Jim Alexander is currently a docent for the RMSC, facilitating visits by school children to the museum. He is a retired educator from the Spencerport Central School District, having over 35 years experience as a teacher and administrator. For many years he was the Coordinator for Elementary Science for the district. He has shared his interest in the scientific process with teachers through the presentation of workshops in a variety of settings.
KeithAuinger
Keith Auinger studied technology education at SUNY Oswego. He went on to receive a master's degree in Math, Science and Technology from St. John Fisher College. Keith began his teaching career at Churchville-Chili Junior High School where he was a leader for the Project Lead the Way / Gateway to Technology program. He then moved to Spry Middle School in the Webster Central School District. Especially interested in finding creative projects to motivate reluctant middle schoolers, he has collaborated with science teacher Diane DiGravio to create a lava lamp project and has built a fully functioning hydroponic lab in his classroom. Keith lives in Webster with his wife and 3 year old son. In his spare time he enjoys woodworking and home remodeling.
Barb Bancroft
Barb Bancroft RN, MSN, PNP is a widely acclaimed national speaker, noted for her humorous, entertaining and information packed seminars. She is author of the books Medical Minutiae, An Apple a Day—the ABCs of Diet and Disease and Live a Little, Laugh a Lot.
She has provided more than 2000 educational and motivational seminars to healthcare professionals and corporations throughout the US and Canada. She has provided keynote/plenary speeches for the Association for Practitioners for Infection Control, The National Association of Biology Teachers, The Emergency Nurses' Association, the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, the Pacific Coast Dental Association, the Washington State Dental Association, and more.
Barb has held faculty positions at the University of Virginia, the University of Arkansas, Loyola University of Chicago, St. Xavier University of Chicago. She has provided courses on Advanced Pathophysiology, Pharmacology and Physical Assessment to both graduate and undergraduate students. She is currently the Executive Director and President of CPP Associates, Inc., a continuing education firm for corporations and healthcare professionals based in Chicago, Illinois.
Trudy Bantle
Trudy Bantle is a Fairport Teacher Center Director and has been a teacher in the Fairport Central Schools for 35. She is a National Board Certified Teacher and Candidate Support Provider for individuals working on National Board Certification. Ms. Bantle is also a Co-Chair of the National Board Council of New York.
Dr. Diane Barrett
Dr. Diane Barrett is the director of the Graduate Program in Mathematics, Science & Technology Education at St. John Fisher College. Diane has 9 years of high school mathematics teaching, with 7 of those as Department Chair. She also has 14 years of teaching experience in higher education. Diane has created numerous activities which support the use of technology and inquiry in mathematics and science.
Mary Bellini
Mary Bellini, the Mathematics Outreach Coordinator for the Warner Center, supports area schools in their efforts to provide research based mathematics instruction. She teaches mathematics education courses at the University of Rochester and the University at Buffalo.
Candace Bower
Candace Bower has been the Director of the Genesee Region Teachers Center for 9 years and an adjunct instructor at Genesee Community College in the Teacher Education division. Graduating from State University at Buffalo and SUC at Brockport, she is a former History Teacher and School Counselor and also worked in marketing for Scott, Foresman College Publishing and Macmillan Reference Publishers.
Beverly Brown
Beverly Brown is an Associate Professor at Nazareth College in the Biology Department. Her research interests include science education, the use of inquiry in science and math education, horticultural therapy, and pollination biology.
Charles Brown, Jr.
Mr. Brown was named is the Executive Director of the Rochester Area Colleges' Center for Excellence in Math and Science. Previously Mr. Brown was the Chief Administrative Officer and Senior VP, Eastman Kodak Company where he was responsible for the corporate staff functions as well as international regional operations. A native of Waukegan, Illinois, he earned B.S. and M-Eng degrees in chemical engineering from Cornell University in 1972 and 1973; an M.B.A. from Rochester Institute of Technology in 1979; and an M.S. in management from MIT's Sloan School of Management in 1992. He is a member of the Cornell Society of Engineers, the Cornell University Council, the Rochester Institute of Technology Board of Trustees and the Board of Directors of Unity Health Systems.
Cindy Callard
Cynthia Callard brings 16 years of experience as a middle school mathematics teacher and team leader to her research in school mathematics reform, professional development work, and teaching. She is certified in New York to teach elementary school and secondary school mathematics. She serves as the Director for Mathematics Outreach for the Warner Center for Professional Development and Education Reform and teaches courses in mathematics education.
Richard Colosi*
Richard Colosi is an award-winning teacher with a passion to utilize educational technology as a way to engage students and to enrich the curriculum. Graduating from SUNY Geneseo in 2001 with BA in Communication, Colosi worked in the media industry for a few years before becoming an educator. Since graduating in 2006 from St. John Fisher College with an MS in Childhood/Special Education, Colosi has taught First Grade at Canandaigua Primary School. More information about Colosi can be found at his website: www.RichardColosi.com.
