Nia Bethel-Brescia (she/her) is a rising Senior at Vassar College majoring in American Studies with a minor in Dance. She loves to learn and she loves to make art, in as many forms and disciplines as she can get her hands on. Besides dance, some of her creative pursuits include video art, drawing with crayons, and printmaking. She has previously worked at Vassar’s Center for Career Education providing career advising to peers and as a Programming intern at Creative Time, a public-arts non-profit based in NYC. She is very happy to be working with the Foundry this summer as their Forest Foundation Intern!

J O'Connell (she/they) is a student at Bunker Hill Community College studying liberal arts. She admires art in all forms and enjoys working on mixed media projects, with sculpture and collage being her preferred mediums. Some of their other hobbies include gardening, crocheting and gluing beads to everything in sight. Art is a place they seek solace and safety. It's a format she uses to generate and rewrite stories. Because of this, incorporating natural and recycled elements is imperative to their creative process. She is honored and excited to be interning at The Foundry this summer!

Selvin Chambers grew up in the Port neighborhood of Cambridge. Selvin is a board member of the Margaret Fuller Neighborhood House, the Community Arts Center, the Men of Color Health Task Force, and was formerly the Executive Director for LifeScene, an organization focused on removing barriers so that youth and families can find, access, and receive skills to build assets, resiliency, and self-sufficiency. Selvin previously served as the Boston Regional Executive Director for BUILD, an entrepreneurship program for high school youth, the founding Executive Director of Root in Salem, The Food Project, and as executive director of the Elizabeth Peabody House, a community-based provider of early childhood education, youth development and enrichment, and family services, in Somerville, Mass. His previous posts include leadership roles for the city of Boston’s Centers for Youth & Families and the city of Cambridge Youth Programs. He has also worked for City Year, the country’s premier provider of services aimed at preventing student dropout. Chambers served as deputy director of City Year in Chicago and as program director for the organization’s operations in Boston; Columbia, S.C.; Columbus, Ohio; and San Antonio, Texas.

Betsy Bard has lived in the Baldwin neighborhood for over 40 years. She recently retired from the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School where she served as a social worker for 35 years. Her responsibilities included supervising child care internships and managing the onsite day care center. To expand her passion for social justice and theater, Betsy has worked as a teaching artist and playwright for Youth Underground which is the educational component of the Underground Railway Theater. She has created eight plays based on the methodology of investigative theater that have been performed at The Central Square Theater and have toured extensively to high schools and colleges. Betsy is a board member of Central Square Theater and the Citizens’ Committee on Civic Unity for the City of Cambridge.

Polly Carpenter is an architect and design educator whose work focuses on bringing the power of design to children, educators and the public through hands-on architecture and design activities. Initiating K12 design education through the Learning By Design program of the Boston Society for Architecture, Polly has taught hundreds of children, teacher and architect workshops. A North Cambridge resident, she is a director of the Association for Architecture Organizations and a former trustee of Boston by Foot. As an architect she has a background in educational, institutional, and residential design working at architectural firms, large and small, in Boston and New York. Polly is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.

Joyce Chen is a shared community space and STEAM enthusiast, and former long-time resident of Cambridge (having just moved across the border to Somerville). She currently leads strategic partnerships at Mercury, a banking startup. Prior to Mercury, Joyce was in venture capital and also led the global expansion of Venture Cafe, a global network of nonprofit organizations focused on building community for founders and creating pathways to entrepreneurship for all. Often housed in shared multi-use spaces, through Venture Cafe Joyce saw the power in activating an excellently designed space through programming and community engagement. Joyce has previously worked at MIT in various roles, including running accelerator programs and bootcamps for entrepreneurs, as well as large-scale international tech conferences. Joyce previously served on the City of Cambridge’s appointed Foundry Advisory Committee.

Peter Crawley is a resident of East Cambridge. He is a Principal at Satoria Sustainability Consulting, and has led at the intersection of strategic consulting, real estate and sustainability for more than 20 years, serving as the principal advisor to top real estate owners and scores of operating companies. Independently and through a partnership with the Sustainability Roundtable, Inc., where he served as Director of Research & Consulting, Peter has helped the executive teams at Fortune 1000 enterprises develop and implement highly profitable Sustainability strategies. Prior to working with the Sustainability Roundtable, Peter served as the Director of Sustainability Services at the environmental engineering firm EBI Consulting, and as Director of the Sustainable Business Leadership Program of MA. He has also taught on Sustainability, Leadership, and Corporate Social Responsibility as an adjunct professor at Boston College’s Carroll School of Business. Peter began his career in real estate development and has managed the design and permitting process for mixed use projects as large as $300 million. He has worked in real estate acquisitions, finance, and planning for companies such as John Hancock Properties, Meredith Management and the Boston Redevelopment Authority. He is past President of the East Cambridge Planning Team.

Emmanuella Fedé is a first generation Haitian-American early childhood educator and aspiring Atelierista. Born and raised in The Port, Cambridge, she began acting on her passion for education when she was 14, as a junior counselor for PBHA's summer program. Since then she has worked in various community groups, non profits, and school settings. Most notably as a lead school age teacher at the Community art Center. She graduated from Lesley University in 2022 with a B.A in Psychology and Early Childhood Education.

