Staff & Advisory Boards

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.

Contact Ken: ken@sciencebuddies.org

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.

Contact Tina: tina@sciencebuddies.org

Jayme's background combines experience in on-air and online media with a strong commitment to kids and education. Prior to joining Science Buddies, she was the VP of Foundations at Common Sense Media, a national organization dedicated to improving the lives of kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education, and independent voice they need to thrive in the changing world of media and technology. She was also the Director of Foundations for KQED Public Broadcasting in San Francisco, where she led the cultivation of grants from private/corporate foundations and government agencies for TV programs such as Jean-Michel Cousteau: Ocean Adventures and PBS NewsHour, as well as radio projects such as Forum with Michael Krasny and The California Report. Jayme works closely with Science Buddies' education and content teams to provide funding so that all young people around the country have free access to our fun and inspirational science learning tools.

Contact Jayme: jayme@sciencebuddies.org

Hugo has over 20 years of experience in the software industry, having held management and engineering positions at companies including Eike Interactive, The Learning Company, Mattel Interactive, Creative Wonders, and Banner Blue Software. While at Eike Interactive, Hugo took the lead on architecting and developing software projects. He focused on the Sony Computer Entertainment America franchise sites, as well as the Content Management System that underpins their entire web presence. He architected and was lead developer for the Sony Play Station 3 portal and game sites. Prior to that, Hugo was Vice President of Engineering for The Learning Company, where he managed a team of engineers in the development of all of their educational products. Hugo has a M.S. in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University.

Contact Hugo: hugo@sciencebuddies.org

Sandra graduated from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst with bachelor's degree in Biology and a minor in Psychology. She went on to complete a 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. During her time at Stanford, Sandra enjoyed working on undergraduate curriculum development for a new suite of introductory biology laboratory courses.

Contact Sandra: sandra@sciencebuddies.org

Following a career in management consulting, Beth founded an import and distribution business and successfully sold it to a major competitor. For the past 15 years, Beth has served on the Board of multiple non-profit organizations and chaired major fundraising campaigns for schools and the community. She's maintained her interest in engineering and computer science including developing educational applications for children on the iPad and iPhone. Beth's love of science and math started with a science project in elementary school, so she knows the importance of promoting science early in a child's development. Beth graduated from Tufts University with a degree in electrical engineering and has a Masters in Business Administration from the Wharton School.

Contact Beth: beth@sciencebuddies.org

As a CPA, Sabine has over 20 years of accounting experience. She has worked in management and controllership roles in both private and publicly traded companies. With a unique blend of organizational abilities and creative thinking, Sabine excels at looking for and designing process innovations that help companies to work smarter. Sabine also founded her own thriving non-profit and understands the unique business needs of the non-profit organization. Her non-profit work earned her the 2007 First Ascent Award from the Outdoor Industries Women's Coalition, awarded annually to women who demonstrate strong leadership. Sabine graduated with a B.S. in Business Administration from San Jose State University.

Contact Sabine: sabine@sciencebuddies.org

Connie has extensive experience in project design management, payroll, and financial administration. Previous clients include a wide variety of Silicon Valley firms, with specialized projects in Technical, Commercial, and Medical Facilities. She holds a B.S. with Great Distinction from San Jose State University in architectural Interior Design and is one of the earliest designers to be Certified in the State of California.

Contact Connie: connie@sciencebuddies.org

Sherry has six years of experience with a for-profit software company and five years of nonprofit management experience. As a manager of product enhancement at MECON, she incorporated the views of diverse hospital executives to improve a healthcare benchmarking product, resulting in increased usage and fewer support calls. As part of the first team sent to the Philippines by the Advisory Board Foundation, she conducted first-hand research regarding the needs of underserved urban children. Sherry has an A.B. with double majors in East Asian Studies and Mathematics from Duke University. After a short stint working in Japan, she returned to England to earn an M.Phil. in Politics from the University of Oxford. She is also a published poet, and her first haiku collection, Land Shapes, has just been released by Richer Resources Publications.

Contact Sherry: sherry@sciencebuddies.org

Kaarin brings over ten years of project management, financial management, and human resources experience to Science Buddies. She graduated from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio with a B.S. in Business Administration and has a Masters in Business Administration from Golden Gate University.

