LEADERSHIP

Founder, Director and CEO

Dr. Suzanne G. Strait

BA Hampshire College 1984
PhD SUNY Stony Brook 1991

Dr. Strait is a Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences. Her love for science and her goal of making science more accessible, diverse, and inclusive guided the development of this organization. She wants everyone to understand how fun (and important) science, math, technology, and engineering are and wants everyone to grow up to be a scientist!

OUR TEAM

Graduate Student Science Educator

Jessica Cantrell

BS Marshall University, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology 2015

Jessica is a scientist, mother of two girls, and has an amazing menagerie of interesting animals she shares. Jessica’s research interests include herpetology, life history strategies, historical ecology, conservation biology. She is now finishing up her MS degree and her thesis research focused on the 2016 Magicicada emergence in WV and the possible conservation message that it brings, from the community role as “citizen scientists” to the cicadas’ role as bioindicators.

Undergraduate Science Educator

Jordan Holman

Jordan has interests in biology and chemistry. He runs our Lego and Robotics camps each summer!

Science Adventure Camp Instructor

Jackie Fannin

Jackie graduated from Marshall University with a PhD degree in biomedical sciences. She has
taught science in private secondary schools (6th to 12 grade) for over 5 years. She has a
family with four children ranging from 5 to 12 years old. Jackie and her family love to visit
museums, zoos, and national parks during the summer. Jackie has always had a love for
animals and has had many pets from rodents, geckos, rabbits, and dogs. Currently, she is a
faculty member at Marshall University teaching anatomy and physiology. She is looking forward
to being an instructor for a Science Adventure Camp to meet students across WV.

Dr. Wendy Trzyna

Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences
Microbiology and all the little things that can find on your doorknobs

Dr. Sean McBride

Assistant Professor, Department of Physics
The hovercraft maker

Administrative Coordinator at WV Science Adventures

Anna Holman

Clarkson University '24 , Sociology

Anna has been active in West Virginia Science Adventures since it's inception, coordinating volunteers for yearly events and working as an assistant at many of the camps. In her free time, she plays many tabletop games, reads, and is working on getting her pilots license. Basically any creative venture- sewing, pottery, crochet, blacksmithing, etc., she has tried or is planning to do so.