SCIENCES - Key Persons

Christopher "CJ" Johnson Colonel U.S. Space Force BA, French, Honors College; Washington State University MS, Security Studies; Naval Postgraduate School MS, Strategic Intelligence; National Intelligence University MS, National Resource Strategy; National Defense University Colonel Select CJ Johnson is the director of innovation and technology outreach for the Cross-Mission Ground and Communications Enterprise within the U.S. Space Force at Los Angeles Air Force Base, California. His organization develops, acquires, and sustains terrestrial-based communication systems, information networks, and command and control software applications comprising the Space Enterprise of the Department of Defense. CJ leads a small team focused on searching for and evaluating emerging technologies from the American technology start-up community. CJ earned his commission in the U.S. Air Force in 2002, following graduation from WSU. While CJ currently supports the U.S. Space Force, he is both an Air Force communications network and Africa Foreign Area officer. CJ has served at every level of the Air Force, to include serving as the Commanding Officer of the 919th Special Operations Communications Squadron at Duke Field, FL. His staff-level experience includes U.S. Special Operations Command Central, Office of the Under Secretary of the Air Force for International Affairs, Joint Staff Deputy Directorate for Africa, U.S. Africa Command, and U.S. Cyber Command. He has been stationed overseas at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, and the U.S. Embassy in Morocco. CJ's overseas duty also includes Tunisia, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, the Kyrgyz Republic, and operations supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

Job Titles:

• Retired Professor of Medicine at the UW

Patricia received her BA from WSU and a Master's in Public Administration from the University of Puget Sound. She grew up in Skagit County and spent her professional career in Seattle, primarily in local government and public health. She held many positions with Public Health-Seattle & King County including Director of Regional Services where she was responsible for epidemiology and the infectious/communicable disease programs including HIV/AIDS during the first ten years of the epidemic. She spent a sabbatical as a Visiting Scholar at the Centers for Disease and Prevention and finished her career as the Director of the City of Seattle's Human Services Department. During her public health career, she held an appointment as Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Washington, Department of Health Services, School of Public Health and Community Medicine. After retiring, Patricia did volunteer work related to STI/HIV and consulting for the federal government evaluating HIV/AIDS programs in southern Africa. She and her husband, Hunter Handsfield, a retired Professor of Medicine at the UW, split their time between their Seattle home and their second home in Hawaii. She is a lifelong supporter of Harborview Medical Center, where she served as a Trustee for many years. She is an avid traveler and biker. She serves on several nonprofit boards and remains active in local politics.

Job Titles:

• Director, Datacenter Community Development

In mid-2016, Jim Hanna joined Microsoft as the company's first director of datacenter sustainability, providing strategic environmental direction in the fields of land-use, green building, energy and water to the company's growing cloud computing platform. Today, he leads the company's focus on urban planning and community prosperity in its datacenter communities around the world. Previously, Jim served ten years as global director of environmental impact for Starbucks, where he led the company's overall sustainability function and contributed to enterprise-wide initiatives that supported green building, energy conservation, international procurement, recycling and waste reduction efforts, in addition to serving as Starbucks external voice and policy advocate for its sustainability vision and platform. Prior to Starbucks, Jim served as director of environmental affairs for Xanterra Parks & Resorts at Yellowstone National Park. In the position, he oversaw Xanterra's many progressive environmental initiatives in its operations as the primary concessionaire in the park, including an ISO 14001-certified Environmental Management System. Before escaping to Yellowstone, he worked as director of operations for Teris Environmental in Los Angeles, managing the company's seven regional offices in North America. A native of Olympia, Washington, Jim earned a BS in environmental sciences from Washington State University and is a U.S. Green Building Council LEED-accredited professional. He serves on the boards of the Washington Environmental Council and Yellowstone Park Foundation.

Job Titles:

• Chairman / Managing Editor, IMDbPro, Senior Film Editor and Senior Content Editor, IMDb
• Managing Editor of IMDbPro

Keith Simanton is the Managing Editor of IMDbPro, IMDb's subscription site for professionals, which is part of IMDb, the world's most popular and authoritative source for movie, TV, and celebrity content.

Job Titles:

• Senior Manager and Chief of Staff for Research and Development

Megan earned her bachelor's degree in Sociology from Washington State University in 2004. While she was in Pullman she worked for the Student Advising and Learning Center as a student worker assisting with the Transfer Center. She was a transfer student and very passionate about transfer student success at WSU. Her first faculty role at WSU was with the Distance Degree Program as an Faculty Academic Advisor. She was in that role for one year before the Transfer Center asked her to return as their Coordinator. She returned and spent two years working as the Coordinator and a Faculty Academic Advisor. Megan returned to school and earned her MS in Education from Western Oregon University. She went on to work for Oregon State University as a Career Counselor in their Career Success Center until her family relocated to Nevada. She went on to work for Touro College and the Nevada Community Enrichment program before returning to Washington in 2012. Megan decided to take a sabbatical from education in 2013 and went to work for Microsoft for 3.5 years, Google for 5 years and now she is a Senior Manager serving as the Chief of Staff for their Research and Development team at Confluent. She planned to step away from education for one year and has been gone for almost 10 years thoroughly enjoying working in tech. Outside of work, Megan is married to Ken (Coug Alum ‘05) and she has two daughters. Megan was born and raised in Hawaii and spends as much time as she can in the ocean and home with her family. Megan is passionate about personal and professional development and is currently working on her certificate in Professional Coaching.

