Institute Presenters, 2008

Ned Bean teaches in the science department at Milton Academy. He has taught secondary school biology and chemistry for 28 years. In addition, Ned teaches an elective in genetics at Milton. Ned lives on campus in a residential hall (Goodwin House) where he has been house head for eight years. Ned holds a B.A. from Middlebury College and an M.A.L.S. from Wesleyan University.

Matt Bingham has been teaching at Milton Academy for the past 10 years.  His experience includes teaching a 9th grade inquiry based ecology course, a physics first course, geology, environmental science and biology.  Prior to Milton Matt taught physical science and geology at Chapel Hill-Chauncy Hall School and The Holland Hall School.  Other experience includes teaching field geology to 10th graders in Switzerland and leading numerous outdoor adventure and education trips with teens.  Matt is a former Klingenstein Summer Institute fellow, a former George C. Lee Teaching Chair at Milton, and the former Outdoor Program Director at Milton.  He is a graduate of Middlebury College in Geology and Environmental Studies and he holds an M.ed. from Boston College.

Darcy Corson
Darcy Corson earned a B.A. in Chemistry and History from Bowdoin College in 2001.  In 2005, Darcy left her position as a business consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton to begin a career in education as a physics teacher at Lake Forest Academy in Lake Forest, Illinois.  Before joining Milton's Science Department in 2007, she also taught chemistry and physics at St. George's in Newport, Rhode Island.  Darcy currently teaches chemistry.

Elizabeth Crane has been teaching Biology for the past nine years, first at the Fieldston School and currently at Brookline High School.  Liz has taught a variety of courses including AP Biology, Current Topics in Science, and Introductory Biology.  Liz is also one of the writers for an NIH-funded project to incorporate more bioethics into high school Biology courses, and co-teaches a Simmons College graduate course on science instruction and pedagogy.  Liz earned her MEd from Harvard University, and her undergraduate degree in Biology from Haverford College. 

Don Donovan has taught Physical Science, Physics, AP Physics, Astronomy, and Chemistry at Thayer Academy for the past eighteen years.  He is the Vice-President for the NES-AAPT and is the webmaster (not his favorite term) for both the NES-AAPT and MAST.  His ninth grade physics and physical science students have to suffer through the textbooks he co-wrote with Jim MacVarish, another teacher at Thayer.  Don graduated with a degree in Chemistry from UMass-Amherst and got his Masters in Natural Sciences from WPI.

 
Michael Edgar has taught at Milton Academy for 9 years and currently is the Department Chair of the Science Department.  He is the Co-Director of the Inquiry Institute.  He teaches Biology, Genetics, and Marine Science.  Before coming to Milton Michael taught AP Biology and other biology courses at Georgetown Day School in Washington D.C. for 10 years.  He has a B.S. in Biology from Bates College, and a Masters in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Linde Eyster who teaches at Milton Academy is a veteran biology teacher of 30 years, and has published dozens of papers including several in the American Biology Teacher and The Science Teacher regarding hands-on ideas for the science classroom. She is president-elect of the Massachusetts Association of Science Teachers (MAST). She has presented workshops at NABT, NSTA national and regional conventions, and MAST state conventions. Linde was named to Who’s Who Among American Teachers and has received a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science Teaching. In 1998 she served as academic director for a Woodrow Wilson Foundation residential in-service Environmental Science Institute held at Princeton, for middle and high school teachers, in which curriculum design and revision were key components. Linde also has served on NSF panels, reviewing curricular materials for the divisions of Instructional Materials Development and a cross-panel with Teacher Enhancement.

Tom Gagnon has taught in the Science Department at Milton Academy since 1992, after teaching at Governor's Academy and Moses Brown School, but he is most proud of being recently certified by the D.O.E. of the Commonwealth in (8-12) Biology and Physics! Tom has been involved with after-school student groups participating in programs such as the U.S.F.I.R.S.T. robotics program, the B.U. Design Competitions, A.I.A.'s Team America Rocketry Challenge (T.A.R.C.), and M.A.T.E.'s Regional and International remotely-operated underwater vehicle (R.O.V.) design competitions. He holds a Sc.B. from Brown University, a M.S., in Biology (University of Massachusetts, Boston), a M.Ed. (Graduate School of Education at Harvard), and is just completing his M.A.T., in Physics, at Bridgewater State College.

Paul Hickman worked as an optical engineer and then taught high-school physics for 26 years in Cold Spring Harbor, New York and Belmont, Massachusetts. He was most recently an Associate Professor of Education and Director of Northeastern University's Center for the Enhancement of Science and Mathematics Education (CESAME). Paul was awarded his B.S. in physics from Manhattan College, his M.S. from Long Island University and has been involved with several national programs to improve science teaching and learning as a writer, developer or workshop leader.

