Susannah Knust, Ph.D., is currently the director of the Research Transition Office (RTO) at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR). Dr. Knust has served as a Research Psychologist in the RTO since 2016. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Spanish K-12 Education (minor in Social Studies) from Calvin College in 2002; her Master’s degree in Coach Education from Western Michigan University in 2009, and her Ph.D. in Sport Psychology and Motor Behavior from the University of Tennessee in 2013.

Dr. Knust was the Liaison Officer to the Army Resilience Directorate (ARD; HQDA, G-1) from 2017-2022. She is a subject matter expert and senior advisor for performance psychology, resilience, coach education, leadership, motivation, trust, deployment cycle resilience, curriculum development, and research transition. She conducts program evaluations, develops resilience and suicide prevention curriculum, and advises on policy changes for ARD-funded projects.

Dr. Knust's program evaluations include the Embedded Performance Expert Quality Improvement Evaluation, Master Resilience Training Quality Improvement Evaluation, Deployment Cycle Resilience Training Quality Improvement Evaluation, and the Enlisted Professional Military Education Quality Improvement Evaluation. Through her research efforts, she is leading the Army’s efforts to shift the resilience training methodology from the standard formal classroom PowerPoint training to coach education.

Dr. Knust has developed and managed the development of resilience training curricula to best support Ready and Resilient (R2) objectives that reflect the complex interplay of personal attributes, life experiences, influence by others including leaders, and risk factors that can exacerbate vulnerability. These courses include Deployment Cycle Resilience Training modules, suicide prevention training, and resilience training modules in Professional Military Education. Dr. Knust has co-hosted the Consortium for Health and Military Performance (CHAMP)/WRAIR Performance Psychology Summits. She is also the United States representative on the 5 Eyes Resilience Training Working Group. She has been part of each Cohesion Assistsance Team (CAT) since its inception in February 2021, conducting focus groups and providing continuity and consultation to the CAT leadership and broader team.