Meet the 2012 Ship to Shore Rockers, Instructors, and Staff

Karen Thomson, EdD, MPA
My work focuses on improving educational opportunities and other resources for children and young adults. I’ve taught in elementary, middle, and graduate school; worked in policy, advocacy, and educational media; with international organizations and in my own hometown – but I’ve always been especially excited about how excited kids can be about subjects they explore through non-formal settings such as zoos, aquariums, museums, afterschool programs, and organizations such as the Girl Scouts. I have a doctorate in education from Teachers College at Columbia University (in what is now known as their Department of Educational Leadership), where I also obtained a master’s degree in elementary education from the Department of Curriculum and Teaching and did my dissertation on children’s television. My MPA is from Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School, where I studied both domestic policy and international development, and my bachelor’s degree in sociology is from Harvard College. I grew up in Brooklyn, NY with several happy summers in Orangeburg, South Carolina (when I wasn’t catching snapper from Jamaica Bay, attending day camp at the Aquarium in Coney Island, or exploring other wonders of summer in NYC). Worked in DC and Atlanta but moved back to Brooklyn a few years ago and have been here ever since.

Denny Casey, Ph.D.
My title is Director of Education and Public Programs at Virginia Museum of Natural History. I also am adjunct instructor with state and private universities for science methods and education courses. My degrees are in natural science education and science curriculum and instruction, all from Virginia Tech. My research interests include: education for social justice, social constructivism, history and nature of science and technology, and earth systems science education. My professional service includes: Journal of Virginia Science Education and Web Administrator for Virginia Association of Science Teachers, Virginia Master Naturalist Program, and Virginia Resource Use Education Council.

Suraida Nañez-James, M.S.
I am the Education Program Manager for the Gulf of Mexico Foundation’s education programs. I direct the teacher training programs in coral reef ecology (Down Under, Out Yonder) and coastal ecology (Intracoastal Waterway Wetlands Expedition). I also am developing programming for our youth program, the Coastal Rangers – a multicultural approach to environmental education. My outreach areas focus on various things such as sustainable resources, ecosystem management, diversity and inclusion (esp. with underserved populations), ecosystem services, industry and the environment, and culture of the Gulf of Mexico Large Marine Ecosystem. I serve as the Chair for the Gulf of Mexico Alliance Underserved Underrepresented Populations Working group s as well as the International and Non-Profit representative on the Environmental Education Steering Committee.

Prior to joining the GMF, I was a research fellow at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette where I worked with Dr. Lawrence Rozas at the NOAA Fisheries Center on coastal issues in Louisiana. I received my B.S. in Marine Fisheries from Texas A&M University at Galveston while working for the NOAA Fisheries Laboratory in Galveston. In 2006, I received my M.S. in Biology from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi where I focused my studies on nursery habitats for juvenile southern flounder. After receiving my master’s, I worked for the Harte Research Institute on various research projects and environmental education initiatives, including founding the Laguna Outreach Project and co-chairing the Summer High School Internship Program for marine studies. I am also interested in invertebrate and fish ecology, marine policy, and environmental justice issues. I love spending time with my husband and 7 month old daughter and enjoy, traveling, camping, and anything outdoors.

Christine Yau
Hello! I am currently a sophomore at CUNY Hunter College, majoring Psychology and hopefully minoring in Chinese. Before graduating, I was a Girl Scout for 11 years and also achieved my Girl Scout Gold Award. This past February, I completed my Girl Scout Leader’s Training and now a trained Girl Scout Leader. I played rugby and ultimate frisbee when I attended SUNY New Paltz for my freshman year of college. Playing sports, the outdoors and traveling are three of the many interests I have and all three are great ways to relieve stress! The outdoors has this peaceful and calming aura to it. Which also matches my personality as well because I love a good adventure. My motto is “Carpe Diem”, which means Seize the Day. Live each day like it is your last because life is extremely short, so don’t live with any regrets!

Barbara Becker
Barbara is an exhibition and communication professional working out of Chicago. A consultant since 2002, and formerly on staff at both Chicago’s Field Museum and the John G. Shedd Aquarium, she specializes in conceptual planning, writing, research and evaluation. Barbara has a passion for engaging people with the natural sciences. She also has a true geek’s enthusiasm for scientific collections. She has worked with natural history museums, aquariums, and arboretums, all informal learning sites centered on the scientific collections they hold. She is dedicated to increasing public awareness of these resources, which offer so many opportunities for understanding the natural world. For this project, she was thrilled to discover a new “type” of collection—deep-ocean drilling cores.

Patrice Ceisel
Patrice brings thirty years of experience helping cultural and scientific institutions reach their audiences through engaging media programs. Her work has appeared on Animal Planet, PBS, all the major news stations, and in exhibitions at the Museum of Science and Industry and the Shedd Aquarium. She has worked within teams to develop communication plans, full-scaleexhibitions, informal learning programs, television commercials, and social media campaigns. On expeditions to the Amazon, Philippines, Hong Kong, Canada and innumerable Caribbean locations, she often documents underwater as well as topside. She appreciates the challenge of developing engaging programming about complex subjects. 