Jim Kernohan earned his B.S. in physics from Denison University in 1983. He went to John Hopkins University to pursue an advanced degree in astrophysics and found he enjoyed teaching more than doing research. After three years at the Pomfret School in Connecticut, he came to Milton Academy where he has been since 1988. At Milton, he helped develop the freshman physics course and the Cosmology and Particle Physics course. Besides teaching the astronomy class, he also runs the observatory. He recently earned his M.Ed. from Harvard University with a concentration in teaching and learning. A strong proponent of inquiry-based learning, he feels students learn while doing, and learn better, when they have a say in what they are investigating.

Elizabeth Lillis has been teaching biology for nine years at several schools including Brookline High School, Newton Country Day School, and currently Milton Academy. Elizabeth has designed and developed laboratory activities for a life science textbook as a freelance writer for McDougal-Littell. She earned her B.S. in Biology from Georgetown University and her M.Ed. from University of Maryland. She has participated in the Whitehead Institute’s seminar series, summer workshops for teachers held by MIT/HHMI, and collaborative summer work with her department colleagues regarding curriculum design. Elizabeth recently presented a workshop at the NABT National Conference in Albuquerque, NM, entitled “Current Topics in Science: The Design of a High School Elective”, which addressed the design of a capstone science course for seniors.

Douglas Llewellyn teaches science education and educational leadership courses at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, NY. Previously, he was the K-12 Director of Science at the Rochester City School District, a junior high school principal, and a middle school science teacher. Llewellyn has been involved with several National Science Foundation and Department of Education grants on systemic reform. His research interests are in the areas of scientific inquiry, constructivist teaching, and teacher leadership. He present co-directs a program in Rochester to develop teacher/leaders in mathematics and science. He serves on the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Nominations Committee, writes an on-going column on science leadership for NSTA Reports, and is a book reviewer for NSTA Recommends. Llewellyn is a frequent speaker at state and national conferences on constructivist and inquiry-based teaching.

Kevin Mattingly was awarded the Aldo Leopold '05 Distinguished Teaching Chair in Environmental Ethics and Education at Lawrenceville School in 1993. He became science department chair in 1997 and dean of faculty in 2003. He completed his undergraduate and graduate degrees at Indiana University. He was a founding faculty member of Milton Academy's Mountain School Program, a semester academic program for high school students focused on environmental science. He was a master teacher for fifteen years in the Klingenstein Institute for Teachers at Columbia University and now teaches as an adjunct professor at Columbia graduate courses focused on the application of learning theory to teaching strategies, student assessment, and curriculum design.

Brad Moriarty began his teaching career just out of college in 1991 and has been teaching physics at Milton Academy for four years. He is the course coordinator for Milton's Physics First program and a strong advocate for integrating technology into the teaching process. Prior to Milton Brad was an educational consultant specializing in blended learning, combining classroom instruction with various technology tools including online synchronous and asynchronous environments. He holds undergraduate degrees in psychology, physics and engineering and masters degrees in education and engineering from Boston University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology respectively.

Kim Samson has taught developed curriculum for courses in chemistry, physics, general science, psychology and affective education.  She graduated with a B.A. from Wellesley College and an M.A.L.S. from Wesleyan and has been teaching science since 1984.  She also has extensive administrative and dormitory experience as a Dean of Students, Class Dean and House Head at Milton Academy and previously at The Peddie School in New Jersey.  Kim is a co-founder and co-director of the Milton Academy Summer Institute for Science Inquiry.

Zach Smith taught earth science at The Derryfield School, in Manchester, New Hampshire, and is now living in Maine. Zach has worked with the Juneau Ice Field Research Program through the University of Idaho, the University of New Hampshire's Climate Change Research Center, and the Institute for Quaternary and Climate Studies at the University of Maine. During the 2000–2001 field season, Zach was in Antarctica as a member of the U.S. International Trans-Antarctic Scientific Expedition Team. This fieldwork has helped Zach develop the basis for an earth science curriculum based on climate change. Zach was a geology major at Susquehanna University, a graduate student in earth sciences at the University of Northern Colorado, and an oilfield geologist in the west before moving to New England in 1988 and starting his teaching career. Zach currently directs the 3D Quadrat Program and its accompanying teacher workshops on environmental change at the Wright Center for Science Education, Tufts University.

T. David Westmoreland is Associate Professor of Chemistry at Wesleyan University.  He teaches introductory courses in General Chemistry, as well as advanced courses in inorganic chemistry, group theory, and physical methods.  He has also developed courses for non-science majors on research ethics and on pattern formation in nature.  In 2007 he was a recipient of Wesleyan’s Binswanger Prize for Excellence in Teaching.  Prof. Westmoreland’s research interests are in medicinal inorganic and physical inorganic chemistry.  His research group’s work is particularly focused on the development of new transition metal complexes with potential applications as magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents.  He received a B.S. in chemistry at MIT and a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.