Contact Kaarin: kaarin@sciencebuddies.org

Teisha graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder with a bachelor's degree in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology (MCDB) and Humanities, and a minor in Environment, Population, and Organism Biology. She went on to complete her PhD in MCDB at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in the laboratory of Dr. Dennis O. Clegg. In the Clegg laboratory, Teisha studied how stem cells (adult, human embryonic, and induced pluripotent) can be turned into retinal cells that could be used to treat a common retinal disease that causes blindness, age-related macular degeneration. During her time at UCSB, Teisha pursued her passion for communicating science to the general public by writing science articles for laymen in newspaper, blog, and other digital formats.

Contact Teisha: teisha@sciencebuddies.org

Amy holds an MA in English Literature and did doctoral work at the University of Maryland, College Park. Amy has 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.

Contact Amy: amy@sciencebuddies.org

Debbie is a graduate of San Francisco State University with a B.S. in Computer Science and has a strong background in website design, graphics, ecommerce, and traditional programming, including serving as systems supervisor at Southern Pacific Transportation Company.

Contact Debbie: debbie@sciencebuddies.org

Dan has over 16 years in the software quality assurance industry, as an manager, engineer, and tester. He has worked for various educational and entertainment software companies, including The Learning Company, Mattel Interactive, Riverdeep, and Eike Interactive. While at Eike Interactive, Dan led the QA group in their efforts with Sony Computer Entertainment of America to produce various instrumental services and systems to produce many PlayStation 3 franchise sites. Previously, Dan managed The Learning Company's software quality assurance group and their role in domestic and internal product development for both retail and institutional venues. Dan has a B.S. in Electronic Engineering from California Polytechnic University at San Luis Obispo.

Contact Dan: dan@sciencebuddies.org

Ben complete a PhD in Engineering Sciences at Harvard University under the tutelage of Prof. Robert Wood. In the Harvard Microrobotics Laboratory Ben designed and implemented flight mechanisms for an insect sized robot known as the RoboBee. Ben has a passion for teaching science and engineering to students and served three years as the K-12 outreach coordinator for the Harvard Microrobotics Laboratory interfacing with students and parents at numerous local schools and other venues including the Boston Museum of Science, the National Air and Space Museum, and the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Before joining Science Buddies, after finishing his Ph.D. Ben taught a LEGO robotics class to students with autism through the Tufts University Center for Engineering Education and Outreach.

Contact Ben: ben@sciencebuddies.org

Sabine received her PhD in Physics from the University of Antwerp in Belgium where she was involved in an international collaboration for particle physics research out of Genevia's CERN. During her time at the University of Antwerp she also completed courses for a teaching certificate. After her PhD, Sabine went on to work as an analyst in conjunction with a number of science entities including the European Chemistry Council and Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development. Sabine enjoys finding new ways to explain science to students and has six years of experience serving as a math and physics tutor for middle school through college-age students. She has also spent time volunteering at the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, California as both a floor guide to ongoing exhibits and an assistant to museum laboratory classes for 4th-8th graders.

Contact Sabine: sabinedb@sciencebuddies.org

Howard graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a bachelor of science in Architecture. While at MIT, Howard spent time working at the Architecture Machine Group (now known as the MIT Media Lab) on a number of speech and facial recognition software projects. Since then Howard has accumulated over 30 years of engineering experience in designing electronic toys and other consumer electronic devices, computer input devices, and alternative heating systems. Howard is a long time tinkerer and has enjoyed inspiring others to tinker through Science Buddies, a stint as an editor of BYTE magazine, and his experiences teaching programming, robotics, and electronic project design to middle school and high school students.

Contact Howard: howard@sciencebuddies.org

Yvette is currently working towards a bachelor's degree in Chemical and Physical Biology at Harvard University. She has been involved in Science Buddies since high school, serving as an Expert on the Ask an Expert Forum and receiving the Outstanding Mentor Award. An avid science student, she began conducting independent science research before high school and went on to win numerous awards at prestigious science competitions, such as the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). She was also the USA National Brain Bee Champion in 2010 and continues to pursue her interest in neuroscience in her current research.

