Lisa Stenmark earned her MA in Systematic Theology from the Graduate Theological Union, and her Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Vanderbilt University. Her scholarly interests focus on the relationship of religion in contemporary society, especially religion and politics and religion and science. She has been actively involved in the science and religion discourse for 10 years, winning the Templeton prize for teaching in 1998, serving as regional director for the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences in Berkeley. She is also the founder and Director of Women in Religion, Ethics and the Sciences (WiRES). Her current project is developing a theory of religious activism, with particular interest in the way that religion both threatens and sustains the public sphere. In her spare time she trains for tri-athalons practices Aikido and is an avid Trekker.