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Faculty & Board of Advisors

Board of Advisors

Oved Kedem, Ph.D.

Oved Kedem, Ph.D.Advisor

Dr. Kedem is the founding Director of Educational Projects at the Davidson Institute for Science Education at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. For over 15 years he has been an expert on science curriculum design for K-12 classrooms and workshops. His work includes training teachers, designing educational labs, and multimedia development. In addition, Dr. Kedem designed and developed a series of science education films used for television. Earlier in his career, Dr. Kedem taught science for 12 years at the university level. Dr. Kedem received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Salford, England, and holds a Masters of Science and Ph.D. from the Weizmann Institute of Science.

Jessica Maxfield, Ph.D

Jessica Maxfield, Ph.DAdvisor

Jessica is an accomplished life sciences academic, teacher, and scientist.  One of her main scientific pursuits is to understand better human sexuality by researching unique marine species.  She strongly believes in science outreach for youth, especially for girls.  She has taught life science courses to college students at the University of Hawai’i and San Francisco State University.  Jessica has been creating exceptionally creative curricula for Celsius and Beyond since 2009.  Our campers are fascinated and love the topics Jessica chooses such as genetics, Eco-Evo-Devo, human biome, Love and Mating in the Animal Kingdom and more.  She holds a B.S. in Marine Biology from Northeastern University in Boston, an M.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from SFSU, and a Ph.D. in Zoology with a specialization in EECB from the University of Hawai’i in Honolulu.

Anna Bakardjiev, MD

Anna Bakardjiev, MDAdvisor

Anna is a physician and infectious diseases specialist. She conducted research at UC Berkeley for six years and at UCSF for ten years, where she was also an Associate Professor of Pediatrics. She is currently a Senior Director of Clinical Research at Vir Biotechnology as well as an Adjunct Professor at UCSF.

Anna’s parents were both scientists which afforded her to appreciate the beauty of science early on.  She has become one of Celsius’s chief science supporters as soon as her children were able to enroll in Celsius camps.  Anna inspires many of our choices of topics.  Her own inspiration comes from her very curious children and her rich and interesting work environment.

Anna earned her MD from Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, trained at Harvard Medical School in the Department of Pediatric Neurology and did her residency at University of California San Francisco (UCSF)

Faculty

Auritte Cohen-Ross

Auritte Cohen-RossFounder

It is hard to believe, but Auritte was once banned from doing any science experiment.

For her sixth-grade science project, Auritte built a lightbulb at her home in Israel and connected it to batteries.  Not satisfied with the results, she connected the light bulb to the electric outlet.  For a split second, the room lit up like a baseball field at night!  Then the fuse box burned, and her parents banned her from doing any science experiment without supervision.  Luckily, her teacher was not fazed by the near-disaster event and thought it was worthy of a good grade.

Auritte’s love for science has never ceased.  Over a decade ago, she got involved with her two daughters’ science school projects and was disappointed to see that they were not as “electrifying” as her own experience.  She then decided, in 2007, to create Celsius and Beyond, where kids can enjoy and experiment with science, with encouraging supervision.

Auritte spent 12 years in the high tech industry in Silicon Valley prior to opening her first science kids camp and is a cum laude economics graduate of Temple University in Philadelphia. 
 

Current Faculty

Jared Sinasohn

Jared Sinasohn

Jared always loved to build with LEGO blocks but it was thanks to his inspirational instructors that he decided to focus on robotics. His LEGO creations models at home include R2D2, Ferrari F40 and a Lamborghini Miura that he built from scratch. For the past three years, Jared has been a member of the award-winning CardinalBotics Robotics team at Lowell High school.

Jared has been teaching robotics and engineering at Celsius for the past four years.  He previously was a TA at two camps.  He is currently an engineering student at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly).

Sarah Hillenbrand

Sarah HillenbrandPh.D.

When Sarah was younger, she was fascinated by how living things like plants and animals work. Brains were particularly exciting to her because they were full of mystery, just waiting to be discovered. She soon discovered that she loves to think, learn, write, and teach about brains.

