PRESENTERS

A. Seymour Simon
Seymour Simon has introduced millions of children to an array of subjects as the author of 250 highly acclaimed science books including the Einstein Anderson, Science Detective series of fiction and series of 3d books and a series of glow-in-the-dark Books for Scholastic Book Clubs. His HarperCollins photo-essay books are now co-branded with the Smithsonian Institution, giving Simon's books a special seal of approval. Simon has been honored with many awards for his work, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science/Subaru Lifetime Achievement Award, the Jeremiah Ludington Award for his outstanding contribution to children's nonfiction, the Empire State Award for excellence in literature for young people, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Forum on Children's Science Books.

B. Bernie Zubrowski
Bernie Zubrowski has published 16 children's books, eight of which focus on technological topics. His role as the principle investigator for several National Science Foundation-funded projects has resulted in the development and design of curriculum materials for middle school, including Models in Technology and Science, a video series for teacher education; Learning to See: Observing Children's Inquiry in Science; and a design-engineering curriculum for after-school programs titled Design It! Zubrowski in collaboration with the Education Development Center, Inc., created Explore It! Science Investigations in Out-of-School Programs. Zubrowski has designed eight exhibits for the Boston Children's Museum, which travel to science centers across the United States through an Association of Science and Technology program.

C. Justine Kane
Justine Kane is a doctoral candidate in Curriculum Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She has a master’s degree in Language, Reading, and Culture from the University of Arizona and has taught various grades in elementary school for 20 years. She is currently a research assistant with Integrated Science-Literacy Enactments (ISLE), a collaborative university-teacher action research project to explore integrated science-literacy learning and teaching in the Chicago Public School primary-grade classrooms. Her research focuses on teaching and learning in urban settings with linguistically and socioculturally diverse populations, classroom discourse, classroom learning spaces, student and teacher identities, and the integration of science and literacy.

D. Liz Nealon
Liz Nealon is an award-winning executive producer who has created commercially successful and educationally effective programming for infants and preschoolers, teens and youth, as well as adults. Her resume includes the highly acclaimed literacy series Ghostwriter (PBS/BBC), The Famous Jett Jackson (Disney Channel), Out There (The N/BBC), Knock First (ABC Family), Sesame Street (PBS), The Upside Down Show (Noggin), and When Parents Are Deployed (PBS 2007 primetime Emmy nominee). Previously, Nealon spent a decade as a writer/producer at the start-up of MTV. She traveled the world as senior vice president of International Programming, launching the MTV brand in Europe, Brazil, Japan, and Australia. She is currently developing and writing an innovative, interactive, middle-grade science fiction book series and broadband experience, co-authored with best-selling children’s author Seymour Simon.

E. Marie Varelas
Maria Varelas is professor of Science Education in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Since 2006, she is the co-editor of the "Learning" section of the journal Science Education.  She has co-led, with colleagues from various departments, multiyear NSF grants that total over 6 million dollars and span a range of themes: teacher preparation, development of science content courses for elementary education majors, graduate students in science, mathematics, and engineering fields involved in K-12 classrooms, and integrated science-literacy enactments (ISLE project) in primary-grade Chicago Public School classrooms. For 15 years now she has been teaching in UIC’s elementary education programs and Curriculum Studies doctoral program, and she has received five teaching awards.

AND...

Marian Brickner
Marian Brickner is a graduate of The Fieldston School, Riverdale, New York, and the State University of New York (BS), specializing in Early Childhood/Music. She now works as a full-time free lance photographer. Her photographs have appeared in Annals of Internal Medicine, International Journal of Arts Medicine, Institute of Noetic Sciences, Jewish Light, Laboratory Primate Newsletter, Missouri Conservation Magazine, St. Louis Magazine, and the West End Word.

Sarah Coppersmith
Sarah Coppersmith earned an undergraduate degree in science education, a graduate degree in geography and currently is undergoing doctoral studies in education while serving as adjunct faculty at University of Missouri St. Louis’s College of Education. An active member of the Missouri Geographic Alliance, a state level alliance of the National Geographic Society, Sarah enjoys fostering locally-initiated outdoor explorations via the intersection of geographic inquiry and literacy learning.

