ITEST Member Spotlight

This ITEST Member Spotlight series highlights the accomplishments of ITEST members.

Mary Lou Caspers, PhD

From first grade through my BS degree in Chemistry, I attended Catholic schools. At Mercy High School in Farmington, Michigan, Sister Renee – who taught Chemistry – introduced us to Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Later, at the University of Detroit (now, the University of Detroit Mercy), I took a course on his theological writings as they related to science. It became apparent to me that science and theology are intertwined.

Read the rest of Dr. Caspers’ biography below.

Father Kevin FitzGerald, SJ, PhD, PhD

After decades of involvement in the issues that arise at the intersection of faith and science, I am sometimes asked if my career was the one I envisioned when I entered the Society of Jesus after graduating from college in 1977. The fascinating reality that lies behind my answer to this question is that I did enter the Jesuits hoping for a vocation that would allow me to bring my faith, and the richness of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, to a career in the burgeoning field of molecular genetics.

Read the rest of Father FitzGerald’s biography below.

Father Frank Budenholzer, SVD

Growing up in the Chicago area, the presumption in our household was that Christian faith and empirical science were mutually supportive. My father was a professor of engineering at Illinois Institute of Technology, and my mother is a physical therapist with a background in physiology. During my years of preparation for perpetual vows and priesthood as a member of the Society of the Divine Word (SVD), there was a gradually emerging presumption that I would work as an academic, bringing together religion and science. 

Read the rest of Father Budenholzer’s biography below.

Alois (Al) Kertz, PhD

My parents were simply the most humble, hardworking, faith-filled people I have known. I grew up the middle of seven children on a small dairy farm near Bloomsdale, Missouri in Ste. Genevieve County. My parents were older, especially in that era, when they married, and it was not unusual at that time that they did not get to go beyond 8th grade schooling. They wanted us to develop our God-given talents to our best – not at the expense of others, but to help others.

Read the rest of Dr. Kertz’ biography below.