Ed Darling*
Ed Darling has taught Physics at Bloomfield Central School since 1997. He currently teaches Regents Physics, AP Physics (B) and IB Physics (SL).
Diane DiGravio
Diane DiGravio spent 11 years working as a Research Scientist for a leading vaccine company. During these years, she had many positive experiences within this role and loved what the scientific world had to offer. It was her goal to share these experiences with others and to hopefully encourage them to pursue a career within the sciences. This goal led Diane down a path towards education and she is now in her 11th year of educating young minds! She has especially loved the idea of combining math and technology in her daily science lessons to make her them as real life as possible. The interest in classroom learning based on an MST design was also shared by her colleague, Keith Auinger. Together they have worked to bring MST projects into their programs. They are looking forward to "new inventions" along the way. Diane with her husband Joseph and son Daniel, live in Ontario, New York.
Mike Dowdle*
Mike Dowdle teaches Regents Living Environment and has also taught Biology in the International Baccalaureate program as well as Advanced Placement Biology.
Sandra Fink
Sandra is the president and co-founder of ThinkFink Solutions, a leadership development and coaching business. Sandra is a retired Rochester City School District science lead teacher/mentor. During that time she infused her survival and goal setting values in her classroom instruction. She has extensive skill development in facilitating workshops on science curriculum, new teacher orientation, mentoring and coaching. She has a Masters in Creative Studies and Change Leadership from Buffalo State College.
Karen Finter
Karen Finter has been the Director of the West Irondequoit Teaching and Learning Center for 5 years. In her role she facilitates the new teacher induction program, the mentoring program and the peer coaching program for the WICSD. Currently she serves on the New York State Teacher Center Technology Committee and is the Thinkfinity Training Coordinator for NYS. She has spent over 14 years in the classroom as a secondary science teacher, mentor and content contact teacher. She is an adjunct professor at Nazareth College in Continuing Education.
Lynn Gatto
Lynn Gatto is a recently retired elementary teacher from the Rochester City School District. As a thirty-four year veteran, she has authored many articles in professional magazines and research journals, chapters in edited books and NeoSci's Elementary Science Modules. She was the recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Elementary Science in Science Education, a Toyota Tapestry Award, the 2004 New York State Teacher of the Year Award and a Disney Teacher Honoree. Lynn also teaches graduate courses in methods of elementary science and literacy for the University of Rochester's Warner School.
Dr. Eric Gaze
Dr. Gaze is an Associate Professor of Mathematics and Education at Alfred University. He is the Mathematics Coordinator of AU's M.S. in Numeracy program, and is on the Board of Director's of the National Numeracy Network.
Robin Heyden
Robin Heyden has worked in science publishing since 1984. Over the years, she has developed, produced and published books and software in the life and physical sciences. Robin has also worked with various national organizations, software developers, Internet companies, and publishers to strategize, research, develop online educational materials and experiences. In 1999, she joined Neil Campbell and Brad Williamson as a co-author on Biology: Exploring Life, a text/web hybrid program for high school students. In 2001, the National Science Foundation awarded a three-year grant to the author team to evaluate the effectiveness of the model in teaching biology. Through this project, Robin has visited many high schools around the United States, working with teachers and students to incorporate new technology tools into their classrooms. Robin lives and works in Wellesley, Massachusetts.
Karen Iglesia
Karen Iglesia is President and CEO of Iglesia Educational Centers. She started the company in 1996 and now employs over 110 staff/professionals. Iglesia Educational Centers tutor over 2000 students per year, partnering with many organizations throughout the Greater Rochester Area. Iglesia works with Monroe County Department of Social Services, Foster Care, Probation, RCSD NCLB, RCSD Pre-Engineering, RIT STEP and RIT Gear Up to name a few. During the summer months Iglesia designs and implement hands-on engineering projects for area youths.
Douglas Llewellyn
Doug Llewellyn teaches educational leadership courses at St. John Fisher College, Co-directs a teacher leadership program for mathematics and science teachers, and frequently writes and presents on inquiry and constructivist strategies to teaching and learning science.
Dr. Joan Lucas
Dr. Lucas received her Ph.D. in Computer Science from Princeton University and has taught Computer Science at The College at Brockport for the past 18 years. She teaches a range of courses that include Introductory CS, Algorithms and Data Structures, Theory of Computation, and Social Aspects of Technology.
Ann Lyon
Ann Lyon is an Earth Science teacher at South Seneca High School. Prior to teaching at the high school level, she taught geological laboratory classes at George Washington University in DC. She has also worked as a research geologist for the U.S. Geological Survey.
