About

I am a mission-driven leader and strategist with 15+ years of experience advancing the future of science through thoughtful philanthropy, research infrastructure, and cross-sector collaboration.

My work sits at the intersection of science, philanthropy, and systems design — where I help organizations imagine, design, and implement initiatives that make research more open, collaborative, and impactful. I specialize in supporting philanthropies and funder groups to define strategy, launch grantmaking programs, and operationalize open science practices among grantees.

With a PhD in science, deep experience in grantmaking and program strategy, and an MBA in progress, I bring both technical fluency and strategic clarity to every engagement. I’ve worked across academia, nonprofits, and philanthropy, and have built tools, communities, and teams that drive scientific progress.

Core strengths

• Designing and implementing grant programs & review processes
• Open science strategy, incentive design, and community-building
• Facilitating cross-disciplinary collaborations and partnerships
• Advising academic data science programs and research leaders
• Translating big ideas into operational plans and measurable outcomes
• Building and mentoring high-performing, values-aligned teams

Currently I am Senior Program Manager for Open Science at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. In this role, I drive the execution of open science initiatives, develop strategies for promoting and enabling open science, and manage the development and operations of grant programs.

Previously I was the Director of Alliances and Data Strategy at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. I led a team to strategically support data-intensive research at Fred Hutch through internal and external partnerships, community building, infrastructure development, and new initiatives designed to facilitate data science. I was also a Program Officer for the Data-Driven Discovery Initiative, an effort within the Moore Foundation’s Science Program focused on promoting academic data science.

I received a B.A. in Marine Science and a Ph.D. in Biological Oceanography from the MIT/WHOI Joint Program. My full resume is available here. I am currently working towards my MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas Business School.

Looking for blog posts? Check out strasser.github.io/blog-posts