Kristopher Koudelka grew up in Door County, Wis., and earned a B.S. at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. He returns to Wisconsin after six years in the San Diego area. He earned a doctorate of philosophy in 2008 in chemical biology from the Kellogg School of Science and Technology at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI). For the past two years he was a research associate at TSRI and a visiting assistant professor at the University of San Diego. He also has taught and completed research at the University of California-San Diego.