User Program Director
510.486.7154
Biography
Shannon Ciston is the Director of the User Program at the Molecular Foundry. In this role, she is responsible for the User Program’s leadership, management, and development. Dr. Ciston is a member of the Foundry’s senior leadership team and acts on behalf of the Division Director as the spokesperson for the Foundry’s User Program. She oversees the Foundry’s scientific proposal process, including administration associated with User proposal submissions, peer reviews, and scheduling approved projects; works with scientific staff to engage new and diverse User communities; liaises with User Executive Committee; and supervises the User Office staff.
Prior to joining the Foundry, Dr. Ciston served as the Director of Undergraduate Education in the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department at UC Berkeley from 2014 until 2020. In this role, she coordinated curriculum, accreditation, and student experience in the CBE department. She taught chemical engineering courses in pedagogy, technical communications, design, and laboratory as a Lecturer from 2011 through 2020, and conducted research in engineering education.
Before coming to Berkeley, Dr. Ciston was an Assistant Professor in the Industrial, System, and Multidisciplinary Engineering Department at the University of New Haven. She holds a PhD from the Chemical and Biological Engineering Department at Northwestern University, and a BS from the Chemical Engineering Department at Illinois Institute of Technology.