Meet Our Staff

Suki Smaglik spent over 30 years in STEM higher-education classrooms including astronomy, chemistry, earth and environmental science, geology, and physical science, as well as Outdoor Education.  Working as the Education Coordinator for the SAGE program, she’s now using her skills to support students at Heritage University who struggle with college classes, especially in STEM. As a first-generation college student herself, she understands the struggle to belong.  Suki looks forward to meeting with students and helping them overcome the obstacles on their journeys to fulfilling careers in STEM.

She is especially interested in active learning and undergraduate research mentoring.  Suki loves rocks and the stories they tell us about the places we live. Her Master’s work focused on some of the oldest (3 bill. yrs) preserved volcanoes on Earth, and her dissertation took her to the bottom of the ocean to study some of the youngest (0-age) volcanoes on Earth.  Suki’s interdisciplinary science background and training in outdoor education led to her current research in astro biogeochemistry (the search for extraterrestrial life by understanding the link between microbial life and interesting “extreme”) environments such as volcanoes, glaciers, hot springs, carbonated springs and the ocean floor.  She continues to look for life in strange conditions and brings that to the undergraduate research experience at Heritage.  When not teaching, she can be found on a trail with her dogs, or reading at home with her kitties.