Tory Brady
Science Educator

Tory Brady
Tory Brady was born in California, went to school at UC Berkeley, and finds herself still here in the blue state with the long coastline. She was a registered nurse before she became a teacher, a career change she has never regretted! At the Exploratorium Teacher Institute she works with teachers, helping to bring Exploratorium activities into the classroom, and facilitating the mentoring of new teachers by experienced ones. Tory spends lots of time up in the Sacramento River delta, exploring hidden waterways in a rubber boat. She and her husband have two grown children and two moody cats.

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Jamylle Carter
Postdoctoral Fellow
Mathematics

Jamylle's website

Jamylle Carter
I have a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of California, Los Angeles. My specialization is in image processing.

I have held several postdoctoral positions, including one at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI) in Berkeley, California. While at MSRI, I fell in love with the San Francisco Bay Area, and my heart has kept me here.

I am a lecturer at San Francisco State University in the Department of Mathematics. I am an instructor for the San Francisco Math Circle, an after-school math enrichment program for middle and high school students. I am also creating the Oakland Math Circle, which will begin in September 2007.

In addition, I am an avid pianist, composer, and singer. As a mathematician-musician, I am so glad to bring my full self--educational interests, mathematics expertise, and musical creativity--to the Exploratorium's Teacher Institute. This is a great job!

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Paul Doherty
Co-Director
Staff Physicist

Paul's Web page

Paul Doherty
I am a physicist, teacher, author, and rock climber with a Ph.D. in solid-state physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1974). As a tenured professor at Oakland University, I taught a wide range of science courses, including physics, astronomy, geology, electronics, computer programming, and meteorology. In 1986, I came to the Exploratorium Teacher Institute and began my exhibit-based explorations in science. As an author, I have written over two dozen articles for Exploring magazine, and have co-authored the Exploratorium Science Snackbook, the Klutz Book of Magnetic Magic, and the book, Traces of Time: The Beauty of Change in Nature. For musical entertainment, I play the whirly--a corrugated plastic tube. In pursuit of whirly excellence, I have won several competitions, including an award as "Best Science Demonstrator" at the World Congress of Museums in Helsinki in 1996. I recently had fun performing physics activities on Late Night with David Letterman. I am about to finish my second decade as a rock climber, and my second vertical marathon, 26 miles of rock climbing. In 1994, I led a successful ascent of my personal best climb: the East Buttress of El Capitan in Yosemite Valley.

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Karen Drachler
Originally from outside Chicago, I moved to Washington, DC to attend college and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology. After working for a small lobbying firm in DC, I moved to rural Honduras where I lived and worked for 27 months as a Youth Development Peace Corps Volunteer. In my village, I wrote and received several grants for projects such as a youth baseball team, a girl's empowerment camp, teacher and basic life skills training workshops, and the construction of a community center.

Upon completing my service, I moved to the Bay Area and worked for UCSF as an Analyst for Communicable Disease Prevention. I'm thrilled to again be working with teachers as a Project Manager at the Teacher Institute. I also volunteer at the National Brain Tumor Foundation in San Francisco and am currently training for my first half-marathon.

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Karen Kalumuck
Staff Biologist

Karen's Web page

Karen E. Kalumuck
I've been a staff Biologist with the Teacher Institute since 1994, and have developed and continue to be the lead teacher of the life sciences component of our Teacher Professional Development program. I'm the author of the Exploratorium's first Biology activity book, Human Body Explorations, as well as numerous articles for the general public. After many years at the Exploratorium, I still enjoy the challenge of turning the inaccessible corners of sciences into exciting explorations for teachers, students, and the general public. In an earlier life, after earning a doctorate in Life Sciences with a Genetics specialty, I conducted research in the molecular biology of human genetic disease, and taught college for ten years.

In my spare time, I love to hike, kayak, travel, and generally hang out with my husband and menagerie of four-legged and finned "children" including one dog, three cats, three guinea pigs, and a tank of fresh water fish. Most recently, we completed a Biologist's dream trip to the Galapagos Islands, which was more fantastic than I ever imagined! I've been studying Spanish for several years and have a new-found appreciation for the challenges of being an "English Language Learner". I'm also a frustrated nature photographer who is slowly learning the wonders of PhotoShop. My favorite word in English is borborygmous; in Spanish it's izquierda.

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Lori Lambertson
Math and Science Teacher
New Teacher Program Coordinator and
Math Enthusiast

Lori Lambertson
I studied biology at the University of California at Santa Cruz, which led me to a career as a professional bicycle racer.  I spent two years on the racing circuit, then returned to school to study painting, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of San Francisco.

After completing the credential program at San Francisco State University, I continued my work in education, completing a Master of Arts in Education. I taught both math and science at the middle school level.  My math mentor, Mary Laycock, taught me to be a better math teacher, and even more important, helped me become a "math enthusiast". 

My first experience in the Teacher Institute was attending the "classic" four week long Summer Institute in 1991.  I loved it, and felt like I was in an environment where anything was possible.  As a TI alumnus, I signed up for everything the Exploratorium offered.  I had the incredibly good fortune of become a Teacher-in-Residence at the Exploratorium Teacher Institute.  I am now starting my nth year as a staff teacher here, where I continue to have the world's best job.

As a life long learner, I also enjoy studying hula, learning Spanish, painting, gardening, cooking, and surfing.  

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Eric Muller
Science, Math and Tech Educator,
Pedagogical Protagonist

Eric's fun web page

Eric's teacher web page

Eric Muller
I began my career as a geologist, wandering remote dirt roads of the American Southwest. After a few years, my career metamorphosed into being an educator, receiving clear credentials in science and math. I began my deviation into technology back in the early 90's when I broke my wrist snowboarding... I bought my first computer because I couldn't write by hand.

