A graduate of Purdue in Science and Culture (chemistry), Boston University in Journalism/Science Communication, A'ndrea Messer is a veteran science communicator and press officer at Penn State where she covers the natural science waterfront. At Penn State, where she has worked for 24 years, Messer writes about research of all kinds and advises faculty, staff and students on all aspects of media relations. She is also an archaeologist, with master's and doctoral degrees in Anthropology from Penn State. She has served in a volunteer capacity as press officer for the Society for American Archaeology for the past four years, and, as a self-described geek, she supports NASW's Internet/Web environment in her role as assistant systems operator.