Marlena L. Jones, M.S.
Acting Director
CASE
mjones@carnegiescience.edu
Marlena Jones, Acting Director of CASE, oversees all CASE programs. Throughout the school year, she provides a variety of services to teachers, administrators, and students, including enhancing and implementing options within the biotechnology academy career pathway. Ms. Jones founded the CASE STEM kits program and she is responsible for the development and management of these free science inquiry-based kits for classroom use. She serves as the instructor for several CASE teacher and student programs, including the Summer STARS, STEM Teacher Leader Cadre, and AP Biology Collaborative.
Prior to joining CASE, she was the Director of The Discovery Center for Cell and Molecular Biology at Catholic University of America. The Discovery Center is a science training facility for junior high and high school students and teachers. Since 1993, Ms. Jones designed and implemented several of their programs – including the “What If?” Laboratory afterschool program for students, the Gene Search Project for rising high school seniors, and was editor-in-chief of the newsletter, The Biology Discoverer. She was instrumental in the training of almost 20,000 student participants in the Discovery Series and Outreach Biotechnology Loaner Laboratory.
Ms. Jones received her Master of Science degree in Cell and Molecular Biology from Catholic University. In addition, she holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry and a Bachelor of Science degree in General Biology with high honors from the University of Maryland College Park where she became a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She has extensive experience in teaching laboratory science at the college and high school levels.
Ramella Suber
Laboratory Technician
CASE
rsuber@carnegiescience.edu
Ramella Suber is the Lab Technician for CASE, as well as the site technician for the Washington, DC Metro Area Amgen Biotech Experience (ABE). She prepares materials and solutions for CASE’s biotech programs and leads the area’s ABE Professional Development Institute which provides a molecular biology curriculum for teachers to introduce biotechnology to the classroom. Since childhood, Ramella has had a strapping curiosity surrounding human suffering due to countless diseases that result from mutations at the cellular level. Her intrigue developed into a passion for becoming a frontrunner in scientific research, striving to prevent and reverse these diseases by studying the cellular interactions which cause them to appear.
Ramella’s passion for research is outlined in her activities and achievements, as she received the highest award in Girl Scouting by creating and leading a workshop that promoted health and fitness for senior citizens, and also placed 1st in the Social/Behavioral Science Category at the 2016 DC Stem Fair. She continued to build upon her skills through volunteering with STEM NOLA in New Orleans, assisting her professor as a Genetics TA, and spending time as a Biotech Research Assistant with CASE.
Ramella earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology Pre-Medicine from Xavier University of Louisiana, with a minor concentration in Chemistry, and Honors in English and Philosophy.
Stephanie Williams (she/her)
Physical Science Educator
CASE
swilliams@carnegiescience.edu
Stephanie Williams is the Lead Physical Science Instructor for the First Light middle school program. She is also currently working on her Ph.D. in Science Education Research, with a focus on culturally responsive and liberatory science teaching, at the University of Maryland (UMD).
Stephanie earned her bachelor’s degree in physics and astronomy from UMD in 2019. While an undergrad she served as the President of the Society Of Physics Students chapter, Vice President for the UMD Physics MakerSpace, and as an undergraduate researcher with the Physics Education Research Department. Stephanie had previous experience in quantitative research with the LZ Dark Matter Detector experiment, and confirming exoplanets with the KELT-FUN database.
Stephanie’s true passions are science education and outreach. Working with the University’s Physics department she helped to develop and plan outreach events reaching thousands of people in the community. She has also worked with the American Institute of Physics and their Teaching Guide project to bring physics curricula about underrepresented groups to people all over the world. Currently, she works on large projects supporting cultural change in physics departments such as the American Physical Society’s Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Alliance (IDEA) project, which uses shared leadership models to plan actionable changes.
In the future, Stephanie plans to continue developing support for teachers of all grades to plan and implement more inclusive education for students in science throughout the country and develop content and infrastructure that supports students advocating for themselves throughout their careers.
NaDaizja Q. Bolling
Program Associate
CASE
nbolling@carnegiescience.edu
As the Program Associate for CASE, NaDaizja Bolling manages the day-to-day operations of all CASE programs. NaDaizja is a dedicated education professional with proven leadership, organizational, and communications skills. NaDaizja believes that helping youth gain access to hands-on science learning is crucial in preparing them for a successful and meaningful future, and in generating STEM equity. NaDaizja’s ability to work well with people across various backgrounds positions her to successfully build partnerships that strengthen educational equity in DC communities.
NaDaizja previously worked at Harvard Business School where she proactively managed the efforts of the 50th-anniversary celebration of the founding of the African American Student Union at Harvard Business School, a key inflection point in the School’s history. She has additional experience in both quantitative and qualitative research practices, international development, and mentoring.
NaDaizja holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Health and African American Humanities, with a minor concentration in Medical Anthropology, which she received from Syracuse University.