One wonderful testimonial to Ceisel’s productions is a reference in a 2010 New Yorker article. Ian Frazier begins his Fish Out of Water article … “In the SheddAquarium, on the lakefront in downtown Chicago, there’s a video display that makes visitors laugh until they are falling down.” And in the midst of all that laughter, visitor evaluation shows learning took place.

Kevin Kurtz
Kevin Kurtz is a children’s author and educator who has written two published children’s books so far: “A Day in the Salt Marsh” and “A Day on the Mountain” (to learn more about his books, visit his website at http://kevinkurtz.homestead.com). He has been an informal science and environmental educator at organizations such as the Science Factory Children’s Museum in Eugene, OR and the South Carolina Aquarium in Charleston, SC. He currently lives in Rochester, NY.

Alice Feagan
Alice is an illustrator working traditionally and digitally in paper collage. Growing up in the mountains of Western North Carolina, Alice was strongly influenced by folk art styles and techniques. She now fuses these influences with those of other cultures to create a new and fresh approach to the art of paper collage. Since receiving her MFA in Illustration from Savannah College of Art and Design Alice has illustrated for picture and chapter books, magazines, newspapers, packaging, advertisements, and children’s museums. Her playful and graphic style lends itself well to the children’s market and specifically to the illustration of animals. Past clients include The Science Factory Children’s Museum, Kidzu Children’s Museum, World Book Encyclopedia, The Children’s Miracle Network, & Gauthier Publications. To view Alice’s portfolio visit, www.alicefeagan.com.

Elisabeth (Bess) Manning
Bess has served as Curator of Collections and Exhibits at Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History since 2008. She has a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of the South, Sewanee, TN, and completed Master’s level study in Anthropology, Nautical Archaeology, and Secondary Education at Texas A&M University. She is a former staff archaeologist for the Tennessee Department of Conservation, former Curator of Education at the Museum of the Great Plains, Lawton, OK, and served as Executive Director of the Waco Performing Arts Company.

Her professional experience also includes work in non-profit marketing, special events and program planning, and development. Also a former high school teacher, she is experienced in curriculum development and graphic design. In her spare time, she remains active at St. Michael’s Episcopal School in Bryan where she once taught, serving as a member of the Board of Trustees.

US Satellite

Glen Schuster
Glen is a scientist educator and author with expertise in STEM professional development and curriculum.  He is the Principal Investigator and Project Director for NASA’s Endeavor Science Teaching Certificate Project.  As Founder and President of U.S. Satellite Laboratory, Glen and his team have created and implemented national projects for NASA, NSF, NOAA, and National Geographic, promoting the authentic use of scientific data in today’s STEM classrooms.  He is co-author of the new, 2012 high school marine science course distributed by Pearson called Marine Science: The Dynamic Ocean.   

A former TV meteorologist, he also spends time in elementary classrooms teaching a mathematics program, WDLC, which utilizes weather data for increased student achievement.  Married with two awesome boys and living in Westchester County in New York, he was elected to and serves on his local school board.  Psyched to finally have “Rocker” status, Glen is extremely proud of his affiliation with Deep Earth Academy–since 2009–facilitating webcasts with the JOIDES RESOLUTION that have impacted thousands of educators and students.  

NSF

Lenny Pace

Fast forward through postdocdom to 2004 when I joined the faculty of the Geoscience Department at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP). Soon after starting at IUP, the Nankai Trough Seismogenic Zone Experiment (NanTroSEIZE) project commenced. I was honored to sail on the Chikyu as a Structural Geologist on IODP Expedition 315 in 2007. This was a logical extension of my work on the on-land structural history of SW Japan. In addition to this ongoing work, I am working to understand the configuration of active faults in central Costa Rica and to constrain the crustal architecture of the Taiwan arc-continent collision. I continue to be active in IODP through service on the U.S. Advisory Committee and I am thrilled to be joining the ranks of the excellent School of Rock instructors. Get ready for the Summer 2012 SOR on the JOIDES Resolution!

Shortly after arriving at Ocean Leadership (Joint Oceanographic Institutions at the time), I boarded a mostly empty JOIDES Resolution in Panama and sailed with the techs and staff to Newfoundland, and that’s when the School of Rock idea was hatched amidst hair-raising weather and other nonsense. All I can say is that it was a true “lesson in humility!” This will be my fourth School of Rock and my sixth voyage aboard the big (really big) blue ship. I hope you love it and learn as much as I have these past seven years.

My path to the JR, Deep Earth Academy, and School of Rock? I served as the Director of Interpretive and Guest Services at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium, and held positions as the first education director for the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward, Alaska and as education specialist at the Texas State Aquarium in Corpus Christi, after thirteen years in South Texas secondary science classrooms. I’ve had experience with educational television, museum theatre, curriculum development, teacher education, undergraduate courses, and field guiding in Texas, Mexico, Alaska’s Inside Passage, and School of Rock, of course. But when all is said and done, Deep Earth Academy and IODP are the hardest work, most fun, and greatest joy I can imagine.