Staff
Liesl Chatman
Director of Professional Development
Liesl Chatman has served in significant leadership positions in university, school district, and museum settings. Currently, she is the Director of Professional Development at the Science Museum of Minnesota, a position she has held since 2005. Prior to her work with the Museum, she oversaw science for the Saint Paul Public Schools (SPPS) from 2003-2005 and served as the Executive Director of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Science & Health Education Partnership (SEP) from 1994-2003.
At the Science Museum of Minnesota, Liesl has initiated the Science House: A Resource Center for Educators, an extensive $1.5 million professional development and materials center for STEM educators; Nexus, a professional development program specifically designed for district level science coordinators; the National Science Foundation-funded Peer Alliance for Gender Equity (PAGE), a national pilot training program in gender equity; and the newly funded Materials and Understanding for STEM Educators (MUSE) in Minnesota, which is a K-12 statewide initiative with funding from the Minnesota State Legislature.
For over a decade, she led an extensive and nationally recognized partnership program at UCSF between biomedical scientists and San Francisco's public school teachers that was initiated by UCSF faculty members including Bruce Alberts, former President of the National Academy of Sciences; J. Micheal Bishop, UCSF Chancellor and Nobel Laureate; and Harold Varmus, former Director of the National Institutes of Health and Nobel Laureate. She has served as Principal Investigator or Co- Principal Investigator on major awards addressing professional development, partnership, and diversity issues from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), the California Science Project, 3M, and the Medtronic Foundation.
Before her work in professional development, Liesl taught elementary school in SPPS, coordinated educational programs at the Science Museum of Minnesota and the Bell Museum of Natural History, and apprenticed under the late Todd apJones, noted hand-lettering artist. A proud alumni of the University of Minnesota, Liesl has a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education and a Minor in Linguistics. Liesl is also an inveterate graphic journaler and has been visually chronicling science education reform since the early 1990's.
Marjorie Bullitt Bequette, PhD
Professional Development Project Leader
Marjorie Bullitt Bequette joined the staff in 2007 as a Professional Development Project Leader at the Science Museum of Minnesota. Prior to this position, she was a post-doctoral research fellow and lecturer in Educational Psychology at the University of Minnesota where she worked on several evaluations of local and national science teacher recruitment and retention projects. Marjorie has a doctorate in Science Education from the Stanford University School of Education and received her undergraduate degree from Yale University in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry. As a doctoral student at Stanford, she was a research assistant on the evaluation of the NSF-funded gender equity program, Triad, at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Science & Health Education Partnership (SEP) for three years. Her work on the Triad evaluation and in her dissertation focused particularly on the experiences of students who work directly with scientists through partnership efforts. As a teaching assistant at Stanford and an instructor at the University of Minnesota, she has taught classes on curriculum and on research methods. She is a former middle and high school science teacher.
Erin Villegas Strauss
Professional Development Project Leader
Erin Strauss joined the staff in 2007 as a Professional Development Project Lead at the Science Museum of Minnesota. Prior to this position, she was a Science Instructor at the Perpich Center for Arts Education where she taught Chemistry and Science in Society to 11th and 12th grade arts students. While at Perpich, Erin worked extensively on using Science Notebooks as an effective instructional and assessment tool and on incorporating a specific focus on ethics and social justice into the chemistry curriculum. Prior to her position at the Perpich Center, Erin was a Senior Academic Coordinator at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Science & Health Education Partnership (SEP). She was on the leadership team of the NSF-funded Local Systemic Change Initiative known as City Science and the NSF-funded gender equity program, Triad, and focused on the design of professional development and partnership programs involving scientists. In addition, she was a Co-Site Director for the California Science Project, was instrumental in the design of an effort funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) that combined professional development and content learning in biology for elementary teachers, and pioneered action research and Reflective Teaching Groups. Prior to coming to SEP in 1997, Erin coordinated science education programs at the Museum of Life and Science in North Carolina and worked as an elementary science coordinator in the Durham County Public Schools. She holds dual Masters Degrees in Analytical Chemistry and in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of California, Riverside.