Deborah Massey
Deborah Massey is currently Head of School and Teacher Programs at RMSC and has ten years of experience in adult education, including the development and facilitation of inquiry-based learning as an Assistant Professor of chemistry at Finger Lakes Community College. She earned her B.A. in chemistry from Vassar College and her M.S. in biochemistry from the University of Washington. She grounds her pedagogical methods in twelve years of research experience in both academia and industry in the fields of academic chemistry, biochemistry marine toxicology, and molecular biology.
Nidia Montalvo
Nidia Montalvo has been the Rochester Regional Program Manager for Greater today's Students, tomorrow's Teachers for 3 years. She has previously worked with the American Red Cross as a Youth Program Coordinator and Director of Summer Employment Program and taught in the Rochester City School District for 7 years. Ms. Montalvo graduated from Nazareth College with a degree in Spanish and Elementary Education.
Sheila Myers
Ms. Myers is the Education Outreach Coordinator for the Finger Lakes Institute at the Hobart and William Smith Colleges. She has a Masters Degree in environmental science from SUNY Environmental Science & Forestry and has spent a considerable amount of her career teaching diverse audiences about water quality issues. She currently is working with both teachers and students in the 14 county Finger Lakes region developing lesson plans about the Finger Lakes environment.
Donna Olsen
Donna Olsen is a National Board Certified 6th grade science teacher who retired after 33 years from Albion CSD in June 2007. She is also certified in and has taught Elementary Education and Physical Education. She has trained with Rachel Billmeyer in the field of Reading in the Content Areas for Secondary Students and Strategies for Struggling Elementary Readers and has also trained at the McRel Institute in Denver, Colorado. She spent her last two years at Albion as a teacher on special assignment in professional development. She has supervised student teachers from SUNY Geneseo and is currently working with Hilton CSD as a consultant for their science curriculum K-6. Donna believes strongly in the value of inquiry teaching and learning.
Jennie Peck*
Jennie has taught for nine years and is currently teaching middle school science at Burger Middle School in Rush Henrietta. She is an active member of the Burger Middle School Professional Development Committee, Rush Henrietta Diversity Advisory Council, and also serves as a collegial coach. Jennie was a 2007 Genesee Valley Writer's Project fellow at the University of Rochester and has participated in the Teacher Leader Quality Partnership at St. John Fisher College since 2006.
Dr. Barney Ricca
Dr. Barney Ricca is an assistant professor in the Graduate Program in Mathematics, Science & Technology Education at St. John Fisher College. Barney has 6 years of middle and high school science and mathematics teaching experience, with 3 of those as Department Chair. He also has 12 years of teaching experience in higher education. Barney has been involved with several national science and mathematics inquiry projects.
Christine Richter
Christine Richter is currently an Educational Support Specialist with the MWRSSC which supports schools is the Mid-West region of NY State in need of improvement and identified as SURR or SINI. The past year she has been involved with training in Professional Learning Communities and is currently assisting other schools to develop PLC's. She has a Masters Degree in Educational Administration from St. John Fisher College and a Masters Degree in Special Education from Nazareth College. She earned her undergraduate Bachelors of Science Degree from SUNY Brockport in Biology and her Teacher Certification in Biology.
Daniel Rogers
Daniel Rogers received a B.S. in Computer Science and Mathematics from The College at Brockport in 1991 and an M.S. in Computer Science from Syracuse University in 1999. He has been a lecturer of Computer Science at The College at Brockport since September 1999, concentrating on Introductory Computer Science and early programming classes.
David Semple
David Semple is the director of the Bird Coalition of Rochester (or BirdCOR) and a federally permitted bird bander. In the 1980's and 90's at Kodak, David worked in productivity and quality engineering, serving manufacturing, Health, Safety, and Environment, and R&D. In 2002, David co-founded BirdCOR which held the nation's first Flying WILD educator training in December, 2004.
Dr. Sara Silverstone
Dr. Silverstone is the Associate Director of the Rochester Area Colleges' Center for Excellence in Math and Science in July, 2007. She received her B.A. in Philosophy from SUNY College at Cortland in 1983, and her Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of California at Davis in 1989. She then conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Maryland on molecular plant-microbe interactions. She has taught courses in general biology, microbiology, genetics, molecular biology and environmental health at UC Davis, California State University, Bakersfield and the State University of New York, Brockport.
June Summers
June Summers is president of Genesee Valley Audubon Society or (GVAS) and a dedicated conservationist, educator, and field trip leader. GVAS manages BirdCOR as one of its education/service-learning programs. In 2007, GVAS took over responsibility for the Kodak Birdcam, now known as Rochester Falconcam and RFalconcam.com, and associated outreach.
John Wright*
John Wright has taught Technology in the Bloomfield District for the last 22 yrs. Currently he teaches 8th grade Technology, Design & Drawing for Production, CAD I&II, and IB Design Technology.
* 2007-08 RAC-CEMS Excellence in STEM Teaching Award Finalist