The mission of Magnitude.io is to cultivate generations of brilliant scientists, engineers, and leaders through stellar STEM experiences igniting curiosity, inquiry, and ingenuity.

Vision:

We envision a collaborative world that empowers life-long learners with the skills, knowledge, and courage to go boldly into the unknown; to embrace curiosity; and to champion the principles of sustainability wherever humans explore, whether on Earth or beyond.

Having built and sold his first dotcom in the 1990’s, Ted has been building Internet relationships since 1994. With leading work at Knight Ridder Digital and global brand experience at digital agency Millions of Us, Ted brings a unique perspective to modern experiential learning through the implementation of science and engineering based on the Next Generation Science Standards.

He also serves as the Education Chair for the User Advisory Committee of the ISS US National Lab.

In honor and remembrance of our co-founder and friend: 1960-2022

Magnitude.io was founded in 2013. Prior to Magnitude.io, Tony co-founded companies in online publishing, filmmaking, outdoor advertising, design, and hospitality.

Tony had a passion for tackling hard problems and developing innovative solutions to improve what is lacking or broken. His heart was focused on providing enriching STEM experiences to students around the world.

He passed away unexpectedly at home on January 30, 2022. Tony leaves behind his wife Christine, and their two daughters. He was 61.

The space and education communities lost an amazing teacher that knew how to meet the learner where they were and knew how to provide just the right level of encouragement. Tony’s algorithm for life was his joie de vivre, determination, and helpful spirit. Anyone who had the opportunity to spend time with him knew that he lived in the pursuit of happiness and wished others the same.

As the Magnitude.io Vice President, Lori Waters leads the science research, communications, and education team.

Waters brings twenty years of experience to the Magnitude.io team across the fields of public relations, communications, education, and space science. In addition to designing the Carbon Farmer mission and guiding the astrobotany research, she is the host of Legumes in Space LIVE and presents on behalf of Magnitude.io at conferences and trade shows. With experience in formal and informal educational settings, she holds Florida professional educator certification in four subject areas, including Earth and Space Science. A true believer in life-long learning, Waters is an analog astronaut who served as the Crew Operations Officer for the Selene IV Lunar Analog Mission at HI SEAS in March 2021 and was part of the mission support team for the UND-APU ARG Inflatable Lunar Mars Habitat Analog mission in October 2021.

She received her BA in Political Science from Furman University, MBA from the University of Phoenix, and Science Teaching Graduate Certificate from the University of Florida. She is currently enrolled in the University of North Dakota Space Studies Masters of Science program. In summer 2020, she completed a Teacher in Training internship with the NASA Ames GeneLab for High Schools program. In Fall 2020, she completed a graduate research fellowship focused on food crop production for long duration missions through the North Dakota Space Grant Consortium. When not growing plants, you can find her running and cycling on the trails in Central Florida and Colorado.

Rod is a full stack engineer, tech generalist and digital nomad. Most of his experience has been focused on helping build and manage websites and apps for a variety of clients, from startups to large enterprises, including Intel, Privalia and Amcor.

Rod has also worked as an educator. He served as a TA at a coding bootcamp called Codeworks, and volunteered to teach English and Science to 5th graders in the Philippines. Both were valuable learning experiences that gave him insight into the common challenges that teachers face. Consequently, he has a much greater appreciation for the teaching profession as a whole. He is excited to be a part of the Magnitude.io team, helping build an innovative platform that benefits both teachers and students.

Gil Cauthorn is a Ph.D. student at the University of North Dakota’s Department of Space Studies and holds a master’s of science degree in biology from Clemson University. Gil is the co-founder and lead program developer of AIRI (Astrobotany International Research Initiative). He is also an astrobotany experimental research program coordinator and an international baccalaureate Biology teacher in Osaka, Japan.

Robert Twiggs has been a professor of astronautical engineering at MSU in July 2009. He was instrumental in the development of a space systems curriculum. Prior to his time at MSU, Twiggs was a consulting professor in the aeronautics and astronautics at Stanford University for 14 years. He is responsible for developing the curriculum for students interested in designing, building and operating small space experiments. He helped develop the original concepts for the CricketSat, CanSat, CubeSat and the PocketQub for educational applications for use in space. In 2010 he was selected as by the Space News publication as one of 10 space professionals “That Made a Difference in Space”. One of his recent publications is as a co-author of the article “Citizen Satellites” in the February 2011 Scientific American. He has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Idaho and an master’s degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Twiggs

Dr. Ward Andrus is the Superintendent of Schools for Central Union High School District in El, Centro, CA beginning in June, 2019. Formerly he was a Director of Career Technical Education and STEM Programs in the Stockton Unified School District from 2014 to 2019. In 2018, Dr. Andrus was recognized for the California, Project Lead the Way as the Educational Leader of the Year.

Dr. Andrus has been an Executive Director of the 49er ROP program in Placer County, a principal at San Juan High School in Citrus Heights, a principal of Kinney High School in the Folsom Cordova Unified School District and various other administrative and teaching positions.

