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wait-what-to-heres-why\/\" class=\"pl-linkedin-share social-share-default pl-social-share\" target=\"_blank\"><i class=\"fab fa-linkedin-in\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/a>","wordExcerpt_info":"<p>Once a ‘wait, what’ kid, Regina Stevens-Truss, the Dorothy H. Heyl Professor of Chemistry at Kalamazoo College, tells her students to follow their dreams.<\/p>\n","comment_info":"No Comments","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/147"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26296"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26305,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26296\/revisions\/26305"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26296"},{"taxonomy":"post_format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_formats?post=26296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}