Sarah Barks

Senior Director, STEM Career Communities & Analytics

Sarah (they/them) leads the STEM Career Communities at Grinnell. They provide students and early career alumni industry-focused advising, experiential learning opportunities, and targeted programming as they focus and connect their values, strengths, and interests to specific postgraduate goals and ambitions related to science, technology, engineering, and math & data. They advise students and graduates interested in careers and graduate degrees in STEM-related fields. Sarah also wrangles data for the CLS and is happiest when immersed in a spreadsheet.

A native of Missouri and graduate of Washington University in St. Louis (BA in anthropology and philosophy–neuroscience–psychology), Sarah holds a PhD in biological anthropology from Emory University and comes to Grinnell after three years as a post-doctoral scientist at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Their research focused on great ape social cognition and neuroanatomy.

When not advising Grinnellians, Sarah spoils their pets, reads a lot, bakes pie, and does too many crossword puzzles. They joined the CLS team in September 2014.