Amanda Day Alonzo teaches biology and human physiology at Lynbrook, a public high school located in San Jose, California. Amanda earned her B.A. in Human Biology from Pitzer College in Claremont, California. Thereafter, Amanda entered the Stanford Teacher Education Program (STEP), where she earned her teaching credential and M.A. in Science Education. In 2003 as a full time science teacher at Lynbrook, Amanda applied for and received a grant from Intel to establish a STEM research program at her school. The program has been running successfully ever since. Because of the program and the efforts of collaborating teachers and community members, students have been able to engage in the scientific process in an authentic way. Moreover, Lynbrook has become a powerhouse nationally in STEM research, continuously sending the most students from Silicon Valley to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) and having many students each year recognized in the Intel Science Talent Search (including two finalists in 2010, with one student finishing second). Amanda lives in San Francisco with her husband George, daughter Isabella, and dog Doti.

Lynn Brewer has been a consultant, investor, and board member of several companies, including multi-national integrated silicon manufacturer Mitsubishi/Sumitomo and Banner Blue. Prior to independent consulting, Lynn was CEO and co-founder of Gemini Research, a semiconductor capital equipment supplier focusing on chemical vapor deposition processes. Lynn has worked for General Electric, Fairchild Semiconductor, Applied Materials, and Intel Corporation. He holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from UC Berkeley.

Heidi Strahm Black has worked as the Science Fair Coordinator for East Side Union High School District (ESUHSD) for the last 8 years. Heidi also runs the district fair that serves over 1400 students. During that same time period she has been a Director of the Santa Clara Valley Science and Engineering Fair Association. In addition, Heidi works as the teacher liaison with the Synopsys Outreach Foundation developing support systems and doing teacher trainings related to science fairs. Heidi holds high school teaching credentials in both Biology and Physics and taught in ESUHSD in San Jose, California for 16 years. During her year as a Teacher-in-Residence at San Francisco's Exploratorium, Heidi contributed curriculum to their Teacher Institute Program. She has also published articles in the Physics Teacher.

Courtney Corda, former Science Buddies Vice President/Executive Director, has more than 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.

Brad Crutchfield is the Vice President and Group Manager of Bio-Rad's worldwide Life Science Group, a position he has held since January 2004. Throughout his 23 years of service at Bio-Rad, he has held a variety of positions including Sales and Marketing Manager, Managing Director of the U.K.-based Bio-Rad MicroScience Ltd., and Manager of the company's BioMaterials Division, for which he led a team responsible for developing tools used in protein separations, food pathogen testing, and BSE testing. Mr. Crutchfield holds a Bachelor of Science in Physiology and Biochemistry from the University of California, Davis.

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.

Dana Ditmore has over 25 years of senior management experience in high technology environments, including: general management, engineering, quality, procurement and human resources. Professional experience has been dominated by opportunities to grow and develop profitable, well-managed business units providing vision and leadership, while managing the balance between strong customer focus and responsible financial performance. Senior Management experiences have included global responsibility for operations throughout Asia, Europe and North America.

In 1979 Dana joined Applied Materials as VP of Engineering following 17 years of experience in engineering and engineering management positions at General Electric Nuclear Energy Division. After 17 years of senior management experience at Applied Materials, in 1997 Dana began a new career as a business consultant, which over the past 13 years has included executive management contracts, executive coaching and mentoring and business strategy development, review and coaching.

Dana continues to be active in both business and non-profit endeavors. His experience includes past roles as a member of the board of directors for two public companies. He currently sits on the board of one employee-owned for-profit company and 6 non-profit corporations. In addition to his role as President of Oak Valley Consulting, he has for the past 4 years been the President of the International Science & Engineering Fair 2010 Association, Inc. He obtained his BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering from University of California, Berkeley.

Dave Gellatly is semi-retired after spending more than 25 years in the semiconductor industry. After five years at Intel and the introduction of the X86 family of microprocessors, Dave spent the next 15 years successfully providing management and marketing consulting services to technology companies ranging in size from IBM and AT&T to the smallest of start-ups. Over the last ten years he served as the CEO of a publicly traded semiconductor company and provided interim CEO services to a number of venture-funded start-ups in the semiconductor industry. He received a B.S. with distinction, and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering, from the University of Minnesota.

Bernard A. Harris, Jr., M.D. is an accomplished NASA astronaut, physician, and businessman. He serves as president of The Harris Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization he founded in 1998 to develop math and science education programs for America's youth.

