Leaders

Nils Ahbel, Deerfield Academy, Deerfield, MA

Nils has been very involved with Texas Instruments graphics calculators since their inception. He has been on the development teams for many of TI's calculators and software products: TI-82, TI-83, TI-86, TI-89, TI-92, and most recently TI-Nspire CAS. Nils was on the author team of three UCSMP textbooks, Advanced Algebra and Functions, Statistics, and Trigonometry, and Precalculus and Discrete Mathematics. Nils has been a regular speaker at numerous conferences including NCTM, NCSSM, UCSMP, T3, 14 years at The Exeter Conference, TSM Conference in Oundle England,and 4 years as founding speaker at the Technology Teaching & Learning Institute in Australia. For the past three years Nils has been teaching exclusively with a tablet PC and has been invited to speak at a number of schools and national conferences on the topic, including the National School Boards Association Technology and Learning Conference.

Ron Armontrout, Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, CT

Ron has been a middle and high school mathematics teacher for over 30 years in public and private schools. Chosen as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow for the 1986 Mathematics Institute, Geometry in the Technological Age, at Princeton University, Ron has been involved in curriculum and writing projects ever since. He worked with Texas Instruments to design TI-Interactive! and TI-Connect. Ron also presents at numerous mathematics conferences, including the Anja S. Greer Conference for eighteen years, T^3 workshops and national meetings, The Peddie School Conference for Middle School Teachers, Teachers Teaching with Technology in Melbourne, Australia and well over thirty NCTM national and regional conferences. He currently teaches mathematics at the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, CT.

Bruce Baguley, Cascade Math Systems, LLC, East Wenatchee, WA

Bruce Baguley of Cascade Math Systems received a BA in Mathematics from Tulane University, an MS in Mathematics from MIT, and teacher training from Heritage College in Toppenish, WA. He is interested in showing mathematical concepts for understanding using manipulatives and pictures rather than relying on memorizing formulas. He has given numerous workshops, showing people how to represent counting; whole number, rational, and integer operations; solving linear equations; and number theory.

David Bannard, Collegiate School, Richmond VA

David has been teaching since 1969 including 17 years at the Groton School and the past 18 years at the Collegiate School in Richmond, Virginia. As one of the original beta testers for The Geometer's Sketchpad, he has been using the program in the classroom for almost 16 years. He has participated in every Anja S. Greer Conference except one.

Richard Benz, Lake County Educational Service Center, Painesville, OH

Rich has taught advanced biology and introductory biology for over 33 years, and was the technology coordinator at Wickliffe High school. Currently he is the Science Curriculum Specialist at the Lake County Educational Service Center. Rich has been the creator of a number of state level and national projects involving technology and technology integration into the biology curriculum. Rich has taught at the Anja S. Greer (Science) Conference since its start and has presented at over 22 national conferences for NSTA and NABT (National Biology Teachers Association.) In addition he has participated in curriculum development in South Africa, and England and Australia.

Mary Bourassa, Lisgar Collegiate Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Mary has been teaching mathematics and computer science for the past 13 years. She is a strong advocate of the appropriate use of technology in the classroom. She has presented workshops to teachers across Canada, the United States and Australia. She has also been involved in authoring high school mathematics textbooks and is a past Vice-President of the Ontario Association for Mathematics Education. Winner of NCTMs Future Leader Award and member of a Kenneth D. Fryer Award winning mathematics department, Mary continually strives to learn new and better ways of helping students learn and love mathematics.

Floyd Bullard, The North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, Durham, NC

Floyd has taught high school mathematics for eight years, including two as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Benin, West Africa, and is currently at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. He is also completing his doctoral research in statistics at Duke University studying extrasolar planets; he plans to defend his dissertation next winter and graduate before he turns 40 in January 2009! Floyd lives in North Carolina with his partner Rick and their six fish.

Floyd Bullard, The North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics

Floyd has taught high school mathematics for ten years, including two as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Benin, West Africa, and is currently at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. He is also completing his doctoral research in statistics at Duke University studying extrasolar planetary detection; he plans to defend his dissertation in January 2009 before he turns 40! Floyd lives in North Carolina with his partner Rick and their eight fish.

Robert Bussell, The Brooklyn Latin School, Brooklyn, NY

Robert Bussell teaches physics and independent research at The Brooklyn Latin School in New York City. He is inspired by having accidentally learned a hands-on, intuition building approach to education from educational researchers Ruth Chabay and Bruce Sherwood who taught his undergraduate electromagnetism course. Bussell's studies included a PhD at Cornell University with a thesis on nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy applied to biochemical systems.

