RESEARCH ENTERPRISE - Key Persons


Barb Weiss - Treasurer

Job Titles:
  • Treasurer

Clay Marsh

Job Titles:
  • Executive Director

David Satterfield

Job Titles:
  • Director, Asset Development

Deanna Messenger

Job Titles:
  • Senior Project Coordinator

Dr. Fred L. King

Job Titles:
  • Member of the Research Office Leadership Team
  • Vice President for Research
  • Professor, Vice President
  • Vice President for Research at West Virginia University
  • VP of Research and Institutional Official
  • WVU Vice President
Dr. King serves as the chief research officer for all of WVU. Fred L. King is the Vice President for Research at West Virginia University where he is also a Professor in the department of chemistry. Professor King earned his BS degree in chemistry from James Madison University and his PhD in analytical chemistry from the University of Virginia. He held a National Research Council Postdoctoral Research Associateship at the Naval Research Laboratory before joining the faculty of West Virginia University. Prior to his appointment as Vice President for Research, he served as the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences. Professor King's research in optical spectroscopy and mass spectrometry has been supported by the Office of Naval Research, the National Science Foundation, and the US Department of Energy. It has also been featured on the cover of peer reviewed journals in his discipline. His former graduate students hold positions in academia, industry, and national laboratories. He served on the Board of Directors of the Oak Ridge Associated Universities and is currently the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Southern Universities Research Association which manages the Jefferson Laboratory for the US Department of Energy. Education BS Chemistry - James Madison University PhD Chemistry - University of Virginia NRC Postdoctoral Research Associate - Naval Research Laboratory

Dr. Peter Mathers

Job Titles:
  • IACUC Chair

Drew Bucy

Job Titles:
  • Director

Elizabeth "Bess" Dieffenbach

Job Titles:
  • IRB Reliance Administrator

Gretchen McMasters

Job Titles:
  • Director
  • Program Director

Heather Stephens

Job Titles:
  • Director

Jack Thompson

Job Titles:
  • Director

Jane Channel


Joe Malcolm

Job Titles:
  • IRB Administrator

Justine Barbitta


Kasandra Lambert

Job Titles:
  • Assistant Director

Katie Stores

Job Titles:
  • Member of the Research Office Leadership Team
  • Secretary
  • Associate Vice President for Finance, Operations, and Research Administration
Dr. Stores oversees OSP, the Office of Research Systems and Operational Data, Research Administration Data and Data Analytics, and provides finance support for the WVU Research Office. Dr. Katie Stores serves the WVU Research Office as the Associate Vice President for Finance, Operations, and Research Administration. While reporting directly to the Vice President for Research, Dr. Stores is responsible for executive oversight of the Office of Sponsored Programs, the office of Research Systems and Operational Data Service, directly leads Research Administration Data and Data Analytics, Training, and provides strategic finance support for the WVU Research Office. The AVP leads operational research administration activities and initiatives. The research office infrastructure serves to facilitate the success of the University's research enterprise. Utilizing her experience in strategic planning and change management, she leads performance management by creating experiences for learning, coordinating stakeholder communication, and developing synergies across the research office to ensure integration, transparency, and efficiency. Dr. Stores supports university leadership in assessing new and existing programs, partnerships, and projects by guiding strategic and data-informed decision-making processes which are inclusive and collaborative, and that optimize opportunities with campus, corporate, and community partners. She champions planning, and decision-making workflows and documentation related to business operations to advance organizational goals and assist the research community. Dr. Stores collaborates with multiple constituency groups to build relationships across the research enterprise. She leads university-wide change management endeavors, such as the process for a new electronic research administration system. Dr. Stores has deep expertise and experience in research, research development, and research administration and enjoys developing people and organizations with acute attention to culture building and the professional development of team members. Dr. Stores has proudly served West Virginia University, an R1 land grant University, for over 16 years in multiple leadership roles including as the Assistant Vice President for Research Administration and Director of the Office of Sponsored Programs, and the Associate Dean for Research for the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences. Before rejoining WVU in December 2021, Dr. Stores served Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, as the Senior Director of Operations and Training, prior to that time, she served the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland as a United States Department of Health and Human Services Emerging Leader. She has also served as a United States Department of Housing and Urban Development Fellow.