In 1990, Dr. Harris was selected as a NASA astronaut and flew his first mission three years later. A payload commander of STS-63, the first flight of the joint Russian-American space program, Harris accomplished his childhood dream and became the first African-American to walk in space. At the time of his retirement from NASA in 1996, he had logged more than 438 hours in space and traveled over 7.2 million miles.

Dr. Harris earned a bachelor's degree in Biology from the University of Houston and later obtained a Doctorate of Medicine from Texas Tech University School of Medicine. A trained aerospace flight surgeon, he completed his residency at the Mayo Clinic and fellowship at the NASA Ames Research Center. Other degrees include a Master of Medical Science from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, a Master of Business Administration from the University of Houston Clear Lake and two Honorary Doctorate of Science degrees from Morehouse School of Medicine and Stony Brook University (SUNY). Throughout his life, Harris has received numerous awards and recognition, including election as Fellow of the American College of Physicians, the NASA Space Flight Medal, the NASA Award of Merit, and the 2000 Horatio Alger Award.

Dr. Douglas Osheroff, along with Drs. David Lee and Robert Richardson, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1996 for the discovery of superfluidity in helium-3. Osheroff and his colleagues used a Pomeranchuk cell to investigate the behavior of helium-3 at very low temperatures. They observed unexpected effects in their measurements, which they eventually explained as phase transitions to a superfluid phase of helium-3.

r. Osheroff received a Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1973. He then worked for 15 years at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey. In 1987, he moved to Stanford University, where he is Professor of Physics and Applied Physics and holds the J.G. Jackson and C.J. Wood Professorship in Physics. He also served as department chair from 1993-96. His current research focuses on the behavior of quantum fluids, solids, and gasses at ultra-low temperatures.

Dr. Richard Popp is currently Professor of Medicine at Stanford University. He received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Johns Hopkins University where he performed his internship and residency. He has been a clinical cardiologist for over 25 years. Dr. Popp began his career as an "invasive" cardiologist but focused his research on developing non-invasive methods for medical diagnosis and therapy. In addition, he served as President of the American College of Cardiology (ACC) 1997-98 and has been a trustee of the ACC for many years. He has been President of the American Society of Echocardiography and the Association of University Cardiologists. He is the previous Chairman of the American Board of Internal Medicine's (ABIM) Cardiovascular Diseases Subspecialty Board and has been on the Executive Committee and the Board of Governors of the ABIM. He is a member of several honorary scientific associations including the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians. Dr. Popp also serves on a number of corporate boards. Dr. Popp maintains a continuing interest in technology development for improved patient care. He has made significant contributions to the continuous improvement of ultrasonic diagnostic methods in areas including two-dimensional and three-dimensional echocardiography, Doppler ultrasound, color flow imaging, transesophageal and contrast echocardiography. He was one of the first to employ intravascular ultrasonic imaging. The diffusion of technology and new information into clinical practice is a special area of interest of Dr. Popp's.

Dr. Craig Sander recently retired after a long and successful career in the semiconductor industry, including over 28 years of research and development of semiconductor process technologies at Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) and it's "spin-off," GlobalFoundries. At AMD, Craig 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 served as Senior Vice President for Technology Development at GlobalFoundries during its startup. Until his retirement, Craig served on the boards of directors for Sematech and the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC). Craig received his bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of New Mexico and master's and doctorate degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.

Dr. Steven Vogt is Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at Lick Observatory, UC Santa Cruz. Steve has been at Lick Observatory for the past 21 years. He built both the Hamilton spectrometer at Lick (with which most of the first extrasolar planets were discovered) and HIRES, the world's most powerful spectrometer on the Keck Ten-meter telescope in Hawaii. Steve received his A.B., Physics and A.B., Astronomy at University of California, Berkeley, a M.S. of Astronomy at University of Texas at Austin in 1976, and a Ph.D. in Astronomy from University of Texas at Austin in 1978. Dr. Vogt is currently a member of the California-Carnegie Planet Search Team. This preeminent extrasolar planet search team is building a new telescope in the Lick Observatory that will be the most powerful in the world, able to track planets to a precision of 1 meter per second.