Dan Butler, Mounds View High School, Arden Hills, MN

Dan has taught mathematics for twenty years; six years in middle school and 15 years in high school. In addition, he teaches an enriched and accelerated course for fourth- and fifth-graders at the University of Minnesota. He has been involved in professional development workshops for the past 14 years, including ten years as a teacher leader in the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship Foundation and ten years as an instructor in the Anja S. Greer Conference.

Katie Cassidy, The Pingry School, Martinsville, NJ

Katie began teaching chemistry and mathematics at The Pingry School in 1989 and has been teaching mathematics exclusively since 1992. She has a bachelors degree in chemistry from Lehigh University and a Masters degree in Mathematics Education from Florida State University. She has four children, ages 14, 10 and 8 year old twins.

Dan Chazan, University of Maryland, College Park, MD

Dan Chazan is an associate professor of mathematics education and a secondary teacher educator at the University of Maryland.

Jonathan Choate, Groton School, Groton, MA

Jonathan has taught mathematics at Groton School since 1966 and has been involved in curriculum development in general and the use of computers in the teaching of mathematics in particular since the mid 80's. He has served on two NCTM Task Forces, one on algebra and the other on discrete mathematics and is currently the Newsletter/Web Page Editor for the new MAA Special Interest Group dedicated to the teaching of advanced mathematics in high school. His column, Geometer's Corner, is a regular feature in COMAP's Consortium newsletter, and he has just created a web site dedicated to the teaching of three-dimensional geometry which can be found at Zebragraph.

Terry Coes, Rocky Hill School

Loring (Terry) Coes is a mathematics teacher at Rocky Hill School in Rhode Island. He is a past member of the NCTM board of directors, and a past president of the Council of Presidential Awardees in Mathematics. He is a frequent speaker at conferences around the country, often discussing the use of technology, manipulatives, and visualization to enhance understanding. He has published several articles in professional journals. He is a co-author of McDougal Littell’s Algebra 1 and 2: Explorations and Application. Terry is also a portrait and wedding photographer.

Ken Collins, Charlotte Latin School, Charlotte, NC

Ken grew up in NYC and has a B.S. in physics and an M.S. in math from Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. He has a Ph.D. from Purdue University. Ken has taught for forty years at every level from middle school through graduate school. His focus for the last ten years has been effective use of technology in teaching and learning mathematics. He is currently chair of the math department at Charlotte Latin School and teaches Calculus, Precalculus, Algebra, and Trigonometry with extensive use of calculator technology. Ken gives five to ten workshop presentations each year at state, regional, and national conferences of NCTM and T^3. He is currently writing curriculum material for classroom purposes.

Maureen Fahey, Rocky HIll School, East Greenwich, RI

Maureen has been teaching at Rocky Hill School in Rhode Island since 1997. She currently teaches AP Statistics, BC Calculus and Algebra 1. In addition, she is the community service coordinator. Prior to becoming a teacher she worked in the computer industry supporting data base and statistical software. She has a bachelor’s degree from Connecticut College. She recently spoke at the CETA/CEMA conference in Hartford, CT on “Using Real Life Data with Fathom”.

Dan Funsch, The Alleluia Community School, Augusta, GA

Dan has taught high school math and science for 28 years, first in Texas and, for the last 25, in Augusta, GA. His interests tend to geometry and physics. A strong desire to see technology used appropriately in classrooms has motivated his professional growth. Well known in Georgia, he has served in leadership positions in the GA Council of Teachers of Mathematics, receiving in 2007 its highest award. He is also known for his musical talents. A pianist, conductor and choral director, he is the founder of a local Music Festival. He and his wife Anita have five grown children.

Julie Graves, North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, Durham, NC

Julie has taught mathematics at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics since 1985. She has developed curriculum for high school teachers and students in precalculus and calculus courses and was involved with distance learning broadcasts for many years. She has been an instructor in numerous workshops for teachers focusing on precalculus, calculus and statistics. When school is not in session she is in her garden.

