Advisory Board

 

Dr. Nancy C. Maryboy

Dr. Nancy C. Maryboy is the President and Founder of the Indigenous Education Institute (IEI) whose mission is preserving, protecting, and applying indigenous knowledge. She is the Principal Investigator for the NSF funded Native Universe: Indigenous Voice in Science Museums, a partnership including the `Imiloa Astronomy Center, Multiverse SSL UC Berkeley, OMSI, AZ Sonora Desert Museum, the Durango Discovery Museum, ASTC and the National Museum of the American Indian. She is Co-PI for Navajo Sky, a NASA funded project that develops digital modules for planetariums, juxtaposing Navajo and Western astronomy. She is adjunct professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Northern Arizona University, where she teaches an online course in Indigenous Astronomy. She is working with the NASA funded MAVEN project (exploring Mars’ climate history) to develop school projects in Indigenous schools for Imagine Mars Through Indigenous Eyes. She was a faculty member and administrator at Dine College, the Navajo Tribal College, for 13 years. She worked as Administrator and Vice Principal at Shonto Prep School, a K-12 school on the western side of the Navajo Nation. She has a Ph.D. in Indigenous Science: Astronomy. She is Cherokee/Navajo and comes from a family of traditional and medical healers. Nancy’s passions include kayaking in the San Juan Islands, hiking in the southwest, and stargazing.

Kevin Byrne

Kevin Byrne is Vice Consul of Ireland to the Western United States, Consulate General of Ireland located in San Francisco, California. Kevin, a native of Dundalk in County Louth, is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin and the London School of Economics. A Naughton scholar, he has worked internationally for national government, the European Union and in the think tank sector. He joined the Department of Foreign Affairs in 2010. Most recently he was seconded to the Department of the Taoiseach to plan Ireland’s successful 7th Presidency of the EU.

Andrew Fraknoi

Andrew Fraknoi is Chair of the Astronomy Department at Foothill College and the 2007 California Professor of the Year awarded by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. He served as the Executive Director of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific from 1978 to 1992, edited its popular-level magazine, Mercury, and founded its newsletter for teachers, The Universe in the Classroom. He was the founding director of "Project ASTRO,” which brings volunteer astronomers into 3rd – 9th grade classrooms. Fraknoi is lead author of a college-level astronomy textbook and wrote a children’s book entitled “Disney’s Wonderful World of Space.” His awards include the American Institute of Physics 2007 Gemant Prize (given for a lifetime of contributions to the intersection of physics and culture), the Faraday Award for Science Communication from the National Science Teachers Association, and the American Astronomical Society's 1994 Annenberg Foundation Award (for a lifetime of contributions to astronomy education.) The International Astronomical Union has named Asteroid 4859 Asteroid Fraknoi to recognize his contributions to science education and to the public understanding of astronomy.

Kareem Edouard

Kareem Edouard is a doctoral student in the Learning Sciences Technology Design Program at Stanford University's Graduate School of Education. His research focuses on bridging the digital divide, providing equal and equitable access to internet and computer technology to minority students in underserved communities. Through this access, students can develop the necessary cognitive and social skills to become productive and contributing members of an emerging digitally connected community. Currently Kareem is teaching digital book publishing to students in East Palo Alto providing his students access to the necessary digital and cognitive tools to shape and create stories about their own communities. Kareem sums up his digital publishing program using a Ghanaian proverb: Until the lion has his own historian the tale of the hunt will ALWAYS glorify the hunter.

Dr. Okhee Lee

Dr. Okhee Lee is a Professor of Childhood Education at New York University. Dr. Lee’s research areas include science education, language and culture, and teacher education. Her current research involves the scale-up of a teacher professional development intervention to promote science learning and language development of English language learners. She is a 2009 Fellow of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and received the Distinguished Career Award from the AERA Scholars of Color in Education in 2003. She was awarded a 1993-95 National Academy of Education Spencer Post-doctoral Fellowship. She has directed research and teacher enhancement projects funded by the National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Education, Spencer Foundation, and other sources. She received her doctorate from Michigan State University in 1989 and taught in the School of Education at the University of Miami prior to coming to Steinhardt.

Claudio Vargas

Claudio Vargas is the Elementary Science Coordinator at the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD). Before joining the OUSD Science Elementary Team, Claudio served as the Director of the Bay Area Science Project (BASP) at UC Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science (LHS). Claudio has led numerous professional development programs throughout the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Texas. He has designed and implemented K – 8 professional development programs that focus on developing teachers' science content knowledge and expanding their teaching strategies, with particular emphasis on English Language Learners.Claudio has also worked for 10 years as a bilingual K–5 teacher and a science coach in the District, 11 years as a science researcher at the School of Pharmacy at the University of California, San Francisco, and 9 years in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Minnesota.

