Meet the Team

Dr. Darci Snowden
Director and Principal Investigator
Central Washington University
Ellensburg, WA
_{Dr. Darci Snowden, an Associate Professor of Physics at Central Washington University. She has a research background in planetary science, specifically concentrating on Titan, and enjoys guiding students through high-altitude balloon and rocketry projects.}

Deanna Marshall
Program Manager
Central Washington University
Ellensburg, WA
_{Deanna loves event planning, organizing activities, and analyzing data. She has been a part of NESSP since the early days and is proud of its growth and continuing evolution. In her spare time, she like to drop pumpkins off the roof of Discovery Hall, because Physics!}

Anita Mishina
Office Assistant 3
Central Washington University
Ellensburg, WA
_{Anita appreciates her job every day. She especially loves designing logos & manuals and ordering educational materials & recognition items. She had fun visiting Florida’s Kennedy Space Center in August 2023, and really enjoyed meeting all the great teachers and students at the NESSP events.}

Student Members

Abbigal Beirens
Digital Communications Assistant
Central Washington University
Ellensburg, WA
_{Abbigal or Abbi is a current student at Central Washington pursuing a bachelors degree in Computer Science. Growing up she attended a STEM elementary school and a STEM high school. She thinks that everybody should have access to STEM activities and loves that she can help make these opportunities more accessible.}

Christian Laurent
Shipping and Handling Assistant
Central Washington University
Ellensburg, WA
_{Christian is a current student at Central Washington University in the pursue of a bachelor of science in physics, and later plans to continue his journey into graduate school for a PHD in physics. He was guided towards that path after being exposed to stem activities for the first time in High School. He strongly believes that stem activities should be accessible to everyone and loves being part of the team thriving to make that a reality.}

Our Partners

Boise State University

Montana State University
_{MSU runs NESSP camps for underserved middle school youth, provides training and professional development to teachers, supports the NASA ROADS challenges, and engages Montana tribes in NASA science.}

Montana Learning Center

Museum of Flight, Washington Aerospace Scholars

Northern Arizona University
_{Anne Hamlin leads the Arizona regional hub of NESSP through Northern Arizona University’s Center for Science Teaching and Learning. She recruits new robotics teams for NESSP challenges in grades 3-12 and provides professional development, challenge support, and challenge communications to all registered teams. She focuses recruitment and professional development efforts particularly on teams from rural and Native American communities. She also organizes event planning for in-person challenges.}