Suzanne Strait

Associate Director of Science, Technology & Research
Higher Education Policy Commission
State of West Virginia

CV (.pdf)
 

Biography—

Suzanne Strait is a functional morphologist who studies the relationship between diet and dental morphology of extant small-bodied mammals and Paleocene/Eocene faunas, working at field sites from Wyoming to Madagascar. Another branch of her research focuses on comparative anatomy of the reproductive system in humans and other vertebrates and considers how sociocultural forces drive what we study. Her passion is getting the public excited about science, through popular writing, performance pieces, and an outreach nonprofit she started that runs K-12 STEM activities across West Virginia.

She is the associate director of science, technology & research for the Higher Education Policy Commission in West Virginia, where she builds large multidisciplinary teams for statewide grant submissions, represents science to state legislators, and develops relationships between faculty, granting agencies and industry. She also serves as the West Virginia NSF EPSCoR education, outreach & diversity manager and previously was professor of biological sciences and curator of mammals at Marshall University.
 

Education—

Hampshire College
Bachelor's in Anthropology & Women's Studies

Stony Brook University, New York
Doctorate in Biological Anthropology & Anatomy