The Fortunate Doctor Kunkel

by Shelby Lincoln and Molly Kruko

“You will be a successful scientist.” That’s what the fortune cookie told Steven Kunkel on that night so many years ago. What it didn’t tell him and what he later found out was that to be that fated successful scientist he would also have to become a successful, professional writer.

Who he is and what he does:
Doctor Kunkel (for he did indeed become a scientist) has been into science ever since he can remember. When he was younger he’d known that he wanted to do something science related, but he wasn’t quite sure what. He attended North Dakota State University to get his BS and MS degrees and later received his Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Kansas. Now he works as the assistant dean at the University of Michigan and heads a portion of the university’s pathology department. Since obtaining his Ph.D. he says, “All of my jobs… involved writing. One would not think that scientists write, but writing is a huge part of my job.”

The majority of the writing that Dr. Kunkel does is scientific papers. He’s written well over 500 articles and papers published in many different places. However, scientific papers are not the only writing he does. Another large part of his job is the writing of research grant proposals. These proposals are submitted later to the heads of the university, who in turn give them to the government. Officials there will review the grants and decide whether or not to fund the research done by Dr. Kunkel’s lab; essentially, without Dr. Kunkel writing a well done research grant proposal, the entire portion of the pathology under his direction would be without the funds to continue their research. Another type of writing he does is in the form of editing. Various people submit articles to him to be reviewed for accuracy and scientific problems. The people in his lab, the researchers, often submit manuscripts to him for corrections. There never seems to be a dull moment in this man’s life; if he’s not writing something himself he’s helping other people write!

“I never knew that writing was the one area that was going to rule the day,” said Dr. Kunkel with a shake of his head. “I’ve met many people whom I admire scientifically for their creativity but are not very good writers.” His writing doesn’t stop at being written, either. After he’s finished writing he takes a careful eye and the best spelling and grammar checks he can to his papers. Once he’s gone over it at least once by himself he runs it by as many of his peers as possible before sending it for its debut in the real world.

On top of all that writing, Steve helps to run the major pathology lab, which consists of 10-18 people depending on the time of the year and the type of research being done. Scientists collect in his lab from around the world; Brazil, England, Ireland, and China just to name a few countries that have people working in his lab. Every day, he says, he has contact with all of the people in his lab, either directly or indirectly. His email inbox is always full of letters and questions. Aside from running the lab he is also the Associate Dean in the

Graduate School, about which he simply says “I attend way too many meetings.”

Not only does he do all of that at the university, but he also regularly travels around the world to give lectures. This has allowed him to meet many, many people from all sorts of places and hear what they have to say as well.

All of his work put together makes for very busy days with a lot of work but this doesn’t seem to get him down at all. “I complain a lot about it,” he says with a huge grin, “but I have the best job in the world. Every day is different!”

A Nice Man:
It is the nature of his job that has given him this very friendly and comfortable personality, making him someone that everyone would like to know. This seems to be a lucky break for him as despite his incredibly busy schedule and the way his job requires him to constantly be in contact with seemingly everyone he’s ever met, Dr. Kunkel is still very much a “people” person. He considers the contact he has with his associates to be the best part of his job.

This easy-going, people-loving personality is evident even in his workspace. The second one walk’s into his ‘office’ they will begin to realize just how much Dr. Kunkel loves people. He’s insisted on turning half of his spacious office into a break room for the researchers. A large, round table was placed to the left side of the room by a microwave and a coffee maker. Behind the table begins the dizzying array of scientific journals and books that trails across the room and ends in pile after pile of scientific papers scattered around Dr. Kunkel’s desk where he can be found typing away at his most recent task. It’s amazing how much he manages to get done and still maintain good relations with his workers and family.

“Steve is one of the nicest people I’ve worked for,” says Aaron Berlin, one of the researchers in the lab. “He is always willing to take time out of his day to help or talk to you. Most of the time he acts more like a friend than a boss.”

The rest of the workers in the lab seem to think just as highly of him. “He’s brilliant,” says Esther Choi. “You can tell there are thousands of thoughts running through his head at one time.”

Dr. Kunkel seems to know and understand the various trials of his job and everything that it entails. “In science, to be good, you need to be creative, imaginative, hard-working, and get along with people.” From what he explained it was clear that to do what he had to do for his job he had to find a way to balance being a scientist, a writer, and a person. He’s done a wonderful job so far.

“Steve is successful, hugely likeable, and very lively,” says Karen Buckland, one of his co-workers. “He’s a great mentor for my colleagues but is also normal – it’s nice to see that someone as eminent in his field still gets by like the rest of us, writing stuff at the very last minute (or even missing deadlines), cursing like crazy during those last few hours/days, and dreaming about the beer when it’s all over.”

It looks like that little fortune cookie was right; Dr. Kunkel has become a very successful scientist and an even more successful technical writer. As we were leaving we asked what he did with that lucky fortune. “I saved it,” he said with a sly grin. “One day I’m going to frame that little slip of paper and hang it on the wall.” He should, I thought with a smile as we walked back to my car. It was a great piece of writing, after all.