Spirit of Community Service: Laurey Steinke, Ph.D.

Laurey Steinke, Ph.D., will receive the Spirit of Community Service Award at the April 23 annual faculty meeting.

• Name: Laurey Steinke, Ph.D.
• Title: Assistant professor, biochemistry and molecular biology
• Joined UNMC: In 1991, as a research coordinator II, running a lab for a cardiologist. I moved to the Protein Structure Core Facility, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, in 1993, and have been there ever since, moving from researcher to manager, to instructor to assistant professor and director of the PSCF.
• Hometown: Omaha, but also have lived in Norfolk, Fremont and Lincoln, Neb., Fullerton Calif., Montclair, N.J., and Memphis, Tenn.

How did you start in your community service activities?
I joined the REASON group in 2004, when an article appeared in the Omaha World-Herald on how non-believers celebrate the holidays. The article mentioned the REASON group’s solstice human light celebration, so I went. I found the group shared my passion for science advocacy and critical thinking and I have been a member ever since.

Why do you feel community service is important?

Many matters of public policy can only be accurately judged by applying principles of science. However, the majority of decisions made by voters seem to be based on name recognition and emotional sound bites. Our society seems to be turning away from valuing basic research, presuming that applied technology is more likely to lead to solutions to problems facing the world and is more cost effective. From reading history, it is my conclusion that many of our developmental breakthroughs have been the serendipitous result of a person following their curiosity. I think that a scientifically literate public, using critical thinking skills, will be able to make informed decisions about their values, and that this will lead to support for basic research and progress for our society. By advocating for science, attracting children and adults to the curiosity and wonder found in investigation of the world, while at the same time teaching the precepts of critical analytical thinking, I hope to make an impact upon our society that will move us forward.

List three things few people know about you.

• I am the eldest of nine siblings.
• I love to play board games with the six adult children of my husband’s and my blended family.
• I have to read every night before I sleep. My favorites are science fiction and fantasy novels, but I also belong to a literary book club.