Team
Lisa McDonald
Group Leader
The Director of the Education Group, Lisa McDonald, has substantial experience developing course materials and content to present complex scientific methods and theories to groups of various educational backgrounds in an age-appropriate manner, including K-12 student groups and adults. In her previous position at The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) where she was a founding employee (1992), Ms. McDonald was the Education and Training Manager for five years which developed and provided professional development and education courses. Ms. McDonald was member of the pioneering team that sequenced the first genome in addition to many others. Ms. McDonald was a central member of the team that helped to pioneer the MdBioLab through a partnership with MdBio, Inc. and the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute (UMBI). MdBioLab, which began visiting students February 2003, is a mobile laboratory designed to enhance bioscience curricula for high school students and their teachers throughout the state of Maryland.
Darryl Bronson
Darryl Bronson is the Mobile Laboratory Driver and Teaching Assistant for the J. Craig Venter Institute DISCOVER GENOMICS! Science Education Program. Mr. Bronson has been a professional driver with 13 years of experience from Montgomery County Transit Buses to the Eyre Charter Motor Coaches. In addition, Mr. Bronson was the former Assistant Director of the Jewish Council for the Aging Transportation Department, Member of the Transportation Association of Maryland Driver Safety Committee, Operations Supervisor for the Misler Adult Day Care Center and the Gesher Jewish Day School of Northern Virginia. Mr. Bronson also conducted training and seminars on Driver Safety, Emergency Bus Evacuations and Aggressive Driving for drivers, staff members of the day care center and the Jewish Day School. The Marine Corps has also taught him the importance of team work and continued learning in life and at work whether its trouble shooting an afterburner to crunching the expense number for an entire unit.
Crystal Snowden
Originally, Crystal Snowden was a participating teacher in the Mobile Laboratory Program. Now, a Science Education Instructor, Ms. Snowden is a graduate of North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University and brings a wealth of teaching and curriculum development experience to the J. Craig Venter Institute. While teaching seventh and eighth grade science at Ron Brown Middle School in Washington, DC, Ms. Snowden had an opportunity to excite and engage some of the city’s most academically vulnerable students in study of science. Additionally, she played a key role in the development of educational standards for the District of Columbia Public Schools.
Monica S. Thomas
The Education Group's newest Science Education Instructor, Monica S. Thomas, received her BS in Biology from Howard University and her MBA from The University of Phoenix. Ms. Thomas began her genomics career at Celera Genomics, where she had the opportunity to support the sequencing pipelines that produced the human and mouse genomes at one of the most exciting times in life science history. She then moved to the Venter Institute's Joint Technology Center, where she continued supporting high throughput sequencing pipelines across multiple cutting edge laboratories. Additionally, Ms. Thomas has worked with local community outreach organizations where she has served in leadership, mentoring and counseling capacities. Ms. Thomas has worked as a substitute teacher and participated in volunteer teaching programs in support of the youth across counties in the MD, DC, and VA metropolitan area.