Staff & Advisory Boards

Kenneth L. Hess is the Founder and President of Science Buddies. Ken successfully wears a lot of hats in his life: educator, entrepreneur, engineer, and author. And no matter which of those hats he's wearing it's his nature to create and build something new, be it an original product, solution, or organization. When he saw how much his daughter learned doing her own science projects, it was only a matter of time before he founded Science Buddies in an effort to create the same positive learning experience for students everywhere. Closely observing how students and teachers do science projects, Ken developed our Topic Selection Wizard specifically because of the problems students had picking a project that interests them.

In recognition of his work in the field of science education, Ken has been appointed to the Statewide Advisory Board of the California State Summer School for Mathematics & Science (COSMOS), a program of the University of California for students in grades 8-12.

Prior to turning toward education, Ken founded Banner Blue Software and developed a specialized business graphics program, Org Plus, which is still actively upgraded and sold today. During the 1990's he popularized computer genealogy by designing, developing, and selling the Family Tree Maker product line, which has sold millions of copies and fostered the creation of some of the most popular sites on the Internet.

Ken recently authored the book, Bootstrap: Lessons Learned Building a Successful Company from Scratch, recounting his experiences founding and managing a startup organization. He has also lectured about the startup experience at Stanford University and the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

Ken graduated from Stanford with a B.S. in Engineering with Distinction and received a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard.

Courtney Corda is Vice President of Science Buddies. Courtney has a decade of experience in the computer software industry, having held various management positions at companies including Banner Blue Software, Broderbund Software, and The Learning Company. From her private sector employment, Courtney brings a wealth of knowledge and skills in all facets of marketing to Science Buddies. While at Broderbund Software, as a divisional Vice President of Marketing, Courtney was instrumental in broadening the market for their highly profitable genealogy products while building leadership positions in market share, customer satisfaction, critical acclaim, and product performance in a highly competitive climate.

Courtney's background will help her play an important role at Science Buddies as the organization meets the needs of its "customers": students who need inspiration, support, and opportunities to succeed in science. Courtney will also draw on her successful experiences in past PR, sales and business development roles to help Science Buddies develop strong relationships in the science fair and educational communities as well as to obtain financial support from corporations, private foundations and governmental agencies. Courtney is a summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of California at Berkeley. She also earned a certificate from the AEA/Stanford Executive Institute, an intensive summer "mini-MBA" program for executives.

Tina Lanese is Vice President of Science Buddies. For over ten years Tina has worked closely with educators to develop educational products that make learning fun for students of all ages. In her previous senior level positions with Broderbund Software, Mattel, and LEGO, Tina developed innovative products that utilized technology to promote learning through play-based activities. Her products not only led their categories in sales, but also won praise among educators and reviewers.

Tina appreciates that students have a natural desire to learn, and believes that materials presented in the right way support and encourage the learning process. In continuing her work with educators, Tina is excited about developing new materials and tools that empower students to learn.

Tina graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. in Economics with Distinction from the University of Virginia, and has a Masters in Business Administration from the Wharton School.

Dr. Michelle Maranowski is a Staff Scientist at Science Buddies. She completed her PhD in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. There she studied silicon carbide oxide reliability in the laboratory of Dr. James A. Cooper. After graduating from Purdue, Michelle went to work for Hewlett Packard Optoelectronics Division (HP OED) in San Jose, CA, where she was a Manufacturing Development Engineer. At HP OED she was part of the InGaN Blue Light Emitting Diode (LED) transfer team and worked on bringing the R&D process into high volume manufacturing. Her second assignment at HP OED was as a Product Engineer for the high-power AlInGaP LED line (red, yellow, and amber). She was responsible for overall yields, improvement projects, and tracking failure issues. After spending 4 years and a graduate career in the semiconductor industry, Michelle decided to challenge herself and learn about the biotechnology field. She joined Agilent Technologies BioScience Research Unit, which manufactures DNA micro arrays. There she worked with the data analysis group, figuring out ways to separate good arrays from faulty arrays using manufacturing data. Michelle believes that everybody is a scientist and looks forward to making science fun and approachable for people of all ages.

Dr. Sandra S. Slutz is a Staff Scientist at Science Buddies. She's always started so many sentences with "how" and "why" that it was clear she'd end up doing experiments to answer those questions. Sandra graduated from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst with a BS in Biology and a minor in Psychology. She recently completed her PhD in Genetics at Stanford University in the laboratory of Dr. Man-Wah Tan. While in the Tan laboratory, Sandra's research focused on how bacterial pathogens are detected by the immune system of Caenorhabditis elegans. She also spent many fun hours mentoring and teaching upcoming young scientists in the laboratory. Sandra is delighted to join Science Buddies and help other students discover the joys of finding answers to "how" and "why."

Kristin M. Strong is a Staff Scientist at Science Buddies. Kristin comes to our organization with nearly a decade of experience in the aerospace industry as a research, software, and control systems engineer. At Lockheed Martin, she developed state-of-the-art algorithms for controlling large flexible space structures. As a graduate student, she investigated how neural networks might be used to detect and measure critical events, such as an air embolus during surgery. She also has personal interests in medicine, child development, and special needs education. Kristin is a magna cum laude graduate in Electrical Engineering from Utah State University in Logan, UT and holds an MS in Bioengineering from the University of Utah. She is excited to apply her engineering background toward developing new engineering project ideas for children's education.

