The CRS Team

Staff

CRS Executive Director Teresa Barnett has a passion for promoting education, and holds a Master’s Degree in political science. She joined CRS in 2009.

Her professional background includes journalism, editing, and photography, and she has served as founding board member and president of SchoolCARE, a non-profit education funding organization. She has also served as program manager for Community Alliance for Learning, placing volunteers in classrooms in Oakland, Berkeley, and Albany.

Teresa’s connections with science education began over 15 years ago running elementary school Family Science nights. Her favorite science activity is looking for constellations in the night sky.

Teacher Services Manager Corinn Brown has taught science in classrooms and science museums, and has managed projects and volunteers for museums, PTA’s and for CRS.

Corinn's love of science comes from the joy of exploring nature.  There’s nothing better than being outside with children (and adults) when they discover a worm in a compost pile or a fossil in a pile of rocks or identify a new bird in their own backyard. 

Manager of Program Coordination and Communications Ralitza Zikatanova graduated with degrees in International Politics and French from Penn State University in 2009.  Her parents' teaching background instilled a high regard for education in her from a young age.

Her favorite hands-on science activity was lighting methane bubbles on fire in 11th grade chemistry class--and making s’mores over Bunsen burners. Nowadays, Ralitza will take any opportunity to soak up some sun in the great outdoors and reconnect with nature.

Manager of Volunteer Recruitment and Educational Outreach Sandra Lee-Takei graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in Plant Biology. Her experience in science education includes leading physics study group for UC Berkeley's Biology Scholars Program (BSP), teaching in elementary school classrooms through a Lawrence Hall of Science after-school program, and working on community-based environmental health initiatives in the Bay Area as well as internationally. From 2008 to 2010, she served as the Assistant Director of the Sendai Student/Youth Center in Sendai, Japan.

BASIS Middle School Program Coordinator Janice Sheldon graduated from UC Berkeley with degrees in Anthropology and History. She is also a graduate of Brooks Institute of Photography and a Registered Biological Photographer with the Biological Photographic Association. She spent several years working as a research assistant at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. She lived in the San Blas Islands off the Caribbean coast of Panama researching tropical reef fish that change sex.

Her love of science started when she was a young girl in California’s Great Central Valley where she loved catching tadpoles in the irrigation canals near her home and dissecting bull frogs from her neighbor’s pond.  

BASIS Private Industry Volunteer Coordinator Michelle Korenstein Schorr is very passionate about science programs that excite students to learn and explore.  She holds a BS in Biochemistry and an MA in Education. Her professional background includes years of benchtop research, followed by teaching medical technicians and scientists about scientific theory and practicum.  She has volunteered in an after school science club in San Francisco through UCSF's SEP program and worked locally at Bayer Diagnostics and Genentech. One of her favorite fun science activities is making liquid nitrogen ice cream, yum!

Former Bayer Project Coordinator Jeyling Chou has returned to the classroom as a medical school student in Fall 2011. Thank you Jeyling!

Campus Coordinator Kristen Seim is currently a PhD student in the department of chemistry at UC Berkeley and works in the Francis Group on the development of new bioconjugation methodology. She is originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota and majored in ecology and evolutionary biology as an undergrad at Cornell University. She enjoys having the opportunity to interact with enthusiastic young students and likes making liquid nitrogen ice cream with them.

Campus Coordinator Leah Witus is getting her Ph.D. in chemistry at UC Berkeley, working on the development of new protein bioconjugation reactions in the laboratory of Matthew Francis.  She is originally from Michigan, and went to college at Rice University in Houston, Texas. She enjoys getting to show kids some of the more exciting substances found in a chemistry lab, such as dry ice and liquid nitrogen! 

Consulting Team

Nicki Norman co-founded CRS in 1997, drawing on her background in managing environmental regulatory projects and teaching classroom science enrichment. She now acts as a consultant to CRS in the areas of Resource & Professional Development and serves on the Board of Directors.

Grantwriter Lisa Wahl began working with CRS in 2006 and has assisted with both science and funding resource development. Her background includes 20 years as Executive Director at a series of 3 nonprofits and a Master's degree in education.

Adjunct Educators Susie Bellone and Sherry Johnson bring many years of elementary science and environmental education experience to their roles.

Board of Directors

Susan Kattchee, President, is the Environmental Services Manager for the City of Oakland. Susan has over 25 years of experience in the field of waste reduction and recycling and more than 20 years in local government. Susan previously worked for StopWaste.Org to develop the Irecycle @ School program bringing high quality 4Rs education to ten school districts and over 37,000 Alameda County students.

Lauren Luke, Secretary, is Diversity Pipeline Program Manager with The Bar Association of San Francisco. She holds a J.D. from Indiana University Maurer School of Law, as well as an undergraduate degree in business. Lauren has extensive experience in education outreach, diversity recruiting, and community involvement.

Adela Pang, Treasurer, is Managing Director, Financial Planning and Analysis with Kaiser Permanente. She is an experienced senior financial administrator with a dedication to community service. Adela has served as Director of Finance, CFO, and other financial leadership positions with several non-profit hospitals and medical centers.

Robert Bergman is Gerald E. K. Branch Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley. Professor Bergman is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.  He has long been interested in developing nontraditional teaching methods and has participated in National Science Foundation sponsored programs to restructure the undergraduate chemistry curriculum.

Justin Curley is an attorney with Seyfarth Shaw LLP. He previously served as a law clerk for a federal judge in Seattle. Prior to law school, he earned his certified public accountant license as a financial auditor at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Justin is a graduate of Duke University School of Law and the University of California, Berkeley.

Anne Jennings co-founded CRS with 15 years of non-profit management and administration at the Exploratorium, where she administered teacher training programs, managed the volunteer program, and exhibit development and installation projects.  She has recently returned to the Exploratorium as Relocation Program Manager.

Nicki Norman co-founded CRS after 20 years as a scientist working in energy development and environmental management, and six years assisting teachers with science lessons and enrichment connections in K-5 classrooms in Berkeley.  She currently serves as faculty in the Cal Teach Program at the University of California, Berkeley and consults on science literacy and education development projects.

Claudio Vargas B. is the Director of the Bay Area Science Project (BASP) at UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science (LHS). Claudio has led numerous professional development programs throughout the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Texas. He has designed and implemented K – 8 professional development programs that focus on developing teachers’ science content knowledge and expanding their teaching strategies, with particular emphasis on strategies that provide English Language Learners with access to the core curriculum. 
Prior to joining LHS, Claudio worked for 10 years as an elementary school teacher and a science coach in the Oakland Unified School District. He spent the previous 15 years as a science researcher at the School of Pharmacy at the University of California, San Francisco and at the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Minnesota.