Ash Friend: Education Director
From an early childhood fascination with the La Brea tar pits and Dinosaur National Monument, to work helping curate a workplace pathology collection, Ash has been drawn to museums and museum education. In 2014, he left a career working in hospital pathology and histology labs to begin designing STEAM camps for children. Ash has designed and facilitated camps in Arizona, Missouri, Kansas, and Oregon.
Since coming to ScienceWorks in 2016, he has gotten to facilitate and learn with over 10,000 K-12 students from Oregon, Washington, California, and New York state. Ash has learned a lot of interesting things through being a museum educator, like how much the average human brain weighs (3 lbs.) and which surfaces grow the
best bacteria on a petri dish (doorknobs).
When he isn't learning new skills like 3D printing armor or making musical instruments from fruit, Ash loves storytelling, writing, collaborative play, designing forts, and learning about real and imaginary fantastic creatures.
Melissa Donner - Education Manager
Melissa has a Masters of Science of Environmental Education and Masters of Arts in Teaching from Southern Oregon University. She is a highly skilled science educator and runs the field trip program at ScienceWorks.
In her free time she loves playing with her dog, Mopsey, hiking, and caring for her three goats, Half and Half, Hilda, and Beatrix.
Finn Smith - Programs and Outreach Manager
Finn started at ScienceWorks in 2014 as a volunteer facilitator in DaVinci's Garage. Since dipping their toe into the museum world, they've jumped in headfirst and now run the tinkering space as well as all other non-registered public programs and the ScienceWorks volunteer program.
In 2019 they were awarded the ASTC Diversity and Leadership Fellowship, and they bring a passion for diversity and equity work into every aspect of their museum work. If you need them on their days off, Finn can usually be found lying flat on their stomach in the woods, taking pictures of the forest floor.
Johnnie Snow: Public Programs and Camps Manager
Johnnie recently joined the ScienceWorks Education team in June 2022, just in time for summer camp. Johnnie and her husband moved to the Rogue Valley from Utah and have greatly enjoyed the change of scenery and beautiful outdoors.
Johnnie’s background is in formal education, having taught both first grade and elementary STEM. However, since interning at the Museo Anatomico at the university in Siena, Italy, she has wanted to explore informal science education. This led her to ScienceWorks, where she runs school year and summer camps and loves every minute. In her spare time, you can find her painting, watching movies, and enjoying the outdoors with her husband and dog.
June Snow - Branch Manager
June joined the team with her mom, Johnnie, this past summer. Her professional history is a bit of a mystery, having been adopted just a few years ago, but her enthusiasm for her new role here at ScienceWorks knows no bounds.
Being the Branch manager means that June thoroughly inspects all branches and sticks on the property, which keeps her very busy. Her hobbies include shopping for new sweaters and bandanas, doing tricks for treats, and of course playing fetch with sticks and toys.
Mopsey Donner - Security Guard
Mopsey has been working hard greeting people in the staff entrance since 2018.
She takes her role of security guard very seriously! In her free time, she enjoys belly rubs, collecting socks, and dancing.