BioQUEST is very excited to welcome Sarah Prescott, Ph.D., as our next Executive Director, effective March 1, 2021. Sarah is an Associate Professor of Biochemistry at the University of New Hampshire (UNH), where she teaches courses in biochemistry, genomics, and general, green, and organic chemistry. 

Sarah’s involvement with the BioQUEST community began when she was a graduate student, and she has recently taken on more responsibility, helping to plan the summer workshop and BIOME institutes, as well as serving as a mentor in multiple Faculty Mentoring Networks (FMNs). 

“I am very excited to be expanding my role in this organization that has provided such support to me over the years,” Sarah wrote. “I hope to provide stability and leadership as we continue to help faculty all over the world grow as educators and as we look ahead to a number of new and exciting projects.” 

Sarah received her Ph.D. in Genetics from UNH, where she conducted research on the comparative genomics of transposable elements in the nematodes C.elegans and C.briggsae. Prior to that, she completed a Master’s degree in Secondary Education (also from UNH) and a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. 

She has a variety of interests in STEM education including OER, case studies, social justice, digital pedagogy and tools, project and problem-based learning, and genomics education. She is currently facilitating two social justice FMNs on QUBES, was a facilitator for the BIOME20 Social Justice working group, and recently worked on a CURE involving Genome Solver resources in her upper level Genomics course. 

When she’s not working, she is an avid gardener and mini-farmer. “I have 19 chickens, two rabbits, five dogs, six ducks and two geese,” she wrote. “We recently built a pond for the ducks and geese, who are affectionately called the #ddg (duck duck gooses).” 

Sarah will work full-time during the summer and part-time during the school year. She succeeds Kristin Jenkins, who has taken a position as Director of the Texas Institute for Discovery Education in Science (TIDES) at the University of Texas at Austin after more than ten years at the helm of BioQUEST. You can read more about Kristin’s tenure at BioQUEST here.

"I have really enjoyed my time at BioQUEST and will miss my daily interactions with the fantastic staff, leadership team, and community,” Kristin wrote. “At the same time, I am excited about the ideas Sarah has for BioQUEST, and I look forward to seeing the community thrive under her leadership.”

Our sincerest congratulations to both Kristin and Sarah on their new positions.  

Members of our communities can connect with Sarah on Twitter @drsarahgrace or reach out at sarah ”dot” prescott ”at” bioquest ”dot” org. 

Pictured: Sarah at her first BioQUEST workshop (in the rose-colored jacket) in 2004.