Job Titles:

• Communications
• Development and Alumni Relations
• Student Recruitment

Job Titles:

• Retired

Patricia grew up in Bremerton, WA, and graduated from East High School. She then attended WSU, graduating the year Mount St. Helens erupted (1980) with a BA in Mathematics. While at WSU she played JV basketball and lettered in Track and Field. She earned her medical degree from the Medical College of Wisconsin in 1984. She did a residency in Internal Medicine at Indiana University Medical Center (IUMC) from 1984 to 1987. Upon completion of her residency, she worked a year for an HMO and then returned to IUMC as part of the clinical faculty. This involved working in various clinics, caring for nursing home patients, and working in the county ER. She also supervised residents and medical students when attending on the wards. The last 20 years of her career were spent at various VA Hospitals across the country. Most recently, she worked at the American Lake division of the Puget Sound VA system retiring from there in 2016. She has donated to WSU athletics, CAS, the alumni association, and the medical school. She has established several endowed scholarships. She is trying to make a difference by giving others the opportunity to go to college and/or medical school. She enjoys sports, reading, and traveling. She previously was an avid cyclist having ridden the STP (Seattle To Portland) several times as well as the RAGBRAI (Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa). She currently swims and walks for exercise. She also volunteers at the Dupont library and helps adults learn English as a second language.

Job Titles:

• Teacher Certification

Job Titles:

• Data Scientist

Rhonda Crate Sr. Data Scientist Boeing BA, Anthropology; Eastern Washington University MA, Anthropology; Washington State University MS, Statistics; Washington State University Rhonda has been a part of The Boeing Company since 2014 and is currently working as a senior data scientist supporting the Analytics and Information Management Services within the Information Technology and Data Analytics organization. In addition to her MA in cultural anthropology and MS in statistics from WSU, she has earned professional certificates in statistical programming with R and big data technologies from the University of Washington, and is currently working on a master's certificate in geospatial intelligence from Penn State University. Rhonda teaches R programming classes through Boeing's Ed Wells program and is a relations focal for the WSU College of Arts and Sciences within Boeing. She is currently teaching a class for WSU Global Campus, Data 424, which helps students learn to combine skills they've gained from the data analytics program into creating a solution for an Industry based analytics project. Prior to her work at Boeing, she worked at a small marketing company doing work for companies such as Microsoft, GCI Telecom, Treehouse, and Seattle Central Co-Op. Outside of work, Rhonda enjoys doing sewing craft projects, hiking, gardening, and organizing. She is married to fellow data scientist Andrey Zaikin, has an elementary school-age daughter named Elsie, and one fluffy Russian Siberian cat named Emma.

Job Titles:

• Physician, Author

A family medicine physician, Serign Marong graduated with honors with his bachelor's degree in biology and a minor in Spanish in 2002. He went on to earn his medical degree from the University of Washington School of Medicine in 2010 and is certified through the American Board of Family Medicine. Serign has been honored with many awards and scholarships over the years, including the prestigious WSU President's Award for Leadership, as well as being listed in the Golden Key National Honor Society and the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. Dr. Marong was a student athlete throughout high school and college, having played football, basketball, track, and golf. He went on to play college football as a linebacker for Washington State University from 1997-2001 and was a 3-time PAC-10 All-Academic student athlete. In his free time, Serign enjoys sports, spending time with his big blended family and friends, and traveling when able.

Job Titles:

• Ostrem Leadership Group, Founder and CEO

Tracy founded the Ostrem Leadership Group out of the realization that today more than ever, universities and non-profit organizations need strategic, responsive, bespoke approaches that unleash immediate and long-term fundraising success. A dedicated and passionate partner to academic and advancement leaders, Tracy and her team of industry-leading strategists create personalized approaches unique to each organization's culture, fundraising aspirations and staff potential. From her early days as a student caller through her experience leading major fundraising campaigns with a passion for excellence, Tracy is a celebrated and dedicated partner helping organizations harness the power of philanthropy to effect positive change in limitless ways. Following more than 30 rewarding years leading fundraising success from within leading institutions, Tracy founded the Ostrem Leadership Group with the desire to empower organizations to achieve fundraising success in a new era through expert counsel and innovative approaches. At the University of Washington, Tracy led the College of Arts & Sciences through the comprehensive $6.3 billion "Be Boundless" campaign, more than doubling the College's fundraising performance over the previous campaign. Prior to that, she led the UW's top-ranked School of Nursing through the $2.7 billion "Creating Futures" campaign, which earned her national recognition for tripling the school's fundraising performance. Tracy previously led the fundraising enterprise at the Hope Heart Institute at Providence Seattle and Virginia Mason Medical Center after launching her career at her alma mater, Washington State University. She has held several volunteer leadership roles with the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and is a highly regarded conference speaker. Together with her team of industry-leading strategists, she provides a diverse array of sophisticated consulting services with a commitment to excellence through measurable fundraising results.