Dr. Andrus holds a doctorate degree in Organizational Leadership through the University of La Verne in 2009. His dissertation is entitled, The Allure of Online Education for the Millennial Generation. In 2001 he was awarded a Master of Arts degree from CSU Sacramento. Dr. Andrus completed his bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University in 1995.

In addition to Ward’s professional experiences, he has served his church as a Bishop of his local congregation, Boy Scout leader, City of Rancho Cordova General Plan Advisory Committee member and Cordova Parks and Recreation District Committee member. Ward is married to his very talented wife Debbie for 28 years. They have four children, and three grandchildren.

Lewis J. Feldman is a professor of plant biology at the University of California, Berkeley and is Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the College of Natural Resources. He is in the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology. Feldman has taught at Berkeley since 1978 and received Berkeley’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 1996. Professor Feldman‘s research focuses on regulation of development in meristems/stem cells, root gravitropism, and redox regulation of plant development.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_J._Feldman

http://plantandmicrobiology.berkeley.edu/profile/lfeldman

Anthony St. George is Assistant Dean for International and Corporate Partnerships at the UC Berkeley College of Engineering where he establishes and oversees international and corporate research and educational programs, new non-degree educational programs, and international entrepreneurial fellows programs.  Anthony works with corporations and universities around the world, primarily in China, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines, Germany, and the United Kingdom.  Anthony has held leadership positions in corporate relations and philanthropic giving at UC Berkeley and MIT, and earlier as a research associate at the Harvard Business School.  Anthony obtained his Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University and serves as an advisor or on the boards of non- and for-profits in the arts and ITC sectors.

Rita is Managing Director of STEM Media & Education for Twin Cities Public Television’s National Productions Department, and Executive Producer of the Emmy Award-winning SciGirls program. In her role she leads the development of STEM education initiatives and television production.

Ms. Karl served as the Director of Education at the Challenger Center for Space Science Education, Director of the USAID project ‘Education Technology in Schools’ in Egypt, Manager of the Texas Aerospace Scholars Program at the NASA Johnson Space Center, Education Manager at Universities Space Research Association, Project Manager for Education at the Lunar and Planetary Institute and Director of the NASA Discovery Museum at Moody Gardens in Texas.

A former elementary educator, Ms. Karl holds a Masters of Science Degree in Instructional Technology and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Directing.

Janelle graduated from MIT with a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering in 2016 where she was head of the MIT Space Balloon Team during her senior year. She is now working at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory as an instrument operations engineer for Cassini, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, and the Multi-Angle Imager for Aerosols mission. Her job includes monitoring the health and safety telemetry for instruments on board the spacecraft, preparing spacecraft activity sequence files for commanding, and improving processes with scripting. She is part of a book club, enjoys hiking, and plays video games for fun.

David is the President of the Livermore Unit of the National Association of Rocketry (LUNAR), the largest National Association of Rocketry (NAR) club in the US.

His work in rocketry includes: Outreach to schools, Scouts, 4H, Civil Air Patrol, and summer camps; Mentoring teams for the annual aerospace competition, Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC); and serves as a Committee Member for both ARLISS (A Rocket Launch for International Student Satellites), and NAR Level 3 Certification.

David is a certified Level 3 flyer, having flown High Power Rockets (HPR) since 2004.

John Matranga is the Director of Customer Innovation and Academia at OSIsoft. Responsible for the global STEM education program at OSIsoft, John enables academic institutions to leverage the PI System software and OSIsoft resources for education and research use.

John has extensive expertise in technology vision, adoption, and services. Focused on sensor based data for the past 30 years, his work has spanned the areas of software architecture, design, development and delivery for commercial software offerings in the areas now considered to be Cyber Physical Systems or Industrial Internet of Things and Big Data. John lives in the San Francisco bay area with his wife and three children.

With over 27 years experience, Mr. Unterholzner is award-winning teacher with a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from CSU Sacramento.  In 2015 Steve was named a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert, one of only 250 teachers in the country.

Steve serves on the National Test Development Team for SAT Chemistry, and is lead teacher for professional development for San Joaquin County Office of Education, Delta Sierra Science Project, and the Manteca Unified School District.

Dan is a retired military space professional with 20 years of dedicated service through the United States Air Force. In his last assignment as Air Forces Southern Command’s Director of Space Forces, he led or organized over 30 space partnership events to create initial space partnership foundations between the US, Brazilian, Chilean and Colombian militaries. His personal vision is cultivating interconnected, global communities through partnership.

Dan specializes in helping international space development organizations establish partnerships within US and Latin American markets. He is currently serving Faith Comes By Hearing to deliver God’s Word to every person on earth, leading Renew TC’s partnership development efforts to end global energy poverty through the Share the Light Project, and helps communities build sustainable STEAM Outreach and Workforce Development ecosystems.