Robin Martin – Marketing & Education Opportunities Manager

Robin, like most New Orleanians, comes from a musical family: her great-grandfather Kid Thomas Valentine of Preservation Hall, her father, Rogers Martin, who has played drums in most of the clubs in New Orleans and her uncle, Wilson “Willie Tee” Turbinton of The Wild Magnolias and Willie Tee & the Gators. She is a graduate of McDonogh 35, where she learned to play saxophone, bass clarinet, and trombone. She then took her talents to Virginia, where she marched for the Norfolk State University Spartan Legion on full music & academic scholarships, graduating with honors.

After working for President Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign in North Carolina, Robin decided to take the community/ grassroots organizing skills she learned there and help her city’s severely neglected school band programs. She helped co-found the New Orleans Legacy Association of Bands, where she served as president from 2013-2019. She has also worked as Program Coordinator for House of Blues Music Forward Foundation, partnering with local school and community organizations to help young people explore careers in the music industry, both on stage & off. She has experience with social media management, including how to properly market brands using social media.

She is excited about becoming our Marketing Coordinator and looks forward to working and growing with STEM Library Lab!

robin@stemlibrarylab.org

Karen Marshall has been teaching science for 17 years. She graduated from Xavier University New Orleans with a bachelors in biology and a chemistry minor. She also received her teaching license from Xavier through the Alternate Route Program.  She began her teaching career in New Orleans, but has experience as a teacher leader in Mississippi as well. Throughout her career she’s worked with students of all ages. For the past 7 years she’s been educating 8th grade students at the International School of Louisiana. As a veteran science teacher, with a passion for her career and subject, she has expanded her time to be the Science Curriculum Coordinator and Coach.

As the State standards have begun to change to phenomenon based learning with a focus on project based teaching, Ms. Marshall has been leading the lower school students and teachers in this pursuit of collaborative change; while continuing to inspire her 8th grade scientists. Karen is a member of the Redbeans crew and has been for the three years.  

This past year she has received the District award from Shell and NSTA’s lab challenge and the Chairman award from American Petroleum Institute. 

Monique Pilié – Director of Operations

Monique was born and raised in New Orleans. After seeing the destruction from Hurricane Katrina, she started a non-profit to help replace the 100,000 trees that were lost in New Orleans due to the storm. To that end, she started Hike for Katreena, with the goal of planting one tree in New Orleans for each of the 2,175 miles of the Appalachian Trail. In the months after the storm, she quit her job, sold her house and hiked all 2,175 miles of the Trail and started planting trees in New Orleans. In five years, Hike for Katreena planted over 8,000 trees. Monique then handed over the leadership role of the organization. Monique then began working with All Hands Volunteers, a non-profit that responds to natural disasters around the world. She started as a Team Leader and worked her way up to Director of US Recovery and Repair for All Hands Volunteers. Wanting to contribute more to city she grew up in, Monique accepted the position of Executive Director of Louisiana Green Corps, where she helped young adults on their path to employment. Monique is excited to have recently accepted the role of Director of Operations with STEM Library Lab and is looking forward to helping empower educators!

monique@stemlibrarylab.org

Szabolcs “Szabi” Varga – STEM Librarian

Szabolcs was born in Budapest, Hungary and immigrated to the United States in 1989. His grandmother was a lifelong elementary educator behind the iron curtain. He attended Sophie B. Wright Middle School and graduated from McMain High School in New Orleans. Having attended schools in three countries and two states – the lack of funding, equipment and opportunities made an indelible impact on his life’s work.

Szabi received his undergraduate degree in Fine Art from LSU and a Masters in History from Southeastern Louisiana University while working as a graduate assistant. He was a mentor teacher who taught 3rd-8th grade Science, Math, ELA and Social Studies for nine years in Orleans, Jefferson, and Tangipahoa parishes. Szabi was also a Louisiana Teacher Leader presenting at the Teacher Leader conference, a LEAP Test review committee member, and a STEM summer camp coordinator.

Szabi is delighted to join the STEM Library Lab to assist teachers by helping to find the perfect tools for their classrooms to create lifelong learners.

szabi@stemlibrarylab.org

Todd Wackerman is the founder and director of STEM Library Lab, a local equipment share resource center in New Orleans.  He taught Physics and a variety of other STEM subjects at public schools in New Orleans and Brooklyn from 2010-2016.