Frank Griffin, Cate School, Carpinteria, CA

Frank has taught at Cate School in California since 1979, serving as Mathematics Department Head from 1988 through 1996 and Director of Studies from 1995 through 2003, and is currently head of the department once again. He began his teaching career at Tabor Academy (MA) after graduating from Amherst College, and received a Master's degree from Boston College in 1988. Frank has also taught courses in economics and geography and has coached many levels of tennis and basketball, including 16 years as the head coach of the boys' varsity basketball team at Cate. Frank was a recipient of a Woodrow Wilson Foundation summer Fellowship in mathematics in the summer of 1985, and this experience led to numerous workshop opportunities in mathematics and technology. He has been a leader at the Anja S. Greer Conference since 1995.

David Heckman, Monmouth Academy (Retired)

Dave, now retired, taught high-school mathematics for forty-two years. He is a Past President of the Council of Presidential Awardees in Mathematics. He has been involved in professional development workshops for the past 28 years, including 11 years as a leader in the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship Foundation and sixteen years as an instructor in the Anja S. Greer Conference.

Pat Herbst, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

Pat Herbst is an associate professor of mathematics education and a secondary teacher educator at the University of Michigan.

Maria Hernandez, The North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, Durham, NC

Over the past twelve years, Maria has developed curriculum for high-school teachers and students in various mathematics courses. She has been involved in teacher collaborations via distance learning and has taught teacher workshops for courses from algebra II to AP Calculus. Her focus is using discovery activities and real-world problems in mathematics courses.

Sister Alice Hess, I.H.M., Archbishop Ryan High School, Philadelphia, PA

Sister Alice Hess has taught secondary mathematics for 45 years. A national Presidential Awardee, Tandy Technology Scholar,two-time national Mary Dolciani Scholarship recipient, and an American Star of Teaching, she has done research into the history of mathematics at Oxford University, has published numerous articles in professional journals and has conducted institutes nationwide on subjects ranging from algebra to statistics and calculus. She is a National T3 Instructor, an AP Statistics Reader and College Board Consultant.

Jeff Ibbotson, Phillips Exeter Academy

Jeff Ibbotson has been teaching mathematics at private schools since 1995. Prior to that, he taught at a local 4-year college. During that time, history of math has been: (a) an idle hobby (b)a growing interest (c) a subject of expository research (d) part of a lifelong quest to find meaning through mathematics. Jeff's real research interests are in Functional Analysis, Geometry and Logical Foundations. He is currently at work writing a text for a high-school level history of math course (after having taught such a course at Exeter for the past 4 years). He also enjoys conversing with beagles in his spare time.

Boris Korsunsky, Weston High School, Weston, MA

Boris has been teaching high-school physics since 1986. He holds two graduate degrees from Moscow colleges and an EdD from Harvard. Boris's credits include four books, several articles on physics and math education and thousands of original problems. In 1996-97, he served as a coach of the US Physics Team. Since 2001, Boris has been the editor of Physics Challenges in The Physics Teacher. He has been presenting workshops in the US and abroad since 1997. His favorite sport is badminton.

Jeremy Kovacs, Noble and Greenough School

Jeremy currently teaches at the Noble and Greenough School in Dedham, MA. Now in his fifteenth year, Jeremy continues to teach AP Biology, DNA Science, and Forensics. For the past ten years, Jeremy's outside interests include developing protocols in molecular biology, having even worked at the DNA Learning Center in Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and also studying the brain, with special emphasis on the connection between language and emotional learning. Jeremy has been running courses at Exeter for five years now, but originally started as a participant!

Howe Lagarde, UNC-Asheville Asheville, NC

Howe taught high-school mathematics for 40 years, having taught everything from pre-algebra to Advanced Placement Calculus and Advanced Placement Statistics. For the past seven years he has been a mathematics instructor in pre-calculus, calculus, and statistics at Western Carolina University and UNC-Ashville. He has presented at numerous mathematics and technology conferences and has been a leader at the Anja S. Greer Conference for 8 years.

Ron Lancaster, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Ron is presently a Lecturer in Mathematics Education at the University of Toronto. Prior to this he taught middle and high school mathematics for over 20 years in co-ed public schools as well as in an all-girls school. Ron has given over 1100 talks throughout North America and Asia. Ron has been a T^3 National Instructor since 1994, he created and edited two popular on-going columns for the Mathematics Teacher (Media Clips and The Mathematical Lens) and he was a team leader and writer for mathematical activities for the CBS show NUMB3RS (Seasons 2 and 3).