Dr. Dennis R. (Rob) Fatland

Dr. Dennis R. (Rob) Fatland works as a program manager for the External Research division of Microsoft Research, specifically on the use of Microsoft-driven (and other) technologies in service to environmental research. He works to release research tools such as Layerscape (a collaboration/visualization system) and SciScope (a search engine for hydrology data) for adoption and use by both academic and operational geoscience communities. His work includes sensor network adaptation to rainforest micrometeorology in Brazil and data and model-driven studies of the biogeochemistry of terrestrial-marine coupling in Southeast Alaska. Dr. Fatland received a B.S. in physics from the California Institute of Technology in 1987 and a Ph.D. in Geophysics from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1998. He has worked for 6 years at NASA-JPL in radar remote sensing and for an additional eight years for (then) Vexcel Corporation in Boulder Colorado with emphasis on remote sensing and ground-based sensor networks and applications of geospatial technology to environmental science and applications.

Tokiwa T. Smith

Tokiwa T. Smith is the Founder and Executive Director of Science, Engineering and Mathematics Link Inc. (SEM Link), a non-profit organization that promotes student achievement and career exploration in math and science for K-12 students. Under her leadership SEM Link has grown from an organization that served one middle school in Atlanta, Georgia to a national nonprofit organization that has enhanced the STEM educational experiences for thousands of youth in Atlanta, the San Francisco Bay Area and Washington, DC Metropolitan Area. A native of Miami, Florida and an alumnus of Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University, with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering, Ms. Smith has over 10 years’ experience working in academia and non-profit organizations developing and managing educational programs and developing and implementing math and science curriculum for precollege and college students. Ms. Smith has worked for organizations such as Atlanta Public Schools, Georgia State University, Hands on Atlanta and Spelman College. She is also the CEO and Principal Owner of Kemet Educational Services. Her blog, The Science Socialite, www.thesciencesocialite.wordpress.com, discusses her journey as social entrepreneur & STEM educator.

Jessica Hendrickson

Jessica Hendrickson started working as a Producer for Kallisti Media in 2013 after owning and operating her own educational motion picture company providing educational science video production services. She teamed up with the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration's Northwest Fisheries Science Center and collaborating partners: University of San Francisco's Romberg-Tiburon Environmental Center, University of Maine, University of Western Ontario, and University of Washington's Friday Harbor Laboratories to make a short documentary series of videos as part of an extensive outreach effort. The project “Tabs on HABs: An Introduction to Harmful Algal Blooms and their Identification,” added University of Alaska, Port Townsend Marine Science Center, Salish Sea Expeditions, Aquarium of the Pacific, Seattle Aquarium and SoundToxins (a NOAA-program) to her list of partners. The video series was distributed to aquaria, educators, students and citizen scientists worldwide.Jessica is currently producing a 2D and 3D fulldome planetarium and giant screen film with Kallisti Media about the impact of space weather on Earth and the Northern Lights called “Aurora.” She currently works in collaboration with various Universities and departments of NASA for various Kallisti Media projects. During her school years, Jessica volunteered with the Girls' Day in the Lab outreach program and holds a Bachelors' degree from the Natural Sciences department at Hampshire College.

Darryl Stanford

Darryl Stanford grew up in New York City and became interested in astronomy as a young kid, when my mother took me to the Hayden Planetarium.He is a professor of physics and astronomy at the College of San Mateo, a member of the American Astronomical Society (AAS), and a member of NITARP (NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Program). He is a member of the ASP and one of the founding members of Project Astro. He is a member of the 2006 of Teacher Liaisons for the Space Foundation. In 2005, he received the Professional Award from the AANC for my outstanding effort and continuous support in distinguishing and supporting amateur astronomy. He does lots of public outreach, public planetarium shows, participates in Project Star Gaze, in which we do planetarium shows for K-8 school groups, and in Jazz Under the Stars, in which we open our observatory to the public. He has a Masters degree in solid state physics from Concordia University in Montreal and a Masters degree in astrophysics, from the University of Toledo.When he is not teaching, I like to relax by riding my Harley and stargazing from his backyard in Pacifica.
Multiverse skin is based on Greytness by Adammer