When Rick Dierenfeldt ’11 enrolled at Missouri Western, he had a plan. At the time, he was working full-time as a police officer, and he wanted to earn an associate degree so he could get promoted. It was a good plan, but it didn’t quite work out that way.
He wasn’t a student very long before he met Dr. Greg Lindsteadt, associate professor of criminal justice. Dr. Lindsteadt didn’t think Dierenfeldt should stop with an associate degree, and he encouraged him to continue his education beyond the associate degree. Dr. Lindsteadt also suggested he begin to pursue research projects.
Dierenfeldt took Dr. Lindsteadt’s advice and continued his education and research. And then he continued his education and research some more. In 2016, he earned his Ph.D. in criminal justice and this past fall, began his career as an assistant professor at Pennsylvania State University Wilkes-Barre.
“Greg Linsteadt and Joanne Katz fostered and facilitated those research opportunities,” he said. “They put me on the path and opened the doors, and it is a debt I will never fully repay.”
Dr. Dierenfeldt, a Bethany, Missouri native, said he was “heads above” his cohorts in his doctoral program at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, thanks to his research experiences and several of his courses at Missouri Western.
In 2007, about a year before he enrolled at Missouri Western, he married Cindy Peters ’05/’15, who had graduated with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry/natural science and was working as a chemist for IVX Pharmaceuticals.
Cindy, originally from Linn, Missouri, returned to Missouri Western to earn a Master of Applied Science in Forensic Investigations and today is a forensic chemist for a private lab. Prior to moving to Pennsylvania, she worked for the Missouri State Highway Patrol crime laboratory.
“My goal was to work in forensics. I liked science and math, but also crime theory. If I could use science and math to solve crimes, I knew it was a good fit for me,” Cindy said. “I’m constantly learning about new drugs or different ways to analyze, and each case is different. I’m solving a mystery.”
Although the couple attended Missouri Western at different times, Cindy said their experiences were similar.
“The professors (for both degrees) helped me a lot,” she said. “They were easy to approach, and I had a lot of one-on-one interaction.”
“Student success was their top priority,” Rick said of his and Cindy’s professors.
Cindy said she really enjoyed a research class that was taught by Dr. Lindsteadt as part of her graduate program.
“He made it interesting, and it was a real research study,” she said. “He did a good job of opening my eyes to research and different opportunities.”
Both also appreciated the opportunities they had to present their research results and attend conferences.
Cindy attended an American Chemical Society meeting in San Diego and presented at a criminal justice meeting in New York. Rick not only presented twice at national conferences as a student, but published two articles in peer-reviewed literature.
“I will always miss police work, because of the opportunities to effect meaningful, positive changes in people’s lives,” he said. “But now as a researcher and a teacher, I can have an effect not just in a particular jurisdiction, but regionally and nationally.”