Sarah received her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from UC Berkeley in 2015, using brain scans to figure out how people learn to control their movements. She taught at Stanford University courses in how to develop a research argument and another on how to think like a scientist when solving real-world problems. Sarah also taught brain biology in the Psychology department at the University of San Francisco. Currently, Sarah is an AP Psychology teacher at Making Wave Academy in Oakland, CA.

Sidnea D’amico

Sidnea D’amico

Originally from Brazil, Sidnea is an award-winning San Francisco-based artist.  She works primarily with painting and mixed media.  She has exhibited her works in the US, Italy, Brazil, Dubai, Poland, Argentina, Serbia and Greece.  Her work has been published in numerous art books.  Sidnea was invited twice to participate in the Heart and Heroes event in support of the San Francisco General Hospital.  One of the hearts she created is now part of the Stanford University Hospital collection. Sidnea has led art workshops at elementary schools and teaches art privately to children.

Jessica Maxfield, Ph.D

Jessica Maxfield, Ph.DAdvisor

Jessica is an accomplished life sciences academic, teacher, and scientist.  One of her main scientific pursuits is to understand better human sexuality by researching unique marine species.  She strongly believes in science outreach for youth, especially for girls.  She has taught life science courses to college students at the University of Hawai’i and San Francisco State University.  Jessica has been creating exceptionally creative curricula for Celsius and Beyond since 2009.  Our campers are fascinated and love the topics Jessica chooses such as genetics, Eco-Evo-Devo, human biome, Love and Mating in the Animal Kingdom and more.  She holds a B.S. in Marine Biology from Northeastern University in Boston, an M.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from SFSU, and a Ph.D. in Zoology with a specialization in EECB from the University of Hawai’i in Honolulu.

Katie Augspurger M.A.

Katie Augspurger M.A.Ph.D. Candidate

A native of Minnesota, Katie is an awesome combination of “Minnesota nice” and strong Midwestern work ethics.
Katie knows all about the inner working of a cell (or so it seems). She is currently conducting her doctorate thesis about how aging affects the nucleus of the cell. It is actually more complex than this and those who attend her genetics summer camp will learn all about it.
Katie previously taught at Celsius and Beyond’s summer science camp. She was a teacher’s assistant at the University of Minnesota and taught equestrian skills for many years in a summer camp.
Katie is currently a Biophysics Ph.D. candidate at the University of California in San Francisco (UCSF). She holds a B.S. in Biophysics, French and Computer Science from the University of Minnesota.

Michael Patterson

Michael Patterson

With the help of his father and brother, Michael built his first tree house at the age of 6.  Mounted 7 feet off the ground, the tree house was complete with real roof, a couch, a TV and is still standing tall to this day.  Since then he has been helping his dad in his woodshop building cabinets and other fun projects.

Michael previously co-taught at Celsius in the Architecture camp.

Michael was the captain of the basketball and track teams in High School.  He is currently an economics major at San Francisco State University. He is planning on becoming a firefighter so that he can save houses and treehouses from fire.

 

Faculty & Board of Advisors

Past Faculty

Debra Magadini

Debra MagadiniM.A.

Debra is a die-hard science enthusiast and an ocean conservationist. She has been teaching science in Massachusetts, and this year is on a Sabbatical, but she has taken a break to lead our spring camp.

She teaches science at the Field Research Program at Columbia University and at the Berkshire Waldorf High School in Stockbridge, MA. She is also a NASA GISS (Goddard Institute for Space Studies) Education Ambassador. Debra is also a certified Advanced Open Water Diver. She collaborates with scientists to collect data on marine life.

Debra holds an M.A. from New York University in science education.

Reyoot Berry

Reyoot BerryB.A.

With both parents in the medical field, Reyoot was sure she was not going to follow in their footsteps. Since she liked watching CSI, she decided to study criminology in college. The physiology class she was required to take won her heart, however, and she ended up switching paths to kinesiology and now, medical school.

Previously Reyoot taught science and physical education in elementary schools in the Greater Los Angeles Area.

Reyoot is a medical school student at the University of California in San Francisco (UCSF). She holds a B.A. in Kinesiology and Biology from California State University, Fresno, where she graduated summa cum laude. Her parents are very pleased with her choice of career and she still enjoys watching CSI.