Craig Strang

Associate Director, Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California, Berkeley  510-642-9809, contact Craig by email

Craig Strang is a member of the Lawrence Hall of Science executive leadership team and leads the Hall's Center for Leadership in Science Teaching. Craig is the founding Director of MARE: Marine Activities, Resources & Education, a K-8 interdisciplinary professional development and curriculum development program focused specifically on implementing schoolwide marine science programs that increase learning and language acquisition for English Language Learners. He is the lead Principal Investigator and Director of the multi-institution, NSF-funded Center for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence California. In 2005, he received the National Marine Educators Association Educator of the Year Award. He has co-led the Ocean Literacy Campaign since 2003 resulting in the development of Ocean Literacy: The Essential Principles of Ocean Sciences Grades K-12 and the Ocean Literacy Scope & Sequence for Grades K-12. He is co-author of three multi-volume sets of science and environmental education curriculum materials for grades K-8: Proyecto SOL: Science Oriented Learning, Project OCEAN and MARE. He is a co-author of three teacher's guides published by the Lawrence Hall of Science Great Explorations in Math and Science (GEMS) program: On Sandy Shores, Ocean Currents and Only One Ocean. Craig has for many years explored the use of inquiry-based science instruction to promote language acquisition among English language learners, as well as broader issues related to the integration of science and language literacy. Craig has conducted field research on elephant seals and humpback whales, and occasionally leads natural history eco-tours to Baja California and Galapagos. He is past president of the Southwest Marine Educators Association and sat on the board of directors of the National Marine Educators Association from 1988-1993, and on the Board Executive Committee of that organization from 2006-present.

Catherine Halversen

Co-Director, MARE: Marine Activities, Resources & Education, Director, COSIA: Communicating Ocean Sciences to Informal Audiences, and Initiative Leader for COSEE CA’s Communicating Ocean Sciences, Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California, Berkeley 510-642-7653, contact Catherine by email

Catherine Halversen serves as Co-Director of MARE: Marine Activities, Resources & Education, a nationally recognized, whole-school K–8 marine science immersion program originating from the Lawrence Hall of Science. She also serves as the main developer for MARE’s eight volume inquiry-based marine science curricula and has written three marine science teacher’s guides—On Sandy Shores, Only One Ocean, and Ocean Currents— for Great Explorations in Math and Science (GEMS) at the Lawrence Hall of Science. Catherine serves as the primary course instructor and initiative leader for the NSF-funded Center for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence (COSEE) California college course, Communicating Ocean Sciences. This award-winning course is offered at UC Berkeley for undergraduate and graduate students in ocean science-related majors who also have an interest in education, and introduces diverse future scientists to the importance of K-12, public outreach and the “broader impact” of their work. The course is now being offered in over a dozen institutions nationwide. Catherine also serves as Director for a new NSF-funded effort, COSIA: Communicating Ocean Sciences to Informal Audiences. This project facilitates collaborations between scientists, college students and informal institutions across the country.

Catherine has worked extensively in developing and implementing programs which promote science inquiry integrated with literacy skills. This work has included serving as Director of the Mountain Region Science and Reading Academy, which integrated science and reading skills for traditionally underserved rural communities, and project coordinator and primary professional developer for the Science Knowledge through Inquiry and Language Literacy program (SKILL) which focused on using exemplary, inquiry-based science instruction to promote language literacy throughout a large, urban school district. She is the primary author for the Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading Shoreline Science unit. Catherine is a former high school science teacher who earned credentials in Life Science and Chemistry and an M.A. in Science from UC Berkeley.

Roberta Dean

MARE Center Coordinator, Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego  858-822-1812, contact Roberta by email

Roberta Dean is a co-founder of the MARE Program at UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science and co-author of MARE’s K-8 marine science curriculum (MARE Teacher's Guides To Ocean Habitats, grades K-8, in nine volumes: Ponds, Rocky Seashore, Sandy Beach, Wetlands, Kelp Forest, Open Ocean, Islands, Coral Reef, and Polar Seas) and the MARE Teacher’s Guide to Marine Science Field Trips-Central California. Currently serving as coordinator of the MARE Center at the Birch Aquarium at Scripps, Roberta works to connect the Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s research community with local K-8 schools in the San Diego and Southern California region. As the ocean science specialist for the Rancho Santa Fe School District, she works with this K-8 school community to integrate the Ocean Literacy Principles into the curriculum year-round.

As a former developer and director of Project Ocean and Executive Director of the Sonoma Sea School, Roberta has been providing professional development and leadership for teachers in the field of marine science education for 30 years. Roberta has offered family programs and field courses for teachers in Belize, Central America, and served as an interpretive naturalist in the Bahamas and Mexico. Formerly a classroom teacher, Roberta holds a B.A. in Liberal Arts with a minor in Biology, as well as life credentials in Early Childhood Education, K-12 Education, as a resource specialist, and in both learning and severely handicapped.