Over the past two decades I have taught science and math throughout the Bay Area, and authored several articles for The Science Teacher, The Physics Teacher, several museum publications and a number of websites. For the past twelve years, I have been a science and technology educator at the Exploratorium Teacher Institute where I provide professional development for teachers from around the world. I have conducted workshops from China to Costa Rica and from Alaska to Tobago.

Besides earning a B.S. in Earth Science from the University of California at Santa Cruz and a M.A. in Education from Columbia University, I have served as a Wright Fellow at Tufts University's Wright Center for Innovation in Science Education. I worked as a professional white water guide and have rafted several dozen rivers with my boat, Ivan Boat-ski. Between meals, I wrote a book entitled, "While You're Waiting for the Food to Come," a book of activities that can be done at restaurants. I made regular appearances on NPR's Sounds Like Science radio show as their "restaurant science commentator." I live on accreted oceanic crust north of San Francisco, have a couple of kids and a dog named Sputnik.

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Don Rathjen
Physics Teacher

Don's Web page

Don Rathjen
I've taught physics for over forty years -- "since the crust cooled," as I've been known to say -- in settings including a small college in Liberia, West Africa, a Turkish high school, and public high schools in Pleasanton, California, where I retired from classroom teaching in 1994. I've been working with science teachers at the Exploratorium since 1985, and was deeply involved in the development of the Exploratorium Science Snackbook, published in 1991. The Snackbook shows teachers how to use simple materials to build classroom versions of over 100 Exploratorium exhibits. More recently, I co-authored (with Paul Doherty) Square Wheels, with 31 additional science snacks -- about half of which are based on Exploratorium exhibits and half on activities developed by staff and teachers at the Exploratorium Teacher Institute. The designation of Square Wheels as "An Exploratorium Science Snackbook" makes it essentially the second volume in what is hoped will be an ongoing series in the "science snack" spirit.

My interest in using simple materials to teach physics and physical science was evident even when our own kids were young, and used to find their missing toys in dad's physics lab! In 1983, I began "Physics Day" at Great America, an amusement park in Santa Clara, California. This event has grown from 90 students to over 20,000. Although I'm intrigued by the physics of roller coasters, when it comes to actually riding, I admit to being a merry-go-round kind of guy, and beg off the wild rides -- pleading "Certainly it's not fear; it's my inner ear!" Continuing my lifelong interest in toys, I was the author of Lego Crazy Action Contraptions, published by Klutz Press, and am thoroughly enjoying the experience of having our grandchildren build science snacks and toys with grandpa!

I received a B.S. in Engineering from Stanford University and an M.A. in Science Education from Columbia University. My wife, Ann, and I have lived in Pleasanton, California since 1964. We are proud to note that the next generation in our family is batting 6-for-6 in the teaching league, since our three children and their three spouses are all middle school teachers by profession.

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Anna Rochester
Program Manager

Anna Rochester
Anna Rochester received a BA in Art Education in 1990, from the University of Oregon, and co-founded a small private school in Eugene from 1990-1996. Her MA was awarded in 2002 in the same field, from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. From 1997 to 2001 she ran teacher and family programs at the Oriental Institute Museum at the University of Chicago. From 2001 to 2003, Anna worked as the Teacher Services Manager at the John G. Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. She moved back to the west coast in 2003 to take a Program Manager position at the San Francisco Exploratorium's Teacher Institute, which she describes as "her dream job."

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Linda Shore
Director
Staff Physicist

Linda's Web page

Linda Shore
I was born, raised, and educated in San Francisco. While taking an undergraduate astronomy course (because a friend said it was "easy"), I discovered my interest in physics and astronomy. I abandoned my major in broadcasting and earned a master's degree in physics from San Francisco State University. While there, I discovered my love for teaching. I was the youngest person in the California State University system ever to teach lecture sections of pre-med physics. In 1986, I moved to Massachusetts to study science education at Boston University. While in Boston, I married my husband John, conducted educational research at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, taught astronomy at Boston University, evaluated educational software, helped design a high school curriculum on fractals in nature, and earned my doctorate in Science Education. After eight years, my husband and I got sick of the humid summers, icy winters, and crazy drivers. I returned to San Francisco and joined the Exploratorium in 1993, where I am now director of the Teacher Institute. I am also a co-author of The Science Explorer, a series of Exploratorium activity books for children and their parents. When not at the museum, I teach graduate courses in educational technology at the University of San Francisco and write science fiction short stories.

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Modesto Tamez
Science Educator

Modesto Tamez
Modesto Tamez has spent the last twenty five years in education; the first 18 years working in the classroom with levels K-12 in Spanish and English with an emphasis in teaching science . The last eight years he has been working with the Exloratorium in San Francisco and San Francisco State University, helping teachers integrate hands on science into their curriculum. Modesto was also director for an NSF supported program to help establish after school science programs through out the state of California.

He is currently coordinating a mentor program, placing experienced teachers in middle school and high school classrooms to help first and second year science teachers. For the last four years, he has been teaching an elementary science methods course in a non traditional intern program at John Muir Elementary School run by San Francisco State University.

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Julie Yu

Julie's Web page

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Stephanie Chasteen
Postdoctoral Fellow
Physics
Stephanie's Web page

Jill Johnsen
Postdoctoral Fellow
Material Science
Jill's Web page

Stephen Ribisi Jr.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Biology
Steve's new location