Susan Evans & Lois Jacobs
Susan Evans and Lois Jacobs each hold master’s degrees; Evans from Western Governors University in learning and technology; Jacobs from Webster University in Communications with Gifted Certification. Jacobs has completed more than 30 additional graduate credits in art and is currently working on National Board Certification in Childhood Art. Evans and Jacobs have collaborated on four Cable TEC grants and one MAC grant and on The St. Louis Art Museum’s ABC program for seven years. Currently Evans is overseeing METS grant. For the past seven years, Evans has overseen the Valley Park District Science Fair and has participated in the Greater St. Louis Science Fair as a judge for the past twelve years. Currently both are collaborating with EMINTS Success4All in developing integrated curriculum.

Skylar Hermann & Darlene Norfleet
Skyler Harmann is thrilled to be a member the MySci team that brings hands-on science experiences to the children of St. Louis. Her master’s thesis from Webster University, entitled “Environmental Education, the Child and Community” helped prepare her for this unique opportunity. Skyler received her BA from Western State College in Gunnison, Co and taught in Silverton, Co. Skyler further gained experience and knowledge in creating, implementing and assessing curriculum while teaching at The College School in Webster Groves for twenty years. She also taught in an inclusive classroom for the Webster Groves School District’s early childhood program. Skyler is also a recent graduate of the Institute for Inquiry from the Exploratorium in San Francisco. She credits her love of science to the wonderful teachers at Mary Institute/Country Day School and growing up playing along the banks of the Mississippi River.

Prior to her role as MySci program specialist, Darlene Norfleet spent the last 25 years as a teacher, first in Minnesota and then in the University City School District teaching various grades at Flynn Park Elementary School. Norfleet has served as a trainer of trainers for science teachers, the Elementary New Teacher Institute facilitator, and a science curriculum writer and worked as a professional development consultant for Riverview Gardens’ Renaissance in Science Education program. She served a three-year term on the National Science Academy committee, a committee on science in education for kindergarten through high school, and a state committee member for the Primary Conference, and Conference of the Young Years. She is currently finishing a five-year grant as science program coordinator for Washington University in St. Louis. Darlene graduated from Northern Illinois University with a double major, a Bachelor of Science degree in elementary education and psychology. She has a master’s in education from the University of Minnesota and is working on a master’s in counseling at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Hal Harris & Brian Huesgen
Professor Hal Harris holds a BS degree from Harvey Mudd College and a PhD in physical chemistry from Michigan State University. A long-time member of the UMSL faculty, he teaches introductory and physical chemistry, graduate and undergraduate courses in science education, and supervises pre-service teacher certification candidates in both secondary chemistry and physics. With Co-PI’s Charles Granger and Wendy Saul, he recently supervised a unique literacy-inquiry professional development project in elementary science for teachers in high-need districts in the St. Louis region. Professor Harris is Feature Editor of two parts of the Journal of Chemical Education, “The Chemical Education Resource Shelf”, and “The Cost-Effective Teacher”. He has been writing the monthly “Hal’s Picks” book and article review column for the Journal since 1995.

Brian Huesgen is a PhD candidate in science education and coordinates introductory laboratories and workshops in the UM-St. Louis Chemistry department. He holds an M.S. in chemistry degree from UM-Columbia and a BS from Southeast Missouri State University.

Joan Hoscher & Dr. J.A. Lewis-Harris
Joan Hoscher is an expert in both in Anthropology and Art History. In 2001, she began working with the Center for Human Origin and Cultural Diversity (CHOCD) as a student intern and in 2003 she became the program coordinator. Through working with the Center, she has fulfilled her passion for learning and has discovered her love of teaching but ultimately, the best part is working with children of many different ages from many diverse communities in and around the St. Louis Metropolitan area.

Dr. J.A. Lewis-Harris is the Director of the Center for Human Origin and Cultural Diversity (CHOCD) and presently holds the title of Assistant Professor in both Anthropology and the College of Education at the University of Missouri St. Louis. Lewis-Harris has her Doctorate and Master’s in Anthropology from Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri. She has traveled and worked extensively in the Pacific for 25 years with an emphasis on Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Island Diaspora.

Joanna Hubbard
Joanna Hubbard serves as a K-12 science specialist in Anchorage, Alaska, with the Anchorage School District's Science Curriculum Department. In this capacity she supports science teaching and learning for students, teachers, and community science initiatives. Areas of special interest to Joanna are the use of science notebooks by adults during science professional development, the role of individual choice in building intrinsic value in classroom science notebooks, and field research immersion experiences. She has a strong belief in the K-12 applicability of science notebooks with the use of images. Joanna previously worked as a classroom science teacher--her favorite is seventh grade--and received her master of science degree in Science Education from Montana State University in Bozeman. She has traveled twice to Antarctica working as an outreach educator with science teams, most recently the ANDRILL project in 2007 (www.andrill.org/iceberg).