Dr. David Whyte is a Staff Scientist at Science Buddies. He is a science fair "veteran," having helped his two daughters with their projects in the San Francisco Bay area schools. He believes that science fairs play a critical role in increasing the scientific literacy of our children. He has a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of California, San Francisco, and a BS in Chemistry from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He is currently senior director at Argus Biosciences, a personal genomics company. Dr. Whyte was director of Molecular Technologies at Sugen, Inc, until 2004. Prior to joining Sugen, he was a principal scientist in the Tumor Biology Department at the Schering-Plough Research Institute in New Jersey.

Debbie Stimpson is Website Editor of Science Buddies. She is a graduate of San Francisco State University with a B.S. in Computer Science. Debbie comes to our foundation with a strong background in website design, graphics, ecommerce, and traditional programming. She brings her ten years of experience as a website designer to our foundation along with her years of database and application programming as a systems supervisor at Southern Pacific Transportation Company. Debbie is excited to be part of Science Buddies and looks forward to improving the growing Science Buddies website for all of its student, parent, teacher, and scientist visitors.

Rebecca Steelman is an Editor at Science Buddies. She's had a zeal for editing and writing for as long as she can remember. She graduated from Ohio University with an English degree and went on to work at the major textbook publisher The McGraw-Hill Companies in Columbus, Ohio. There, she worked as a Production Editor for the high school science department, as well as a Project Manager for middle and high school science supplementary materials. Rebecca most recently worked as the sole Technical Editor for the Capital One Auto Finance creative team in Dallas, Texas. Her role included editing direct mail, brochures, online banner ads, and webpages. Rebecca is thrilled to be back in the educational field, helping create important tools to enrich students' studies.

Amy Cowen is Online Community Manager for Science Buddies. She holds an MA in English Literature and did her doctoral work at the University of Maryland, College Park. Amy comes to Science Buddies with wide-ranging freelance experience in technical writing and online content production, website design and implementation, user-interface design, and project management for companies including Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, and CNET. She is excited about Science Buddies and looks forward to contributing to Science Buddies' continued growth and success.

Lily De Los Rios is Vice President of the Program Office for Symantec Corporation's Consumer Business Unit. In this role, she is responsible for leading cross-functional teams on key initiatives for the business unit. Lily brings a long and successful history of both technical development and product delivery management to her current position. Lily joined Symantec as a senior software engineer working on Macintosh products in 1991. She has served in a variety of management positions, including leading the antivirus development team and co-founding Symantec Antivirus Research Center (SARC) which is now known as Symantec Security Response. Under her guidance, Symantec's research team grew in scope from addressing viruses to today's more complex internet threats. As vice president of product delivery for Client & Host Security, Lily was responsible for the product management and software development of Symantec Client Security, server and groupware antivirus and intrusion prevention solutions. Most recently, she led Symantec's overall strategy and effort to deliver key solutions for Microsoft's new operating systems, Windows Vista.

Lily gained extensive product management and engineering experience working with start-up companies prior to joining Symantec. She worked on MacInTax and Turbo Tax for SoftView, which was ultimately acquired by Intuit. She had previously sat on the board of the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF), which focuses on industry standards for the management of software and hardware. An active member of her community, Lily is currently the assistant commissioner for American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) Region 9.

Dr. Craig Sander is Corporate Vice President of the Technology Development Microprocessor Solutions Sector (MSS) at Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD). Craig has researched and developed semiconductor process technologies at AMD for over 25 years. Currently, he leads a global R&D team in the creation of advanced submicron technologies that help AMD's microprocessors remain at the forefront of performance, power-efficiency and function. He is also responsible for cultivating high-value technology partnerships that form the foundation of AMD's successful distributed R&D model.

Craig began his career at AMD in 1980 and has worked on or managed technology development projects in the areas of DRAM, SRAM and CMOS logic. He helped develop AMD's first CMOS technologies and was director of AMD's logic technology group. In that role, he took charge of technologies used in AMD's microprocessors starting with the AMD Am486® Processor. He became operations director of AMD's Submicron Development Center in 1994. Craig was promoted to the position of vice president, technology development in 1998 and to corporate vice president in 2004. He currently serves on the Boards of Directors for Sematech and for the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC). He is AMD's representative on the Technology Strategy Committee of the SIA and the governing council for the Microelectronics Advanced Research Corporation (MARCO). Craig received his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering at the University of New Mexico and master's and doctorate degrees in electrical engineering, both from Stanford University.

Bob Whitmore is Executive Vice President for Product & Process Development and Chief Technical Officer for Seagate. He is responsible for managing worldwide disk drive development at design centers in Minnesota, Colorado and Singapore. His product development responsibilities cover multiple market segments including enterprise, desktop, notebook, handheld, and consumer storage. The company's motor and ASIC development groups and advanced manufacturing engineering, are also part of his responsibility.