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LINDA S. HIRSCH is the Assistant Director for Research, Evaluation and Program Operations for the Center for Pre-College programs at New Jersey Institute of Technology. Dr. Hirsch has a degree in educational psychology with a specialty in Educational Statistics and Measurement from the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers University. She has been involved in all aspects of educational and psychological research for over 20 years. Dr. Hirsch has extensive experience conducting longitudinal research studies and is proficient in database management, experimental design, instrument development, psychometrics and statistical programming.

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HOWARD KIMMEL is Professor-Emeritus of Chemical Engineering and Retired Executive Director of the Center for Pre-College Programs at New Jersey Institute of Technology. Dr. Kimmel has continued to provide his services, as needed, for Teacher Training, Curriculum Development and technical services with a focus on alignment of teaching practices with the Common Core State Standards and the Next Generation Science Standards. He has spent over forty years designing and implementing professional development programs, curricula, and assessment of student learning for K-12 teachers in STEM. At the college level, he had collaborated on projects exploring teaching methodologies and assessment strategies in undergraduate courses in the sciences, engineering, and computer science. Dr. Kimmel has received numerous awards in recognition of his service, including: ASEE 1985 Vincent Bendix Minorities in Engineering Award, and ASEE CENTENNIAL MEDALION for ”Significant Lasting Impact on Engineering Education,” 1993. The NJIT Foundation Overseers Public and Institute Service Award, 1981 (First Recipient) and in 2005; and the Allan R. Cullimore Distinguished Service Award (NJIT) for 1991.

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Marie is an alternate route teacher with an educational background in math, physics, chemical engineering and computer science. As the first girl in her family to go to college, and maybe to prove the point, she earned two bachelor’s degrees, one from Montclair State University by day, and 8 years later, one from New Jersey Institute of Technology, by night, while working full time by day at Exxon Research and Engineering. While a traditional female career, like teaching, was the last thing on her mind, she was drawn to educational outreach because she herself had received so little career advice. She eventually ran the educational outreach program at Exxon. After 25 years, 20 at Exxon and 5 in the high tech industry, an unexpected layoff came at a bad time, she was also newly widowed. Job offers that were once plentiful were nowhere to be found. The first, and only, offer to finally appear was to teach physical science at Bayonne High School, for a significant pay cut. A new adventure began. In the 14 years since then, she got to start up a research program, an engineering program, a science club, two FIRST Tech Challenge robotics teams, and brought in several new programs such as Technology Students Association, Young Science Achievers, and ACS Project SEED. She’s been invited back do pharmaceutical engineering research with Research Experience for Teachers at NJIT every summer for the last 10 years now, with her Project SEED students. In 2008 one of her research students became a Science Talent Search Finalist. He also won best in category awards at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair two years in a row. In 2010 she was named a Society for Science and the Public Teacher Fellow, and served on the Advisory Council for Intel ISEF since 2012. Marie currently teaches three levels of engineering courses, that she designed, and coaches students doing science research projects for competitions.

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Laurent Simon is an Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and the Associate Director of the Pharmaceutical Engineering Program at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. He received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Colorado State University in 2001. His research and teaching interests involve modeling, analysis and control of drug-delivery systems. He is the author of a series of educational and interactive modules (Laboratory Online), available at http://laurentsimon.com/.

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