About CASE

CASE Staff

Julie Edmonds, Co-Director

Dr. Edmonds taught university classes for seven years in Australia before obtaining her Ph.D. in molecular marine biology. After further postdoctoral training in the U.S., she worked for 5 years in the biotechnology industry and volunteered at First Light. Since joining CASE in 1999 she has taught CASE summer institutes and advised and assisted DCPS elementary school teachers with science lessons. She takes the lead on all elementary school programs and has primary responsibility for financial and administrative management of CASE. Dr. Edmonds serves as the scientist/educator for two major NASA grants to CIW research laboratories: a mission to the planet Mercury and the CIW-NASA astrobiology team. In this connection, she has worked on nationwide educational outreach programs such as the design of instructional materials for teachers and has taught teacher workshops all focused on planetary science, life science, and astrobiology.

Toby Horn, Co-Director

Dr. Horn, whose doctoral degree is in molecular biology, directed the Biotechnology outreach program for Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VPI) before joining CASE in December, 2001. Prior to working at VPI, she taught at Thomas Jefferson High School in Fairfax County, Virginia, where, in 1985, she established one of the first pre-college biotechnology programs in the country. She has taught more than 4000 Jefferson students basic through research-level biotechnology through hands-on, inquiry-based laboratory learning that connects practical laboratory work and mathematics with vanguard discoveries. Dr. Horn is currently president-elect of the National Association of Biology Teachers.

Maxine Singer, Senior Scientific Advisor

Dr. Singer is president emeritus of the Carnegie Institution of Washington and the founder of CASE (1993) and First Light (1989), both of which are programs directed primarily toward improving SMT education in DC public schools. She carried out research in biochemistry and molecular biology at the National Institutes of Health for more than 35 years and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences (where she has participated in a variety of science education projects) and recipient of the National Medal of Science. She was principal investigator for two National Science Foundation grants to the Carnegie Institution for support of teacher professional development in DC public schools. She provides about 30 percent of her time as a volunteer for CASE/First Light.

Guy Brandenburg, Teacher

Mr. Brandenburg is a DC native and a veteran teacher of (mostly) middle-school mathematics in the DC Public School system. His math teams at John R. Francis and Alice Deal Junior High Schools have won a plurality of the MathCounts competitions held in DC for public, private, parochial, and charter schools over the past 23 years. He has also taught teacher workshops on use of technology in teaching math, has put together an original “Math On the Mall” tour inspired by the one invented by Dr. Florence Fasanelli, and has translated a dynamic geometry software package known as Geometrix from the French into English. Because of his interest in hands-on astronomy and science, he has built several telescopes from scratch, and about 5 years ago, he took over the weekly telescope-making workshop sponsored by the National Capital Astronomers, where he shows people how to grind, polish, figure, and aluminize mirrors, as well as make the rest of the telescope. He has also been having a good time as the lead teacher for the First Light Saturday program this year (2006-7) and is a teacher mentor for the Summer Astrobiology for Teachers program.

CASE / First Light