Home Professional DevelopmentSpecial Programming at NECCSymposiaComputer Science2005February 2005 CS/IT Symposium Speaker Biographies

February 26, 2005 Adam's Mark St. Louis Hotel, St. Louis, Missouri

Speaker Biographies

Owen Astrachan (February, St. Louis and June, Philadelphia)

Owen Astrachan is Professor of the Practice of Computer Science at Duke University. He received BA and MAT degrees in mathematics and his MS and PhD degrees in computer science. He taught high school for seven years. Owen was a member of the AP Computer Science development committee from 1985–1990; was Chief Reader from 1990 to 1994; and chaired ad hoc committees overseeing changes in the AP language to C++ and Java. He has authored many articles and received an NSF Career Young Investigator award to study and improve the use of software design patterns. He received Duke's 1995 Robert B. Cox Distinguished Teaching in Science Award; an Outstanding Instructor Award at the University of British Columbia in 1998; and Duke's 2002 Richard K. Lublin award for "ability to engender genuine intellectual excitement, ability to engender curiosity, knowledge of field and ability to communicate that knowledge."

Daryn Bee (June, Philadelphia)

Daryn Bee has been a technology learning coordinator with the Thames Valley Board for five years. As a learning coordinator, his primary goal is to help teachers improve learning through the use of technology in the classroom. His teaching background is at the secondary level in communications technology, where students were involved in the production of news and live video announcements and computer programming. Daryn has presented for numerous organizations including E.C.O.O. (Educational Computing Organization of Ontario), O.B.E.A. (Ontario Business Educator's Association) and most recently O.S.A.P.A.C. (Ontario Software Acquisition Program Advisory Committee) in conjunction with Macromedia Canada where a Northern Roadshow was orchestrated for North Bay and Sudbury. Daryn's workshops are fast-paced, fun, and packed with ideas that will help you get started with technology integration in your classroom.

Andrew Begel (February, St. Louis and June, Philadelphia)

Andrew Begel is a final-year Computer Science Ph.D. student working at the junction of programming languages, human-computer interaction, software engineering, and education at the University of California, Berkeley. While at Berkeley, Andrew has developed several programming environments designed to make programming more accessible, including a voice-based programming environment for programmers suffering from repetitive strain injuries. Along with MIT Professors Mitchel Resnick and Eric Klopfer, Andrew has been involved in the design and development of StarLogo, a programming environment for students and teachers which enables them to create models of complex systems. Away from the computer, Andrew is an avid cook whose goal is to one day replicate all of his mother's dinner recipes.

Mary J. Cullinane (June, Philadelphia)

Mary J. Cullinane, School of the Future Technology Architect, Microsoft Corporation, joined Microsoft after being a teacher, Director of Technology, and administrator at a regional secondary school in Scotch Plains, New Jersey, for 10 years. In November 2000, she joined Microsoft as the Program Manager of Microsoft Anytime Anywhere learning program. In August of 2002, Mary assumed responsibilities for the K–12 segment, managing Microsoft national programs, marketing activities, strategic initiatives with national associations, and state and federal Departments of Education. She was also responsible for creating the Microsoft Centers of Excellence program. Recently, Mary has been appointed the Philadelphia School of the Future Technology Architect for Microsoft Corporation. Mary has spoken at national and international conferences on the topics of educational technology and strategic leadership and has provided board support for numerous organizations

Erica Danielle Dismang (Student speaker June, Philadelphia)

Erica Danielle Dismang will discuss the social relevance of computer science from a student perspective. She is a senior at Mount Carmel High School, Bellmont, IL. She is active in the House of Prayer High School Youth, National Honor Society, Upward Bound and is involved with the kids from Canaan Christian School in Haiti.

Philip East (February, St. Louis and June, Philadelphia)

J. Philip East has taught computer science and computer science education at the college level for about 25 years and written and made presentations on the teaching of computing during that entire period. He has been quite active in professional organizations, particularly SIGCS of ISTE and SIGSCE of ACM. He actively seeks to enhance his teaching, to better understand the teaching and learning process, and to communicate with others on these topics. Prior to his computer science education career, Philip taught mathematics to junior high students. A doctorate in computer science education from the University of Oregon allowed him to achieve his current position in computer science at the University of Northern Iowa.

Betsy Frederick (February, St. Louis and June, Philadelphia)

Betsy Frederick was one of the designers of the educational computing program for Albuquerque Public Schools as it moved from mainframe to a personal computer focus. She played a leadership role in District local and wide area networking planning and implementation. She has been a Director of Network New Mexico, an organization providing support for grassroots networking solutions for schools. Global Education and Multimedia are special interests. She is a past-president of SIGTel, the Special Interest Group for Telecommunications, which is part of the International Society for Technology in Education. Betsy has worked for many years in i*EARN, the International Education and Resource Network. Her international teaching experiences have been in Bosnia-Hercegovina, Israel, and Jordan. She is former owner of Silicon Desert, an Internet Service Provider. She is a consultant to Los Alamos National Laboratory, co-facilitating the New Mexico Adventures in Supercomputing Challenge, and to the Santa Fe Institute providing support to the NSF ITTEST Adventures in Modeling project. She has a degree in Dance from Mills College and volunteers with the Breast Cancer Committee for People Living Through Cancer.

