On Monday, April 8, Katrina Koehler ’11, assistant professor of Physics, spoke at Taylor University’s chapel service. Her talk, titled “Stars and the Language of God” integrated science and faith and explored how God uses the physical world to communicate with humanity. Koehler specifically correlated this talk with the solar eclipse as an avenue to discuss how viewing celestial events from a physical perspective limits humanity’s awareness of the ways God communicates with us.

She explained that because we are made of physical matter, God must use the physical world to communicate with us, whether that is by using the five senses, or by manipulating the electrons and circuitry of our brains. When our understanding of the physical world increases, through science, it often cuts off avenues God has historically used to communicate with us, like through a solar eclipse.

During her visit, Koehler also delivered a lecture on the disparities in mission funding, highlighting that 98 percent is allocated to reached people groups, leaving only 2 percent for missions targeting unreached people groups. In her lecture, “A Data-Driven Story of the Great Commission,” Koehler leaned on her experience as a missionary kid to propose six ways to combat this, emphasizing the importance of welcoming unreached people groups into the communities of believers.

Koehler’s interest in this area reflects her passion for integrating physics with her faith. She teaches multiple data science and physics courses and is known for asking students the “big questions” before helping them analyze large sets of data to find answers rooted in Biblical truth.

Outside of the classroom, Koehler’s research focuses on Nuclear Safeguards and Nonproliferation, Nuclear and Atomic Metrology, and Diversity in STEM, with her work appearing in various journals, such as the Journal of Low-Temperature Physics.

Images from top to bottom, left to right: NASA/Getty Images; Partial eclipse; Katrina Koehler with alumni William Slauson ’12 and Ester Slauson ’83, total eclipse, Katrina Koehler and company viewing eclipse on campus lawn.