Emily Weiss

Marine Science and Literacy Education Specialist 510-643-6350, contact Emily by email

Emily Weiss got her first taste of experiential science education as a teenage volunteer on an EarthWatch expedition, studying dolphin feeding behavior, where she cultivated a love of science and the ocean. Before coming to MARE, Emily earned a B.A. in public policy with a focus on education reform from Brown University and a Master’s degree in language and literacy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. While working as a certified reading specialist in the Massachusetts public schools, Emily partnered with classroom teachers to build literacy activities into their content area curricula and frequently led teacher workshops. She also served as a literacy consultant for the Massachusetts Department of Education and the MGH Institute of Health Professions Hanson Initiative for Language & Literacy, training hundreds of teachers and administrators in best practices in literacy instruction. Emily then went on to earn a Master’s degree from the Boston University Marine Program in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, where she studied the population structure of Atlantic cod on Georges Bank using molecular genetics techniques. Her work has been used to inform fisheries management decisions in New England. Emily has run a middle school science club and designed curriculum for and taught at the New England Aquarium’s Harbor Discoveries program and the Woods Hole Children’s School of Science on topics ranging from ecology to embryology to marine electronics and engineering.

Emily joined the MARE team as a professional developer and curriculum developer, combining her background in education policy, literacy education, and marine science. She is particularly interested in the integration of science and literacy. While working with MARE, Emily has co-developed and taught five Summer Science & Literacy Academies  for the San Francisco and Oakland Unified School Districts. She has also co-taught the Communicating Ocean Sciences courses for UC Berkeley science students, coordinated the MARE Ocean Immersion program for schools, developed and led customized professional development experiences, and authored curriculum. Emily managed the ¡Youth & the Ocean! (¡YO!) project for middle school and is the Co-Director of the new ¡YO! high school project. She is also a lead author of Beach Science from the GEMS AfterSchool KidzScience collection and the Ocean Sciences Curriculum Sequences for Grades 3-5 and 6-8.

Lynn Tran

Marine Science Education and Research Specialist 510-642-6504, contact Lynn by email

Lynn Tran is an educational researcher committed to helping educators and scientists become better science communicators. She has extensive experience working with educators in science museums with expertise in their professional knowledge, work, and identity. Her work has been presented at professional conferences such as ASTC, ECSITE, NARST, and AERA, and published in peer reviewed journals. She has a B.S. in biology with a concentration in marine biology from UCLA and a Ph.D. in science education from North Carolina State University. She did her postdoctoral work with the Center for Informal Learning and Schools at King’s College London in the UK. Lynn is Center Manager for COSEE California and contributes to the Center’s efforts on the Ocean Literacy Campaign, including having coordinated the development of the Ocean Literacy Scope and Sequence for Grades K-12 and co-edited the NMEA Special Report on the Ocean Literacy Campaign. She teaches, conducts research on learning and teaching, develops teaching materials, and provides professional development through various grant-funded projects. She leads development and national implementation of the Reflecting on Practice program, and co-teaches the Communicating Ocean Sciences to Informal Audiences course. Lyn is Co-PD of the IMLS 21MP-funded Museum Educators Reflecting on Practice and NSF-funded COSIA Network.

Sarah Pedemonte

Marine Sciences Education and Curriculum Specialist 510-642-5008, contact Sarah by email

From an early age, Sarah Pedemonte knew she wanted to be connected to the ocean. She studied Marine Biology at University College of North Wales and received her Masters from the University of Stirling, Scotland in Aquaculture and Fisheries Management. She then pursued a career in fish farming that emphasized sustainability. She worked in Ireland, Israel, Bangladesh, Australia, the Bahamas and Thailand, for government groups and in private industry, transferring research-based understandings to grass-roots oyster, shrimp and fish farmers. Sarah began to promote the importance of preserving the ocean and its resources through informal education while living in Belize. She began working with the non-government organizations Oceanic Society and the Planetary Coral Reef Foundation who were working with Belizean fisheries officers on creating Marine Protected Areas. Sarah became a certified SCUBA Instructor and taught coral reef ecology and conservation.

Emily Arnold

Marine Science Education Specialist 510-642-5008, contact Emily by email

Emily Arnold is a native Arizonan who dreamed of studying ocean creatures since she saw her first sea star at an aquarium touch tank at the age of 7. She conducted undergraduate research on intertidal invertebrates in the Gulf of California and earned a B.S. in Zoology from Northern Arizona University. She then went on to pursue a Master’s degree from UC Berkeley in Integrative Biology, where she studied the communication systems and mating behavior of fiddler crabs in a San Diego wetland. While a graduate student at UC Berkeley, she discovered a love for teaching, and enrolled in the Communicating Ocean Science course at the Lawrence Hall of Science, which helped convince her to pursue a career in informal science education. Since then, she has become the director for the Hall’s summer Marine Biology Research Camp for high school students at the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory, and joined the MARE program in 2008. Her work for MARE includes modeling in-class ocean sciences activities during Ocean Immersions, leading outdoor education experiences through the ¡YO!  and Youth Experiencing the Ocean projects, and assisting with the Communicating Ocean Sciences to Informal Audiences college course.