Kellyanne Mahoney is a National Board Certified Teacher and experienced curriculum developer who spent 13 years working in the Boston Public Schools. She currently serves as a Youth Program Specialist for Autodesk, focusing on creating K-12 STEAM learning content, managing education programs, facilitating professional development for educators, and building strong relationships with the New England education community and beyond. For the past several years, Kellyanne’s work has also been centered on using design thinking to bridge the problems faced in schools with the problem of creating equitable onramps into the innovation economy for students.

Matt is a lifelong Cambridge resident and has volunteered for the last 20+ years at CRLS as a boys basketball coach.  In the summer of 2023, frustrated by the inequitable access to gym and workout space for local youth, he founded Cambridge Basketball Lab - a free mentorship and basketball skill development program open five evenings a week.  

Prior to founding the Lab, Matt's career was focused at the intersection of sports and philanthropy.  He led Community Relations and Player Development for the Boston Celtics from 2006-2013, oversaw Sports Partnerships for UNICEF USA, and then External Affairs for MENTOR, a national non-profit aiming to close the mentoring gap.  Matt lives in Cambridge with his wife and son, a first grader at Baldwin.

Khari Milner joined the Agenda for Children OST team in 2004.  Khari Milner has designed and implemented cross-system collaboratives aimed at supporting the in- and out-of-school time learning communities and the diverse needs of Cambridge students. He oversees learning partnerships for the Cambridge Public Schools and led the development of the Cambridge Expanded Learning Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Mathematics (EL STEAM) and Middle School Networks. He is also a founding member of the Young People's Project. He is a native of Cambridge and has worked with young people, educators, policy-makers and leaders for twenty-plus years throughout the United States, Costa Rica and Tanzania, in diverse roles including youth worker, youth employment program director, math instructor, curriculum developer, facilitator, non-profit organization trustee and strategic planner.

Ron Peeples is retired after over 35 years in pharmaceutical research and development.  He is an active member of the Artisans Asylum makerspace in Alston and spends his time woodworking and learning any new tools and techniques that he can.  He is an avid beekeeper with hives in Cambridge and Somerville.  Ron lives in East Cambridge with his wife Deb, an artist, and is active in the neighborhood. He served on the board of the East Cambridge Planning Team.

Michael Shia is a longtime resident of Cambridge. A semi-retired molecular biologist and educator, he maintains a small consulting business (Cambridgeport Consultants) in the biological sciences. He is a committed STEAM educator and evangelist. His last position was with Microsoft Philanthropies in their TEALS program. TEALS (Technical Education And Literacy in Schools) was a program to train high school teachers to become computer science teachers. Michael is a maker and artisan. He has a studio at the Artisans Asylum in Allston, where he designs and makes metal and wood furniture. He has experience in non-profit governance, development, and problem-solving from his time on the Board of Directors at the Artisans Asylum.  He was an early supporter and advisor to The Foundry as a center for creativity in Cambridge.

Janos Stone is a cultural strategist, artist, entrepreneur, and inventor. He trained as an artist and industrial designer at the Rhode Island School of Design. Throughout his entrepreneurial journey, he has pioneered various artworks, tools, and processes to unlock each individual's inherent creativity.

As founder of the Maker Space Program, Stone actively collaborates with diverse communities to cultivate design strategies that establish cultures of innovative creativity. His passion is to equip leaders and organizations with the tools and mindset to fuel innovation and initiatives and foster the inclusive communities they aspire to cultivate. Through novel approaches, he designs environments that foster new ideas, equality, and camaraderie.

Will Brierly has run Snowrunner Productions for the past 20 years. He has worked with Grammy Award-winning artists, Emmy Award-winning TV shows, NY Times best selling authors, international government agencies, video games and more. He is also known for creating the first FPS (first-person Soda drinking simulation) Soda Drinker Pro which has been featured on CNN, CNBC, Mashable, Game Informer, Kotaku, Wall Street Journal and hundreds of other media outlets and is enjoyed by millions of soda simulation enthusiasts worldwide.

Stephanie Couch joined the Lemelson-MIT Program as Executive Director in 2016, and is a resident of Cambridge, as well as a member of the Foundry Consortium. Previously, she was the Interim Associate Vice President of Research and Professional Development at California State University, East Bay; Bayer Executive Director of the Institute for STEM Education, and Director for Gateways East Bay STEM Network at California State University, East Bay, as well as Deputy Director, Policy Programs, and Research, California STEM Learning Network and Director of Statewide Initiatives, School of Education University of California, Davis.

Carlos Lopez is an accomplished facilities project manager with a national scope of experience. He has a proven track record in navigating dynamic and high-volume environments. Beyond his professional endeavors, Carlos’s artistic inclinations shine through his role as a former Board of Trustee member for esteemed organizations like the Society of Arts and Crafts and Metalwerx. His dedication also manifests in volunteer efforts with Harvard Ceramics and the MIT Glass Lab, reflecting a genuine passion for the arts.

Dr. Amon Millner is an Associate Professor at Olin College of Engineering and directs the EASE Lab, focusing on integrating computing into learning and community upliftment. He plays a key role in Olin's "engineering for everyone" initiative, fostering collaborations between colleges, companies, cities, and local organizations. Millner co-invented Unruly Splats, programmable tiles that encourage active, collaborative play and learning, drawing on his experience as a co-creator of the Scratch programming language at MIT's Media Lab. His work spans government-funded projects, international collaborations as a Fulbright Specialist, and innovations with diverse inventors. Millner holds degrees from MIT, Georgia Tech, and USC.