Our Team

Biography

Dr. Heath Pickerill leads the Missouri Local Training & Resource Center located at Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) in Rolla and serves as director of Missouri's Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) and Rural Transit Assistant Program (RTAP), a position he has held since June 2007. Dr. Pickerill currently serves as the president-elect of the National Local Technical Assistance Program Association (NLTAPA) and co-chairs the 2024 NLTAPA Conference. As the principal investigator of a grant through the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, he is leading an effort to develop a community resilience program in Missouri, providing a unique opportunity to form community partnerships in rural populations to support an inclusive workforce in underserved communities through workforce development training.

Dr. Pickerill also teaches as an assistance teaching professor in the civil, architectural, and environmental engineering department at Missouri S&T and serves as a faculty advisor for S&T's Solar House Design Team. He holds a PhD in Human Environmental Sciences from the University of Missouri – Columbia and a Master of Architecture, Master of Science in Civil Engineering, and Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His previous experience includes consulting work in architecture as well as project management with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Directorate of Public Works at Fort Leonard Wood.

Biography

Dr. Nicole Annis recently returned to the Missouri S&T campus as a member of the CArEE department. She joined Missouri's Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) staff on February 1, 2023, as Assistant Director under Dr. Heath Pickerill, Assistant Teaching Professor and LTAP Director. She worked with LTAP for seven years as a graduate student in the department (2008 - 2015). Dr. Annis holds a BSc in Architectural Engineering, MSc in Civil Engineering, and PhD in Civil Engineering, all from Missouri S&T. Upon graduation, she was an associate professor and program assessment coordinator at Lawrence Technical University in Southfield, Michigan for three years.

Dr. Annis worked for five years as a consulting design engineer and project manager. As a design engineer, she helped to determine project tasks, weekly assignments, and specific deadlines and represented the engineering team during client/owner reviews. As a project manager, she managed a government-funded research project that included a large multidiscipline team of designers and subcontractors. As part of the LTAP team, one of her priorities is the final implementation of a new learning management system (LMS) with an integrated website. She has years of firsthand experience and insight into the training and services LTAP provides as well as a diverse background in curriculum development, program administration, and various other areas related to her role. In addition, Dr. Annis now teaches as a lecturer for the department and recently taught the HVAC course.

Biography

Kristi Barr joined the staff at Missouri S&T in June of 2006. She came to Missouri S&T with over 17 years of accounting experience, twelve years as an account clerk and bookkeeper for three local businesses, and five years with the accounting firm of Verkamp & Malone, CPA. She holds a B.S. in Accounting. She has been with Missouri LTAP throughout the current contract and knows the program in great depth. She has been an integral part of the program during the last twelve years and has been instrumental in its growth.

She is responsible for the development of the Missouri LTAP newsletter, as well as maintaining and updating the webpage. On a day-to-day basis, she is responsible for everything from assisting with customer requests for technical information and materials to coordinating training and conference registration. She utilizes her accounting skills by handling all the invoicing for the training and conferences that are held.

Biography

Pat Diaku is our new team member, replacing Doreen Harkins who retired on April 29 after 20 years of service on the Missouri S&T campus. Pat holds a bachelor's degree in business management from the University of Sunderland, United Kingdom and is currently pursuing her master's degree in project management at Missouri State University, Springfield. Pat recently relocated to the United States from her home country of Nigeria where she worked in several administrative and project management roles, setting up structures, streamlining processes, and building teams.

Pat's time in her new position will be split between the Missouri Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) and Rural Transit Assistance Program (RTAP) where she will carry out several roles. She will be responsible for the accounting and payment of the LTAP contract instructors and managing the MO-LTAP Scholars Program. She will also verify and process payments for the RTAP Scholarship Reimbursement Program, collect class rosters from the transit agencies, create certificates in the RTAP training database, and coordinate other specialized training requests for the rural transit agencies.

Biography

Ms. Tina Monson recently joined the Missouri Local Training & Resource Center team as an Education Program Coordinator. Tina coordinates training efforts for Missouri's Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) and the Missouri Community Resilience Program currently being developed under a grant through the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Her efforts for LTAP focus on scheduling in-person workforce development trainings throughout the State as well as assisting in the development of an online course catalog, which is greatly expanding classes available to the State's local public agencies. In addition, she assists in organizing outreach efforts to promote resiliency planning and entrepreneurship to a variety of demographics. Tina holds a bachelor's degree in general studies with an emphasis in business from Gulf Coast University in Southwest Florida. She served 6 years in the Missouri Army National Guard with the 1438th Engineers Company Attachment in Rolla. Tina holds Military Occupational Specialties as an Administrative Specialist and a Ribbon Bridge Builder.

Biography

Lauren Gehner is the second Safety Circuit Rider for Missouri and started in the beginning of 2023. She is a lifelong resident of Missouri and grew up in the St. Louis area. She attended Missouri S&T where she received a Bachelor of Science in Civil and Architectural Engineering and later received a master's in engineering management. After graduation, Lauren spent 13 years working with St. Charles County Highway Department where she supported the design and maintenance group. In this capacity, she was a part of all aspects of a project, including funding applications, design, compiling specifications, and asset management through ArcGIS. Additionally, it gave her the opportunity to work in rural and suburban settings.

Lauren will continue some of the projects started under the SCR (Safety Circuit Rider) Program in 2020 such as developing Local Road Safety Plans and reference sheets that local agencies can use when assessing safety measures to implement in their system. She will also focus on informing cities and counties about the funding opportunities available to them under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.