Elaine Wherry is Co-founder and Vice President of Products at Meebo. After growing up on a goat farm in southwest Missouri, Elaine migrated west to Stanford University where she earned a degree in Symbolic Systems with a concentration in Human-Computer Interaction. After graduating, she became the Manager of Usability and Design at Synaptics. Elaine co-founded Meebo.com in 2005 with two good friends, Seth Sternberg and Sandy Jen. Initially, she authored Meebo's JavaScript framework and went on to build and oversee Meebo's web, user experience, and product management teams. Today, Meebo has approximately 40 million unique users in the United States and over 125 million unique users worldwide.

Dr. Andrew Olson was Senior Scientist at Science Buddies for two years, during which time he authored and edited hundreds of project ideas for the website. Andrew is a neuroscientist by training, with a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Pennsylvania, and an A.B. in Classics-Latin from Harvard College. He is now the director of the imaging core facility for the Neuroscience Institute at Stanford University. He would like to take this opportunity to dedicate his Science Buddies web publications to the teachers of the public schools in Duluth, Minnesota, who gave him a solid start on a path of lifelong learning.

Dr. Sara J. Agee was a Staff Scientist at Science Buddies. Sara completed her Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California at Berkeley in the laboratory of David Weisblat. Her scientific research is focused on mechanisms of embryonic patterning and body plan evolution, integrating the fields of Molecular Evolution and Developmental Biology. Sara uses new molecular biology techniques to study the function of homologous genes involved in segmentation and early development of Annelid Worms. Before moving to Berkeley to attend graduate school, Sara and her family lived in Denver, Colorado, where she received her B.S. degree in Biology from the University of Denver. There, Sara worked with a tri-district initiative to mentor elementary school teachers in the Denver metropolitan area using inquiry based and hands-on science teaching methods. Sara's passion for improving elementary science education was evident in her work developing Project Ideas at Science Buddies.

Amber Hess has been involved in Science Buddies since high school. She was a Mentor in the Science Buddies Online Mentoring Program for three years and has contributed articles about advanced science competitions. A passionate science student, she won awards at many prestigious science competitions in middle school and high school.

As a full-time volunteer, Amber designed and developed new sections of the Science Buddies website. Amber graduated from MIT in June 2009 with a self-designed major in chemical engineering (with an emphasis in electronics and computer science). After taking a few electronics and computer science classes at MIT, Amber realized that she was more interested in computers than chemical engineering. To gain more software experience, she decided to volunteer at Science Buddies for a year. She now works at Oracle as a software developer.

Kristian Ljungkvist was a Sr. Software Engineer for Science Buddies. Prior to joining Science Buddies, Kristian was a Senior Software Engineer at ReleaseNow.com, now part of GlobalWare Solutions, building highly scalable eCommerce infrastructures for digital goods. Prior to that, he was a Lead Software Engineer at Broderbund Software, specializing in internet search technologies. Kristian has a B.A. in Computer Science from U.C. Berkeley.

Rebecca Steelman was an Editor at Science Buddies. 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 also worked as a Technical Editor for the Capital One Auto Finance creative team in Dallas, Texas.

Kristin M. Strong was a staff scientist at Science Buddies for two and a half years. Kristin studied electrical engineering and bioengineering, and worked in the aerospace industry before joining Science Buddies to develop science project ideas and career profiles. Kristin would like to thank the dedicated teachers of the Logan City and Cache County School Districts for giving her such a great start in her education, especially the Edith Bowen Laboratory School, science teachers Mike Salvesen and Lynn Archibald, physiology teacher Gerald Allen, physics teacher Richard Bradford, mathematics teacher Carletta Elich, and English teacher Pat Stoddart.

Dr. David Whyte was a Staff Scientist at Science Buddies. A science fair "veteran," having helped his two daughters with their projects in the San Francisco Bay area schools, David 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.

Claire Hubbard was a Product Design Engineer at Science Buddies. Claire graduated from Stanford University in 2010 with a B.S. in Engineering-Product Design. At Stanford, Claire discovered her interest in creating and designing for children.

Dr. Michelle Maranowski was a staff scientist for Science Buddies for five years. Michelle 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 worked at Hewlett Packard Optoelectronics Division (HP OED) in San Jose, CA, where she was a Manufacturing Development Engineer. After years in the semiconductor industry, Michelle moved to the biotechnology field and joined Agilent Technologies BioScience Research Unit, which manufactures DNA micro arrays. As an after-school robotics coach at her children's school Michelle enjoys helping budding engineers discover the fun of robotics.