Sharon Kassing
Sharon Kassing is a St. Louis native who grew up within walking distance of the Saint Louis Zoo. Educated in both science and art, Kassing taught those subjects in tandem for thirty years before becoming an informal educator at the Saint Louis Zoo. Currently, she focuses her attention on professional development for educators, both formal and informal. Kassing works with teachers in their classrooms and with her colleagues in the education department at the Saint Louis Zoo to surface and meet teacher professional development needs, and supports other informal educators in their own venues.

Linda Kralina
Having taught physics, chemistry and physical science at secondary and advanced placement levels and served as science and technology coordinators for several school districts, Linda Kralina is currently teaching Science Methods at University of Missouri-St. Louis. Linda has BS and MS degrees in physics and science education from the University of Missouri-St. Louis and is currently working on her doctorate degree. Her dissertation is on involving students in extracurricular projects to enhance their appreciation of and achievement in science. Her additional responsibilities include serving as coach mentor for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Physics First grant, working monthly with several teachers in the St. Louis area. She is an organizer and active proponent of extracurricular science, such as “Suzy Science and the Whiz Kids,” Science Olympiad, Battle of the Burets, Science Fair, and FIRST Robotics, as well as organizing teacher workshops and chairing conventions for National Science Teacher Association and Science Teachers of Missouri.

Carolyn Lesser
Carolyn Lesser, author of lyrical nonfiction natural science, poet, essayist, university educator, explorer, fiber artist, photographer, grandparent, and lifetime learner, teaches people of all ages to write clearly and speak confidently, while liberating the creative, curious, unique genius within. With inspiring stories and the art of her riveting research photographs, she takes her audiences on a journey from the Arctic, Antarctica, China, and Palau into their armored creative selves, to create show-and-take nonfiction and art with her nonlinear process of exploration-observation-discovery; seamlessly connecting art, science, prose, and poetry.

Judith W. Mann & Laura Gorman
Judith Mann holds a BA and PhD in Art History, with a specialty in 16th- and 17th-century Italian Art. She has worked at the Saint Louis Art Museum since 1988, and has organized exhibitions on medieval manuscripts, Renaissance Nuremberg, heraldry and Artemisia Gentileschi. Dr. Mann has written on medieval art, 16th-, 17th-, and 18th-century Italian painting and sculpture, the early history of angels, and portraiture. She is currently preparing two international loan exhibitions. The first exhibition, planned to open in 2010, is devoted to examining how Federico Barocci, an important 16th-century Italian painter, utilized drawings in creating his finished paintings. The second exhibition, scheduled for 2012, is an examination of the art of painting on stone, a practice popular with European artists that developed in the early 16th century and continued into the 18th century.

Laura Gorman is a graduate of the University of Michigan with a degree in Classical Archaeology, and Queens University (Kingston, Ontario, Canada) with a master's degree in Art Conservation. She specializes in the conservation of three dimensional art of all periods. Laura has been on the conservation staff of the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, Hawaii, among others.

Paul Markovits
Dr. Paul S. Markovits is the Mathematics and Science Coordinator for the Pattonville School District. He has served as the Director of the Mathematics and Science Education Center of St Louis, Associate Professor of Science Education at Montana State University, and taught middle school science and reading in the Philadelphia area. His numerous workshops have engaged teachers in science inquiry, literacy, science and art, environmental education, elementary mathematics and content areas of biology and physical science.

Glenda McCarty
Glenda McCarty has a background in education, biology, and library science. She taught in public schools and libraries for eight years before moving to the informal side of science education. McCarty taught teacher professional development and coordinated teacher resource for the Missouri Botanical Garden before becoming a full-time student working on a doctoral degree in science education at the University of Missouri, St. Louis.

Ann McMahon
Ann McMahon is the Director of MySci – Hands on Science for Elementary Students, a Monsanto-funded science outreach program for K-2 students. McMahon leads a collaborative of scientists and science educators from Washington University, the Saint Louis Science Center, the Missouri Botanical Garden and the Saint Louis Zoo in providing MySci curriculum, professional development, loaner kit materials, and a visiting science laboratory/classroom to schools throughout the St. Louis area. Before leading MySci, McMahon was the science coordinator for a suburban St. Louis school district and a Co-Principal Investigator for a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded Local Systemic Change Initiative. She designs and teaches physics and astronomy courses in Washington University’s Education 6000: Hands-On Science graduate course series for K–8 teachers. She holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from Washington University in St. Louis and is earning her Ph.D. in science education from University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Sandra Merkel
Sandra Merkel earned a BFA from Washington University in St. Louis in 1992. Since then, she has worked as an art instructor at Keeven Elementary School in Hazelwood and Fort Zumwalt High School. She is currently an art instructor at Cool Valley Elementary School in the Ferguson-Florissant School District.

