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Background on SEPUP

Contact SEPUP

SEPUP Staff

Background on SEPUP

SEPUP began in 1987 as a not-for-profit project to develop hands-on materials about chemicals and their use for schools and community groups. It was initially called CEPUP (Chemical Education for Public Understanding Program). As the mission of the project expanded to include other scientific disciplines, the name changed to SEPUP.

SEPUP continues to be a not-for-profit project that is primarily supported by grants. However, most of our curriculum is now intended for schools. We have commercially available curricular materials that are used in school districts from Los Angeles to New York. (For information on purchasing these materials, please visit Lab-Aids, the sole producer and distributor of SEPUP materials.)

We continue to work with school districts around the country on our current projects. (To find out more about current SEPUP projects, please check out What’s New?)

 

Contact SEPUP

SEPUP
Lawrence Hall of Science
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-5200
Telephone: (510) 642-8718
Fax: (510) 642-3131
Email: sepup@berkeley.edu


SEPUP Staff

Dr. Barbara Nagle, Director
Barbara has a B.A. in molecular biology and a Ph.D. with postdoctoral research experience in cell biology. She was Co-Director of SEPUP for six years before becoming Director in January 2003. Prior to joining SEPUP, she taught high school chemistry in Oakland, California for six years. Barbara co-authored Issues, Evidence and You; Science and Life Issues; Science and Sustainability; and some of the revised SEPUP modules.

Janet Bellantoni, Instructional Materials Developer
Janet has a B.S. in mechanical engineering and an M.Ed. in science education. She joined SEPUP in 2001 after teaching high school physics for seven years. Janet has taught in both public and private schools in Massachusetts, New York, and Califonia. Her educational experiences includes teaching science to deaf students and graduate study in deaf education and culture. Janet co-authored some of the revised SEPUP modules.

Sara Dombkowski, Instructional Materials Developer
Sara has a B.A. in Biology and an M.Ed. in elementary education with a specialization in science education. Before joining SEPUP in Fall 2005, she taught middle school science in New York for five years. Her educational experience includes directing students through self-designed research projects in conjunction with NASA and instructing college level math.

Laura Lenz, Instructional Materials Developer
Laura has a B.A. in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology with a minor in Biochemistry and a Master's in Teaching with secondary certification.  Laura taught high school science for seven years in Washington and Colorado before joining SEPUP in 2006.   Laura has biology research lab experience, and participated in several science outreach partherships with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington during her teaching. 

Chris Keller, Instructional Materials Developer
Chris has a BA and MS in Physics, with a specialization in Physics Education Research. Prior to joining SEPUP in early 2008, he conducted research studies on the use (and misuse) of education technology. While at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Chris taught physics at the college level and worked in conjunction with the Physics Education Technology (PhET) project, where he studied students’ use of computer simulations to learn physics in various college environments. If being a part of the Lawrence Hall of Science were not enough, Chris is also delighted to be back at his Alma mater.

Maia Willcox, Instructional Materials Developer
Maia Willcox is a credentialed teacher who taught biology, integrated science, marine science, health education, and academic literacy at Balboa High School in San Francisco. In 2004, after four years in the classroom, she was appointed as the Secondary Science Content Specialist for SFUSD. In this position, she was responsible for all science professional development at the middle and high school level. Maia has a master’s degree in Animal Sciences, with a research focus on environmental toxicology and marine mammals. For many years, she was a volunteer at the Marine Mammal Center. Maia’s happy to be working for her alma mater, and that she’ll be “up the hill” from her daughter who’s currently attending Cal.

Roberta Smith, Administrative Coordinator
Roberta has been with SEPUP since 1998 and has fifteen years of administrative experience. She has taught English as a second language (ESL) and volunteers as an ESL teacher. Roberta has a B.A. in liberal arts from JFK University in Orinda, California. She currently is teaching cloisonné classes at the Crucible. Roberta has helped manage Science and Life Issues; Science and Sustainability; and the revised SEPUP modules.

Dr. Herbert Thier, Founding Director
Herb has an Ed.D. in education administration and curriculum development. He began his career in science education in 1954 and, since that time, has worked extensively on many projects, including SCIS (Science Curriculum Improvement Study) before founding SEPUP in 1987. He has been a physics teacher, district science coordinator, assistant school superintendent, and curriculum developer. Herb fully retired from the day-to-day operations of SEPUP at the end of 2002.

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Lawrence Hall of Science    © Thursday, 03-Jul-2008 16:34:50 PDT The Regents of the University of California    Contact SEPUP    Updated Tuesday, 25-Mar-2008 11:02:36 PDT