After a long and thorough search process, the Molecular Foundry is thrilled to announce our new User Program Director, Dr. Shannon Ciston.
The Director of the User Program is a key role here at the Molecular Foundry, a Department of Energy User Facility. Shannon will manage the direction, growth, and operations of the Foundry’s User Program, as well as serve as its principal spokesperson.
Dr. Shannon Ciston comes to her role at the Foundry from down the hill at UC Berkeley, where she is the Director of Undergraduate Education for the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department. She held this role from 2014, coordinating the department’s curriculum, its programs’ accreditation, and the student experience. Concurrently, Dr. Ciston also taught chemical engineering courses in pedagogy, technical communication, design, and laboratory science, and conducted research in engineering education. Read her full bio here.
Shannon’s deep experience mentoring and advocating for early career researchers, and her vision and passion for the Foundry mission, will be a tremendous asset.
– David Prendergast, Interim Director
Shannon formally assumes her post today, April 1, 2020. She will complete her teaching obligations at UC Berkeley and transition to her full-time role at the Foundry by the end of May. In the meantime, her predecessor, Dr. Alison Hatt, will smooth the leadership transition by continuing to assist the Foundry as Senior Advisor to the User Program.
Alison has been a fixture at the Foundry since joining the Lab as a postdoctoral fellow in the Theory facility in 2010. “Alison has elevated every aspect of the organization through her creativity and dedication,” says David Prendergast. As its Director, Alison has overseen the incredible scale-up of the User Program, which now shares the Foundry’s unique capabilities and technical expertise with more than 1,000 users per year.
The search committee brought together staff from across the Foundry and Berkeley Lab: Branden Brough, Alison Hatt, Andy Minor, Jeff Urban, Sinéad Griffin, Ed Barnard, Francesca Toma, Sue Bailey, and Nikki Humphreys.
