Dr. Daniel Smithwick serves as the SCOPES-DF Master Fabricator. He works collaboratively with experts in STEM education to build and share new fabrication knowledge and inspire the next generation of digital fabricators.
Dan is a scholar in design, computation, and cognitive sciences having published on these topics and more in both academic journals and popular press. He has taught classes on digital design and fabrication at MIT, Rhode Island School of Design, and the Boston Architectural College.
Dan was trained as an architect at the University of Minnesota (BS Architecture) and completed research degrees at MIT (MS Design Computation, PhD Design Computation). Dan and his family live in Somerville, Massachusetts and for fun Dan plays drums in an 80’s cover band.
Kim Stanley has been an educator for the past 17 years. Born in North Canton, OH, Kim grew up in South Florida and graduated from Jupiter High School. Kim received her Bachelor’s degree from Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, NC and her teaching certification from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Kim has been an English teacher for 17 years and a Lead teacher for the past two years. Kim is one of the founding teachers for STEM School Chattanooga. Throughout her years of teaching, Kim has focused on implementing new strategies in the classroom, utilizing technology in the classroom, and most importantly, building long lasting relationships with her students. Kim has also been an instructor for Hamilton County teachers in the area of Project Based Learning (PBL) as well as a leader for Professional Development. Teaching at a platform school has enabled Kim to successfully implement new and exciting lesson plans in the classroom and share those successes with her colleagues.
Brian Tang is a social innovator, educator and lawyer. As founder of Hong Kong-based Young Makers & ChangeMakers, Brian has pioneered young maker education since 2014 through Hong Kongճ summer MakerCamp at 5 different venues, workshops as part of Hong Kongճ Maker Faire, a Star Wars Hour of Code and mini Young Makeathons. YMCM has also conducted young maker STEAM education teacher training for Teach4HK; is a key member of the Google CS First Hong Kong Network and created the TechnovationHK: #GirlsMakeTech program.
David Vanzant comes from the professional work force where he worked as an industrial sales engineer for two years upon completion of his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He has been the chemistry teacher at STEM School Chattanooga since 2015. He is currently enrolled in a graduate program at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga to receive his masters in education during the Fall 2017 semester. He is also currently enrolled in a graduate chemistry program from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
David is committed to improving STEM education, particularly science education, one PBL at a time. Engaging projects, a flipped classroom scaffolding, and inquiry-based lab experiments make up the cornerstone of his classroom structure.
Dr. Sue Williamson has been a classroom educator for 17 years. Born and raised in New Hampshire, she received her Bachelor of Business Administration in Management from Emory University. After working in the insurance industry for several years in New York City, Richmond VA and Los Angeles, CA she pursued a mid career change to education. In addition to obtaining her teaching credentials, she has a Master’s Degree and Specialist Degree in Educational Leadership and a Doctorate in Educational Administration from Georgia Southern University.
Sue spent 13 years in Georgia as a gifted endorsed teacher of middle grades english/ language arts, social studies and mathematics as well as high school mathematics. Her strong interest in differentiated instruction to meet the needs of all students led her to co-create and lead a professional development course for middle and high school regular and special education teachers on differentiation and collaboration in the co teaching classroom.
During her four years at STEM School Chattanooga, Sue has collaborated to create and implement cross curricular and single subject Problem Based Learning units of study. She has also facilitated professional learning of PBL for district wide teachers. Her strong interest in encouraging other educators to grow in their field has led to her participation in the Hamilton County Schools Teacher Think Tank, an innovative initiative to develop a more impactful system of professional learning and teacher recognition.
Liz was hired before the lab was built in order to develop the space, staff, programming, outreach, and funding for this STEM based digital makerspace. Liz was also the recipient of the Chevron STEM Educator Award for 2016 as well as the Carnegie Science Center Impact Award.