Lauren Burhans


Maura McLaughlin

Job Titles:
  • Eberly Family Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Center Director

Melanie Page

Job Titles:
  • Member of the Research Office Leadership Team
  • Associate Vice President for Creative and Scholarly Activities
  • AVP for Creative and Scholarly Activities
  • WVU As the Assistant Vice President for Creative
Dr. Page works with faculty in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. Dr. Page works in conjunction with Dr. Fred King, Vice President for Research, and coordinates her efforts with department chairs, deans, associate deans, and members of the Research Office to enable faculty success. She is also the Director for NASA WV Space Grant Consortium and NASA WV EPSCoR. Dr. Page joined WVU as the Assistant Vice President for Creative and Scholarly Activities in October 2013 after a 16-year career in the Department of Psychology at Oklahoma State University where she was promoted to full professor in 2010. She is a tenured professor in the Department of Psychology at WVU.

Melissa Himes

Job Titles:
  • IRB Administrator

Ming Lei

Job Titles:
  • WVU Senior Associate Vice President for HSC Research and Graduate Education

Nancy McGill

Job Titles:
  • Continuous Quality Improvement and Education

Patricia Powers

Job Titles:
  • Director

Paula Congelio

Job Titles:
  • WVU Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Paula Zaharko

Paula does data entry for the department, special projects, and assists where needed. She received her bachelor's degree from Fairmont State University in Fairmont, West Virginia.

Pedro J. Mago

Job Titles:
  • Hiner Dean, Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources

Qiang Wang

Job Titles:
  • Director

Rossi Wiles - Chief Legal Officer

Job Titles:
  • General Counsel

Sheena Murphy

Job Titles:
  • Member of the Research Office Leadership Team
  • Associate Vice President for Research Development
  • AVP for Research Development
  • Professor
Dr. Murphy works predominantly with the STEM portfolio at WVU and also is the principal research point of engagement for state, industrial, federal and international partnerships. As AVP, Dr. Murphy's primary responsibility is to grow the WVU research capacity in science, engineering and technology by means of state, industrial, federal and international partnerships. Sheena Murphy is a physics professor and the recipient of over $20M in external funding. She served on NSF's taskforce for the Future of EPSCoR and is an APLU Council of Research Leadership Fellow. She is a former Executive Committee member of the Oklahoma/Arkansas MRSEC, an NSF Career recipient, and a Sloan Foundation Fellow. She is an expert in low temperature, high magnetic field studies of two-dimensional electronic systems and has worked at both IBM Research and AT&T Bell Labs.

Stephanie D. Taylor

Job Titles:
  • WVU Vice President and General Counsel

Suzanne Bentzel

Job Titles:
  • Director

Thomasena Williams

Job Titles:
  • IRB Coordinator / IRB Reviewer

Tony Munn

Job Titles:
  • Animal Welfare Director
Mr. Munn oversees the Office of Animal Welfare which provides support services to all animal use endeavors at West Virginia University. His role is to facilitate research activities by assisting investigators in meeting regulatory obligations and developing detailed plans to address animal welfare. Mr. Munn, along with his team, work with the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) to develop policies, procedures, and resources that guide and educate the research community on the best practices for use of animals. He also serves as a primary contact for the IACUC in its collaborations with various departments across campus. Mr. Munn's management approach incorporates the concept of value added analysis, which attempts to identify and eliminate steps in processes which do not improve research or enhance the efforts of animal care. Mr. Munn earned a BS in Biology at the University of Maine and his MS in Operations Management from the University of Arkansas. He holds certifications both as a manager of animal resources and as a professional IACUC administrator. Mr. Munn's career has spanned two decades in animal research including private industry and public institutions. He has participated in multiple successful AAALAC accreditation site visits both as a manager of animal care operations and manager of research animal compliance oversight. West Virginia University represents the fourth Research 1 academic institution he has served.

Trisha Phillips

Job Titles:
  • Director

Valerie Phillips

Job Titles:
  • Senior IRB Administrator