About Karen Erickson

Karen is a highly educated scientist and educator who entered the food industry six years ago. She works as a Quality Control Technologist for a dry goods co-manufacturer in the Chicagoland Area. She performs chemical, physical, and organoleptic analyses of finished goods. Her previous training and experience as a research scientist prepared her to be a valuable resource, the “go to” person, for laboratory equipment maintenance and problem-solving. Karen’s educational background concentrated in the Microbiological, Biological, and Biochemical Sciences. She was a co-author of several research articles published by the Department of Animal Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the College of Pharmacy at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Karen draws on her knowledge everyday in her current role as Quality Control Technologist as she trains new lab employees and manages the environmental monitoring program.

Karen is a certified Illinois Secondary Education teacher with endorsements in Biology, Zoology, Botany, Chemistry, and General Science. She has taught at both the college and high school levels, and has a reputation for developing creative, engaging lessons that communicate learning objectives to students of all educational levels and backgrounds. Her former students enjoyed her use of CRISS strategies and hands-on activities, and continue to remember how much they enjoyed her classes and how well she could present difficult science concepts in a manner that could be easily understood.

Karen continues to stay current in the fields of Education and Food Safety. She participates in professional development courses in order to maintain her teaching certificate and has been working on a Certificate in Food Safety from Michigan State University.

Karen lives in the Chicagoland/Northwest Indiana area with her husband, Dave.