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leadership teamBonnie Schmidt,
PhD Marietta (Mars) Bloch Sara
Steers
Dr. Bonnie Schmidt began her science outreach activities in 1991 while completing her doctoral degree in physiology at The University of Western Ontario. She formally launched Let’s Talk Science upon graduating in 1993. Bonnie has been active in many national and provincial organizations and initiatives. She currently serves as the founding President of the Science & Technology Awareness Network (STAN) and is a Director of the Ontario Genomics Institute. She recently served as a member of the Ontario government’s Early Learning Experts Panel. She has also served on grant selection committees at Industry Canada and NSERC, as well as NSERC's national communication committee. Bonnie has organized sessions on science outreach at national and international academic conferences and has been an invited speaker at numerous science and education forums, including the 2006 OECD Conference on Global Science, ‘Declining Student Enrolment in Science & Technology’. She has also published several academic papers and abstracts on her research into informal science learning. For her efforts in education, Bonnie has received several awards, including the Top 40 Under 40; Queen’s Golden Jubilee Award; Ontario’s “Leading Women, Building Communities”; YWCA’s Woman of Distinction; and The University of Western Ontario’s Young Alumni Award.
Mars is nearing completion of doctoral studies at Roehampton University in the U.K. researching the origins, development processes and influencing factors on the Ontario Ministry of Education science curriculum policy documents from 1987 to 2008. Prior to joining Let's Talk Science in 2004, Mars had extensive diverse experiences in the formal education sector throughout both elementary and secondary levels. She has been District-Wide Program Coordinator for Science and Technology for the Toronto District School Board (Canada's largest school board), Course Director at York University's Faculty of Education Mathematics, Science and Technology program; a lead developer of the Ontario science and technology curriculum while working as a research associate for the Assessment of Science and Technology Achievement Project at York University; an Ontario representative for the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada's (CMEC) development of the Pan-Canadian Protocol for Collaboration on School Curriculum (Science); and Director of In-service for Science and Technology at Thompson Learning Nelson Publishing. Mars was a member of the Ontario provincial work team that developed the secondary resource document on assessment and evaluation called Policy to Practice and recently led the working group for CMEC on the development of a new Pan-Canadian Science Assessment Program for Canadian 13-year-olds. In 2002-2003 Mars was president of the Science Teachers' Association of Ontario and is a founding co-chair of the Science & Technology Awareness Network. Mars is a recipient of the Marshal McLuhan Distinguished Teacher Award and of the Jack Bell Leadership Award in Science.
Sara’s role with Let’s Talk Science involves communications and marketing, fundraising and government relations. Sara is a graduate of Western with an honours BA in psychology. She brings a diverse range of experience in alumni relations, fund development, event planning, continuing education and communications, ranging from setting up a satellite alumni and development office in Hong Kong to developing one of the first broadcast e-newsletters. Sara volunteers in the community and is currently Coordinator of the Brescia University College Council of Trustees in London, Ontario. |
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