This is Dr. Niemann’s third year as a science teacher at Saint Rose.  Dr. Niemann is from New York and received her B.A. and M.A. from Queens College and her Ph.D. from the City University of New York in Biology before moving to Birmingham to start her research career at UAB.  As her three daughters transitioned from elementary to middle school, she developed a personal interest in and concern for the quality of their education. Consequently, she volunteered to teach fifth, then sixth grade Parish School of Religion for ten years at Our Lady of Sorrows.  As she approached the end of her research career, she obtained her M.A. in Secondary Science Education from UAB and for the next five years developed and directed the UAB Community OutReach Development (CORD) Summer Science Institute, Saturday Science Clubs, and after School Science programs for Birmingham area high school students.  After leaving UAB she became the Jefferson County International Baccalaureate (JCIB) IB/AP Biology and Environmental Science teacher and received the 2010 A+ College Ready Alabama AP Biology Teacher of the Year Award.  Upon retirement from teaching she volunteered at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens (BBG) helping to develop and teach a hands-on middle school plant lab program as well as doing research on and mentoring two JCIB work-study students in the culturing of a rare Alabama fern which led to her being awarded the BBG Educator of the Year Volunteer Award in 2014.  She was again lured out of retirement by the opportunity to set up and teach PART-TIME at a faith-based school in Saint Rose’s beautiful new science lab.  In her spare time, she enjoys talking to and visiting with family and friends, especially her two grandchildren, and is an avid tennis fan.