Stanley Lo, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

Stanley is a PhD candidate in biochemistry at Harvard University. He studies mechanisms of gene silencing involved in development and cellular differentiation. In his spare time from the laboratory, he serves as teaching assistant in a number of undergraduate and graduate classes in biology and chemistry. He also works with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute outreach program for high school teachers and students. Prior to graduate school, he taught biology, genetics, and chemistry at Phillips Exeter Academy.

Irina Lyublinskaya, College of Staten Island, Staten Island, NY

Irina received an MS in Physics in 1986, and a Ph.D. in Theoretical and Mathematical Physics in 1991 from the Leningrad State University and has published substantially in that field. She has taught at the university as well as the high school level for over 20 years. In recent years she has directed her professional endeavors to curriculum development in the area of integrating technology into mathematics and science education and to the professional development of mathematics and science teachers, conducting grant-funded workshops to help teachers learn to use educational technology. She has received grants for these projects from such agencies as the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the Bell Telephone Company, the Federal Eisenhower Professional Development program, The William and Mary Greve Foundation, The Best Practice in Education, Inc., The Clay Mathematics Institute, New York State Department of Education, and US Department of Education. Irina is active in the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, has received several national awards for excellence in high school mathematics and science teaching, and has published multiple articles and 7 books about the teaching of mathematics and science.

Chris Matlack, Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, NH

Chris has a BS in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Vermont and an MSc in Biology from Acadia University in Canada. In between earning these degrees, he served in the Central African Republic for two years as a Peace Corps fishery biologist. He has taught biology and ecology in independent schools for the past 24 years both at Phillips Exeter and at Hackley School in Tarrytown, New York. He has been a dorm head, coach and department chair. In addition, Chris has lead student trips to the Caribbean, Galapagos Islands and the Amazon. He has also been on science program evaluation team visits to schools in Ghana, the Bahamas and the US.

S. Leigh Nataro, Moravian Academy, Bethlehem, PA

Leigh has fifteen years of teaching experience and she currently teaches in Bethlehem, PA at Moravian Academy. She worked for 3 years with The Math Forum's Problems of the Week and has written over 150 ACT assessment questions. Leigh has led fifteen sessions at various state and national conferences and her favorite session involved symmetry of hubcaps. In 2005 Leigh received National Board Certification in Adolescence/Young Adulthood Mathematics.

Ira Nirenberg, Benjamin Franklin High School, New Orleans, LA (retired)

Ira worked for Shell Oil, in New Orleans, as a geophysicist for six years prior to entering the teaching field. From 1985 to 2005 he taught at Benjamin Franklin High School in New Orleans, LA. After retiring from the Orleans Parish School System in 2005 he accepted a teaching position with The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools during the 2006-2007 academic year. Ira has taught AP Physics C & B, Astronomy, and first through fourth year mathematics. He has also taught in Hong Kong and in Australia. He has written two books, Living With Math and The Fraction ThinkBook with Gridmatics. This will be his tenth year at the Anja S. Greer Conference. Presently, Ira is doing contract work and lecturing. You can contact him at www.ontele.com

Eugene Olmstead, Elmira Free Academy, Elmira, NY (retired)

Gene Olmstead has been using a graphing calculator in the teaching of precalculus and other courses since 1988. Gene has been a leader at the Anja S. Greer Conference and a T^3 Instructor for many years. He has given many workshops at conferences and has written materials on the use of technology in the classroom.

Tom Reardon, Austintown Fitch High School and Youngstown State University, Youngstown, OH

Tom is the mathematics department chair at Fitch High School and has been doing professional development in mathematics technology since 1995. His specialties are SMART Boards, graphing technologies (he is a T^3 national instructor), and Computer Algebra Systems. He usually does at least one week-long workshop per summer on integrating multiple technologies into the high school mathematics classroom. In the summer of 2006, he provided 24 days of professional development in 13 different cities. He also spent 8 days grading the AP Calculus exam in Colorado and spent two weeks in Japan courtesy of the Toyota International Teachers program. Tom has been working on the new TI graphing calculator for the past 14 months, TI-Nspire. He is the lone US author on a project consisting of 15 international mathematics teachers for Texas Instruments.

Carrie Rise, Brownell-Talbot School, Omaha, NE

Carrie teaches at Brownell-Talbot School in Omaha, NE. She has taught algebra I, algebra II, geometry, AB and BC Calculus. She coaches Jr. High Basketball, Jr. High Track and is the Robotics Coach for the Upper School. Carries was awarded with the Tradition of Exellence at Brownell-Talbot in 2006 which is given to the teacher that most exemplifies the committment to teaching at Brownell. She have presented at NCTM conferences, most recently in October of 2007 and NETA (Nebraska Education Technology Association). Carrie is an avid Husker football fan, but also enjoys watching college basketball.

