The summer before fifth grade, when Partch was 10 years old, her father, who was a carpenter, broke his wrist playing soccer. While he waited for it to heal, he took chemistry at the local community college. He showed her how to balance a chemical equation in their yard outside Seattle, on a chalkboard propped against a tree. That was her introduction to chemistry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still remember thinking how the mathematical precision of chemistry was so cool \u2014 very different from the biology we were being taught in school at that age,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

When she recalls her college years at the University of Washington, she admits with a wry chuckle that some of what jumps out are the memories of attending concerts \u2014 driving down to Olympia for Sleater-Kinney shows, seeing Mudhoney and Nirvana \u2014 and her enjoyment of books by authors like Ursula Le Guin. But she was also entranced by a class on the chemistry of living systems. After graduation, she went to work as a technician at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. Every day, she fell more in love with research. In 2000, she and her boyfriend, James, a musician and graphic designer, moved to the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill so she could begin her doctorate.<\/p>\n