Abigail Gonzales (June, Philadelphia)

Abigail Gonzales is a Senior Instructional Designer and Assistant Professor at Northface University. As an instructional designer, she plays a key role in instructional design, faculty development, and course evaluation. She also enjoys the challenge of teaching an introductory and advanced course on Collaboration and Interpersonal Communications to computer science students. Abigail received her Master's degree from Indiana University in Instructional Systems Technology. Her degree program at Indiana University was taught in a collaborative, Project-based Learning environment. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at Brigham Young University in Instructional Psychology and Technology.

Sandy Graham (February, St. Louis and June, Philadelphia)

Sandy Graham is a lecturer in Computer Science at the University of Waterloo. She is also the High School Liaison in Computer Science for the Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Waterloo. Sandy completed a Bachelor of Mathematics, Computer Science Major from Waterloo. After graduation, she went on to teach high school computer science and mathematics in northwestern Ontario before returning to Waterloo in 1998. Some of her liaison activities include organizing a four-day professional development conference for high school computer studies teachers and a week-long seminar designed to attract grade 9 and 10 female high school students into Computer Science.

Irene Lee (February, St. Louis and June, Philadelphia)

Irene Lee teaches Starlogo and agent-based modeling to secondary school teachers and students in Northern New Mexico as part of the Santa Fe Institute/Massachusetts Institute of Technology ITEST Program. Irene is a past president and executive director of the Swarm Development Group. Previously she designed and programmed computer and video games for Electronic Arts and Theatrix Interactive. Irene Lee received her BA in Pure Mathematics from the University of Chicago and her EdM in Technology in Education from Harvard University Graduate School of Education.

Doug Peterson (February, St. Louis and June, Philadelphia)

Doug Peterson is the Computers in Education Program Consultant for the Greater Essex County District School Board in southwestern Ontario, Canada. An educator since 1979, Doug has taught data processing, computer science, accounting, general business studies, and mathematics at the secondary school level and was the Director of Business Education at Sandwich Secondary School in LaSalle, Ontario. His formal education includes a Bachelor of Mathematics degree from the University of Waterloo and a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Toronto. Ontario Ministry of Education and Training qualifications are in Data Processing, Computer Science, Accounting, and Mathematics.

Pat Phillips (June, Philadelphia)

Pat Phillips taught Computer Science at Craig High School in Janesville, Wisconsin, for 20 years. She is a member of the Faculty Advisory Board for Microsoft and serves on the board of the Computer Science Teachers Association. Pat also serves on the Wisconsin Women = Prosperity Educational Task force for Wisconsin Lt. Governor Barbara Lawton. She initiated the Dreams Club at Craig H.S. for girls interested in math, science, or technology and has worked to provide motivation and opportunities for girls in related fields. Recently she was awarded the Radio Shack award for excellence in teaching of technology.

Eric Roberts (February, St. Louis)

Eric Roberts is Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University. He received his PhD from Harvard University in 1980, and subsequently taught at Wellesley College, where he chaired the Computer Science Department. Eric joined the Stanford faculty in 1990. While at Stanford, he has received several teaching awards, including the Bing Fellowship, the Dinkelspiel Award, and the Gunn University Fellowship. Earlier this year, Eric received the 2003 SIGCSE Award for Outstanding Contribution to Computer Science Education at the annual SIGCSE symposium, where he delivered the opening keynote on "Expanding the Audience for Computer Science." He is also the principal architect of Stanford's introductory computer science courses and the author of three computer science textbooks. From 1998 to 2001, Eric served as co-chair of the Computing Curricula 2001 task force. He has recently been appointed chair of a new ACM Task Force on Java Resources for Introductory Computer Science Education.

Brian Scarbeau (February, St. Louis and June, Philadelphia)

Brian Scarbeau is a seasoned computer science teacher with experience teaching at the college, high school, and middle school levels. Presently, he's the Computer Science Department Head at Lake Highland Preparatory School in Orlando FL, and teaches AP Computer Science, Web Design, and Honors Programming. Recently, he received the Most Valuable Professional award from Microsoft Corporation. He serves on the Faculty Advisory Board for Microsoft and has written curriculum for Microsoft as well. This past summer, Brian was part of a team of educators that taught high school teachers how to use Visual Basic.NET and ASP.NET. Brian has spoken at several conferences including AP National Conference, FETC, and FCIS. His programs at Lake Highland Preparatory School have been recognized by Microsoft, Intel, and .NET U magazine.