Nils C. Halker II
Professional Development Specialist
Nils Halker joined the Science Museum of Minnesota staff in 1996 and has worked extensively with teachers and students from Minnesota and Wisconsin. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and music from the University of Minnesota and a Master of Science in ecotoxicology from the University of Durham, England. He has been a lead instructor in a multi-year collaboration, between the American Indian Society for Engineering and Science (AISES), Bemidji State University, and SMM to support culturally competent science teaching and learning with Native American students. He has also worked extensively with the Minnesota Science Teachers Association and the Nexus program, and has designed and led a variety of levels of Inquiry Institutes for schools and districts. Prior to coming to the Museum, he taught science and math in the Special Education Department of Edina High School, and then became Director of Education at the Freshwater Foundation where he also was editor of a national journal published by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. He is widely recognized as having the most extensive collection of plastic dinosaurs in the Museum.
Molly Leifeld
Professional Development Specialist
Molly Leifeld began working in the Professional Development department during the summer of 2005 after six years teaching earth science to 8th graders in Bloomington public schools. She has a Bachelor of Arts in physical geography from Middlebury College, a Masters of Education in secondary science from the University of Minnesota, and is a licensed secondary earth science teacher. At the Museum, Molly has worked closely with the Minnesota Science Teachers Association, the Nexus community, and the initiation of the Resource Center in Science House. She is especially interested in helping teachers to make science and math accessible to all of their students. In addition to her classroom teaching experience, Molly has taught environmental education in Ely, MN and has led teenagers on numerous wilderness canoeing and backpacking adventures around the U.S. and Canada. She also coached Nordic skiing and cross-country running for many years.
Travis Sandland
Professional Development Specialist
Travis Sandland joined the Professional Development staff in 2006. Prior to this, he taught in the Earthscapes program of the National Center for Earth Surface Dynamics (NCED) and served as a program manager with the museum's Kitty Andersen Youth Science Center where he worked intensely with at-risk youth. He graduated with honors from Macalester College with a Bachelor of Science in Geology and a Physics minor and earned his Masters in Geological and Environmental Sciences from Stanford University. He has extensive experience in developing classroom materials and lessons that integrate NCED research, state and national standards, and inquiry-based teacher methods.
Julie Marckel
Professional Development Administrative Assistant
Julie joined the Science Museum of Minnesota staff in April 2006. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Iowa State University and a Masters in Landscape Architecture from Texas A&M University. After working for three years with an architecture/landscape architecture firm in New Hampshire, Julie returned to the Twin Cities in 1990. Since then, she served as a program director at Forecast Public Artworks and as a grants program director at the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council. She has also been a visiting instructor at the University of Minnesota in Landscape Architecture and at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and taught arts, culture and environmental summer camps for seven summers through ArtStart. Julie is passionate about the arts and sciences and quality education for children.
Sarah Carter
Science House Librarian
Sarah Carter joined the Professional Development staff in 2007. Before coming to the museum, she taught 5th and 6th grade for six years in Saint Paul Public Schools. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education and Science and Math for Elementary Education (SMEE) from the University of St. Thomas. She is finishing up her Masters of Library and Information Science at the College of St. Catherine. Sarah has a strong passion for science and a firm belief that it should be central to every school curriculum.
Quanda M. Arch
Professional Development Coordinator
Quanda Arch joined the Professional Development staff in 2007. She has worked in many spectrums of human services including member services, career counseling, and education. She graduated from Georgia State University with a Bachelor of Arts in History and a minor in African American Studies. She has a passion for museums of any nature and for cultural understanding.
Amanda Faz
Professional Development Coordinator
Amanda Faz joined the Professional Development staff in 2007. She is a 2007 graduate of the University of Minnesota with a degree in Anthropology. She learned organizational skills and grace under pressure through her work in the hospitality industry. Amanda brings an enthusiasm for science and for serving all children to her work at all times.