Casey Roehrig, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

Casey is a PhD candidate in biology at Harvard University. She studies cell fate specification during embryonic development in the model nematode C. elegans. Her teaching experience while at Harvard includes serving as a teaching fellow for an introductory genetics course as well as an interdisciplinary introduction to fundamental concepts in biology and chemistry, and working with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute outreach programs for high school students and teachers.

Lew Romagnano, The Metropolitan State College of Denver, Denver, CO

Lew taught high school mathematics from 7th grade to AP Calculus for 14 years, and has been teaching at the Metropolitan State College of Denver since 1991. His professional development experience includes 12 years as a Woodrow Wilson Foundation summer workshop instructor and over 100 courses, workshops and conference presentations around the country. Lew has published 4 books and numerous articles on reform-oriented curriculum and instruction, teacher learning, and assessment. He serves on the Mathematical Sciences Academic Advisory Committee of the College Board.

Carmel Schettino, Emma Willard School, Troy, NY

Carmel teaches at Emma Willard School in Troy, NY. After receiving her MA in Mathematics from Boston College, Carmel has taught at private schools or colleges for 17 years. She is currently a doctoral student at the University at Albany in Curriculum and Instruction specializing in Mathematics Education. Carmel's research interests include gender equity and equalizing issues in mathematics education as well as pedagogical and instructional methods centered around Problem-Based Learning and cognitive apprenticeship. Carmel's passion is spreading the word about mathematics instruction using Problem-Based Learning.

Amanda Simmons, Phillips Exeter Academy

Amanda teaches at Phillips Exeter Academy after having taught at the Nichols School in Buffalo, NY for many years. After earning her B.A. in mathematics from Wellesley, Amanda continued her mathematical studies at Northwestern University. It was her experience as an instructor at Northwestern that sparked her interest in high school curriculum. Her position at Nichols encouraged her to pursue her passion: developing rigorous high school curriculum that engages the minds of both student and teacher. In her role as department chair at Nichols, Amanda advocated the responsible use of technology within a traditional curriculum. In addition to her many years at the Nichols School, Amanda has also taught at Philips Academy in Andover, MA. Amanda has been a regular at the Anja S. Greer Conference as both a participant and a workshop leader.

Philip Todd, Saltire Software, Tigard, OR

Philip Todd is the President and CTO of Saltire Software. Founded in 1989, the company develops mathematical software, most recently the algebra and geometry systems for the Casio Classpad calculator. Philip has been PI on several NSF SBIR grants. This research has directly resulted in the Geometry Expressions program. Before founding Saltire Software, Philip was a Principal Software Engineer at Tektronix. He has Masters Degrees from Cambridge University and Georgia Tech, and a PhD from Dundee University.

Ayana Touval, Montgomery College, Rockville, MD

Ayana earned her MS degree from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She teaches at Montgomery College and occasionally finds herself on special assignment in the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School. She has written several articles published in the Mathematics Teacher. Ayana gave many workshops on the kinesthetic approach to teaching mathematics. The most recent ones are the courses on teaching geometry here at Exeter.

Tatiana Waterman, Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, NH

Tanya has been teaching physics for 22 years; she came to Phillips Exeter Academy in 2004. She is interested in the history of science, and has traveled to many of the European 17th-20th century sites of science. She dances with Scottish Country groups and at Contra gatherings, and speaks a little bit of Gaelic.

Megan West, Leigh Technology Academy, Dartford, Kent, UK

Megan is currently teaching in the UK after 9 years teaching in Western Australia. She is Director of Learning for Mathematics at the Leigh Technology Academy in Kent. Megan has an interest in travelling and showing students the relevance of maths in history and every day life. She has a particular interest in the Enigma machine and World War 1.

Ray Williams, St Mark's Anglican Community School, Perth, Western Australia

Ray has been a teacher of mathematics and science for the past 40 years and is currently the Head of Mathematics at St Mark's Anglican Community School in Perth, Western Australia. As well as presenting at international and national conferences, he has presented workshops to teachers and parents in Learning Technologies and is a regular presenter at the Mathematics Association of Western Australia on teaching mathematics with technology.