Meet the Academic Programs Team
Dr. Danny Monroe
Assistant Director of Academic Programs
Dr. Danny Monroe is the assistant director of academic programs at BTEC. He recruits and advises students seeking master’s degrees in biomanufacturing or graduate certificates in either upstream or downstream biomanufacturing.
Dr. Monroe has over 10 years of experience in higher education instruction, leadership, and student advising. Prior to joining BTEC, he served as head of the Department of Natural Sciences at Wake Tech Community College and as program head for bioprocess technology at Vance-Granville Community College. He received his doctorate in biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2008 and his Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Virginia Tech in 2001.
Contact for:
- Admission into BTEC’s post-baccalaureate certificate, graduate programs, accelerated bachelor’s/master’s degree
- Graduate academic and career advising
Email:
dsmonroe@ncsu.edu
Phone:
919-513-2195
Office:
BTEC 195
Ms. Pa Nhia Moore
Manager of Student Programs
Pa Nhia Moore is the manager of student programs at BTEC. She is responsible for academic and career advising for undergraduate or post-baccalaureate students in Biomanufacturing. In addition, she serves as the scheduler and enrollment manager for BEC courses.
Ms. Moore has over eight years of experience working with college students, specializing in recruitment, advising, and professional development of STEM students. She received a Master of Science in college student personnel from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and a Bachelor of Science in zoology from NC State University.
Contact for:
- Admissions into BTEC’s undergraduate minor and certificate programs
- Undergraduate academic and career advising
- Enrollment into BEC courses
- Student scholarship eligibility
- Job, internship, co-op announcements
Email:
pa_moore@ncsu.edu
Phone:
919-515-0213
Office:
BTEC 195
Sara Siegel, Ph.D.
Senior Scientist
Sara Siegel, Ph.D. is a Senior Scientist with the Accelerated Innovation in Manufacturing Biologics (AIM-Bio) program at BTEC. She received her Ph.D. in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics from the MD Anderson University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and continued her training in microbiology as an HHMI post-doctoral researcher at UT Southwestern. After her post-doctorate work, she became a Research & Development Scientist at Locus Biosciences working on developing phage therapy as an alternative to antimicrobials.
Contact for:
- Undergraduate academic advising
Email:
ssiegel@ncsu.edu
Phone:
919-513-1698
Office:
BTEC 121
Dr. Bala Rao
Director of Academic Programs
A professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Dr. Bala Rao serves as BTEC’s director of Academic Programs. In this role, Dr. Rao leads BTEC’s existing academic programs and the development of new programs and curriculum.
Dr. Rao’s research group focuses on two areas: molecular mechanisms regulating early human placental development, with emphasis on use of human embryonic stem cells derived from in vitro models, and molecular recognition using non-antibody proteins and peptides, with emphasis on building novel tools for cell biology applications.
Prior to joining NC State in 2005, Dr. Rao completed postdoctoral work at the University of Toronto. He obtained his doctorate in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Contact for:
- General inquiries
Email:
bmrao@ncsu.edu
Phone:
919-513-0129
Office:
BTEC 190