Local Experts

To help connect the sometimes-abstract world of education with the reality of what it's like to work in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math, IthacaSTEM has helped coordinate a variety of talks by local experts to appropriate classes in the Ithaca City School District.

Parents and community members, if you would like to make yourself available for the occasional opportunity to speak to a class, help a teacher, or even host a tour of your lab or facility, please contact us to be listed.

Teachers, if you're looking for someone to talk to a particular class, look through the list of people who have volunteered below and if no one is appropriate for your topic (or available on the date necessary), ask us and we'll see if we can find someone for you. Also be sure to check Cornell University's programs for schools and educators (start with the STEM Outreach Brochure linked at the bottom of this page) and Ithaca College's Partnerships in Education page (look on the right side for a link to the Partnership in Teaching booklet).

Computer Science and Engineering

    • Kavita Bala, Associate Professor of Computer Science, Cornell University. Kavita's main area of research is computer graphics. Contact her via email at kb@cs.cornell.edu.

    • José Martínez, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Cornell University. José's main area of research is microprocessor architecture and he's available for occasional lectures or other help. Contact him via email at martinez@cornell.edu.

High Tech Startups

    • Dan Sternglass, Principal Consultant at Strategic Marketing Associates. Dan has participated in a variety of high-tech startups, including the creators of the PCMCIA standard for expansion cards. Contact him via email at dans@stmktg.com.

Technical Publishing

    • Adam Engst, CEO of TidBITS Publishing and publisher of TidBITS. Adam can talk about the world of technical publishing in particular, along with general information about the software industry (with a focus on Apple's Macintosh and iOS ecosystems) and the Internet world. Contact him via email at ace@tidbits.com.