Dianne Moran
Dianne Moran is an award winning folklorist who has worked with audiences for 35 years as a Living History performer and Naturalist, including 25 years at the St. Louis Zoo. She lives deep in an Ozark forest where she is free to enjoy wild things and the spirits of the pioneers who linger on there. Her programs reflect her passion of history and include Mt. Dulcimer, relic displays and her live animals which serve as metaphors for her historic tales. She is on the rosters of Springboard to Learning & Young Audiences of St. Louis and Kansas City Young Audiences and she tours the country with her living history programs and as a Chautauqua Scholar. She is honored to have received a Program Award for artistic Excellency and educational effectiveness from Young Audiences of St. Louis.

Robert Nordman
Professor Robert Nordman, a music educator for 48 years, holds music degrees from the University of Northern Iowa and the St. Louis Institute of Music. He has 23 years experience as a high school band and orchestra director in Iowa and Missouri, was supervisor of music education for the St. Louis Public Schools for 22 years, and has been with UMSL for three years where he is currently interim chair of the music department and the Director of the Des Lee Fine Arts Collaborative.

Nordman is national past-president and executive board member of the Urban Music Leadership Conference and is an active member of the National Association for Music Education and Phi Mu Alpha music fraternity. In 1996 he was honored as Administrator of the Year by the Missouri Music Educators Association; named to the Metropolitan Music Educators Association Hall of Fame in 2005; and received the National Band Association Citation of Excellence in 2008. He adjudicates and presents clinics across the country.

Lindsay Obermeyer
Lindsay Obermeyer views her role as an artist to be synonymous with that of an educator and has always included teaching as part of her art practice. K-9 certified, Obermeyer has taught in public, private and parochial schools as wells as at National-Louis University, Northern Illinois University, and The School of the Art Institute of Chicago among others. Her work is internationally known and has been exhibited at venues including Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, and Centro Colombo Americano in Medellin, Colombia. She is currently a project designer for Lark Books and maintains her studio in Chicago.

Dr. Joe Polman
Joseph L. Polman, PhD, received his undergraduate degree in Comparative Literature from Brown University and his doctorate in the Learning Sciences from Northwestern University. For the past 15 years, he has actively supported and researched technology-supported inquiry learning in science and history. Dr. Polman has recently become interested in how projects focused on learners creating multimedia digital stories can be instrumental in promoting not only arts and humanities education but also science learning. Throughout his education career, Dr. Polman has conducted research resulting in publications and presentations, developed curriculum materials, and worked with teachers and staff of community-based organizations to implement innovative inquiry-based initiatives utilizing the latest technologies.

Joan Lipkin & That Uppity Theatre Company
Joan Lipkin is the Artistic Director of That Uppity Theatre Company in St. Louis, MO, where she has produced innovative programming since 1989. She specializes in facilitating civic dialogue and creating work with marginalized populations and students about contemporary issues. A playwright, director, activist, educator, and social critic, her award-winning work has been featured on network television, National Public Radio, the BBC, and in the Associated Press, a well as in academic journals and mainstream publications. In October 2007, she received the Frederick H. Laas Award from the Missouri Citizens for the Arts on behalf of her advocacy for arts education and arts for all people. Also in 2007, she received the James F. Hornback Ethical Humanist of the Year Award from the St. Louis Ethical Society.

Charlene Waggoner
Charlene Waggoner earned her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in Cellular and Molecular Biology. She was on the faculty in Biological Sciences and Environmental Studies and served as the Director of the Center for Environmental Programs, Director of the Women in Science Program and a fellow of the Northwest Ohio Center of Excellence in Science and Mathematics: Opportunities for Success (COSMOS) at Bowling Green State University. She assisted in many professional development programs for K-16+ teachers and wrote the laboratory manuals used in the introductory biology and environmental science courses for non-majors. Waggoner served as vice-president of the Association for Biology Laboratory Education and has been published in the area of science education. Since moving to the St Louis area she has joined Greenway Network, Inc, where she is currently serving as President of the Board of Directors.