Janie Schwark (February, St. Louis)

Janie Schwark is currently a Senior Product Manager in the Mobile and Embedded Devices Group at Microsoft where she focuses on creating programs and resources for developers creating mobile LOB applications. During her career at Microsoft and Thomson Learning, she has spent a great deal of time working with the educational community and has presented at numerous academic conferences and events. Janie has a BS degree in Business Education from the University of West Florida and a MEd degree in Administration and Supervision from the University of South Florida.

Russell Shackelford (February, St. Louis and June, Philadelphia)

Russell Shackelford is Chair of the ACM Education Board. He is also Chair of the ACM/IEEE-CS/AIS Joint Task Force on Computing Curricula 2004 (CC2004). He was Co-chair of the ACM/IEEE-CS Joint Task Force on Computing Curricula 2001 (CC2001). At various times he has been Associate Chair of Stanford University's Computer Science Department, Senior Research Scientist at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC), and Director of Lower Division Studies at Georgia Tech's College of Computing. He holds a doctorate in Information and Computer Science from Georgia Tech, as well as various other degrees in psychology and in computer science. While continuing to do volunteer working for ACM, he is taking a hiatus from gainful employment while deciding what to do next. He lives near Gulf Shores, Alabama, where he is affecting repairs from Hurricane Ivan. He likes baseball, college football and basketball, the U.S. Constitution, New Orleans, and old European cars which he cannot fit in. He was born and raised in Baltimore.

Katie Siek (February, St. Louis)

Katie Siek is a PhD Candidate in the Computer Science Department at Indiana University. Her current research focuses on integrating information appliances into populations that do not ordinarily use technology. Katie has been actively involved in the Women in Computing group at Indiana University for the past two years and has lectured at local workshops about gender issues in computing.

Chris Stephenson (February, St. Louis and June, Philadelphia)

Chris Stephenson is the Executive Director of ACM's Computer Science Teachers Association. She joined ACM after 16 years of working at the University of Toronto's Computer Systems Research Institute and the University of Waterloo's Mathematics and Computing Department where she designed instructional resources and professional development for high school educators. She is also the former President of Holt Software, an educational publishing company focused on computer science. Since 2000, Chris has served as the chair of the annual Computer Science and Information Technology Symposia and as the chair of the review committee for computer science for the National Educational Computing Conference. She is the former chair of the International Society for Technology in Education's Computer Science SIG and of the ACM K–12 Task Force. She is also a former president of the Association for Computer Studies Educators and of the Educational Computing Organization of Ontario. She has numerous research publications in the field of computer science education and adaptive technology and has written several high school textbooks.

Amanda Stephano (February, St. Louis)

Amanda Stephano is currently pursuing a dual Masters in Computer Science and Human Computer Interaction at Indiana University. Her current research focuses on Human Computer Interaction, Ubiquitous Computing, and Security. She has been involved with Women in Computing at Indiana University for the past year and is currently Secretary/Treasurer of the organization.

Justin Solomon (June, Philadelphia)

Justin Solomon is a 17-year old student at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, Virginia. He began his programming career in the third grade with a week-long class in TureBASIC and knew he was hooked the moment the cat he worked so hard to program in TrueBASIC moved its tail one centimeter to the left. At that instant, the computer moved from a simple world of gaming and word processing to a complex world of applications and code in which programming, technology, math, and science overlapped to solve otherwise impossible problems. Justin has developed a working knowledge of C++, Java, Lisp, HTML, PHP, HyperLogo, and several other programming languages. In 2001, he presented at NECC on his award winning project titled "The Z Axis". He has received recognition from Raytheon, ANSER, U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, Missile Defense Agency and the CIA and recently won first place in Computer Science at the Virginia State Science and Engineering Fair with a project in which he devised a unique method for programming a ray-tracer for use on personal computers. While still in high school, Justin has tutored students in introductory, advanced, and AP Computer Science.

Fran Trees (February, St. Louis and June, Philadelphia)

Fran Trees currently teaches Computer Science and Mathematics at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. She was a teacher of AP Computer Science for 18 years in Westfield, New Jersey. She has served as exam leader, question leader, AP CS Test Development Committee member, AP CS ad hoc committee member, College Board AP CS Consultant and Workshop Leader, and AP Central's Content Advisor for Computer Science. Fran is the primary author of the Teacher's Guide for Advanced Placement Computer Science (C++) and Computing Concepts with Java Essentials Advanced Placement Computer Science Guide. She is also the recipient of several teacher awards.

Anita Verno (June, Philadelphia)

Anita Verno is an Assistant Professor and Coordinator of Information Technology at Bergen Community College, in New Jersey, where she has taught since 1999. Anita has more than 28 years of experience working with computer technology and computer-related instruction. Her areas of special interest include programming languages, Web development, and computer education. Anita holds duel teaching certification in Elementary Education and in Data Processing. She has taught Information Technology and Computer Science within the corporate sector; in private and public high schools; in addition to the collegiate level, encompassing both undergraduate and graduate coursework.

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