Todd received his MBA from Tulane’s Freeman School of Business, an MAT in Science Education from the University of New Orleans, and his from BA from Boston College in Political Science and History. He feels most comfortable when surrounded by books or trees. He once finished 11th to last in the Boston Marathon. Prior to teaching, he worked as a program manager and project coordinator for corporate volunteerism at two nonprofits, and has extensive volunteer experience with local nonprofits including Crescent City Farmers’ Market and Youth Run NOLA.

Todd has worked in various roles in schools and universities all across the country, including California, Massachusetts, Louisiana and New York. Building from those experiences, he is excited to be founding STEM Library Lab and helping teachers to improve the quality of their classroom experiences.

twackerman@stemlibrarylab.org

Educator/ Spark Mindset / New Orleans, LA

Cobren is a proud alumna of Wellesley College. During her time in Massachusetts, she volunteered with a college access program called Bridging the Gap (BTG). Her work with BTG piqued her interest in education and working with youth. She later worked with MIT’s MOSTEC science program and became passionate about helping students pursue careers in the STEM fields. In 2013 Cobren joined Teach for America and moved to New Orleans to begin her science teaching career. After six years of teaching, Cobren transitioned to Livingston Collegiate where she ran the school’s dual enrollment courses and CTE curriculum as the Manager of External programs. She is dedicated to ensuring that all students have access to an excellent education in high school and beyond and currently serves as Board Chair for the Stem Libray Lab. In her spare time, Cobren enjoys gardening, traveling, kayaking on the bayou, and cheering on her favorite team, the New Orleans Saints.

The founding board chair of SLL, Sarah Cosse brings a wealth of experience in non-profit administration and organizational expansion. With more than a decade of experience in the non-profit sector, Sarah has provided leadership in human resources, federal grant administration, fundraising, and project and financial management. Sarah has worked for both grassroots non-profits, as well as larger entities, including The National WWII Museum, SBP (formerly St Bernard Project), HandsOn New Orleans, and the University of Virginia. Sarah holds a BA from the University of Virginia and is a Board Member for the Tulane / Canal Neighborhood Development Corporation in addition to her role with SLL.

Lindsay Carter serves as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Warren Easton Charter School in New Orleans. As the CFO she is member of the school’s leadership team and plays a key role in enabling the organization to achieve its mission and operate efficiently. She leads and coordinates the organization’s investment policies (including due diligence and management), coordinating the annual audit, and implementing financial policies and procedures necessary to ensure organizational financial compliance. Her work includes identifying major sources of revenue available to Warren Easton through local, state, and federal funding as well as exploring alternative and innovative revenue sources.

Her recent work includes developing opportunities to provide all staff members with a transparent understanding of the school’s financial practices and decision making as a tool for reaching the school’s overall mission. Prior to joining Warren Easton, Carter spent 10 years with the Orleans Parish School Board working to improve budget guidelines, coordinating, and preparing the general and enterprise funds, as well as managing capital projects budgets. Her previous accounting work was with the accounting firm Alvarez and Marsal.  Lindsay has earned her bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Xavier University of Louisiana. She enjoys spending time with her daughter who attends a charter school in New Orleans.

Joseph Devall is a partner at the firm Hale Devall. In his litigation defense practice, Joey has extensive experience providing transactional and litigation services to clients in the maritime, energy, and insurance sectors.

Joey manages a broad range of transactional matters including drafting, reviewing, and negotiation contracts, including master service agreements, vessel charter parties, towing contracts, vessel construction agreements, construction contracts, sub-contracts, purchase and sale agreements, leases, asset purchase agreements, teaming agreements, and joint venture agreements.

Dr. Michelle Sanchez is a Senior Professor of Practice and the Director of the Center for K-12 STEM Education in the Tulane University School of Science and Engineering. She is native New Orleanian and joined the Tulane faculty in 2012.

As the Director of the Tulane Center for K-12 STEM Education, she aims to connect Tulane and the New Orleans community, engage local students through hands-on experiences in STEM, and inspire confidence in the next generation of leaders and learners.

She also coordinates the Tulane Science Scholars Program, which brings exceptional 11th–12th grade students to Tulane for for-credit summer classes with Tulane faculty and graduate students while having the opportunity to live on campus. In addition, she is the Director of Tulane’s two middle school programs – Girls in STEM at Tulane (GiST) and Boys At Tulane in STEM (BATS), which brings 5th–7th grade students to campus to meet and work with role models in STEM fields by doing hands-on activities.

She also serves as Fair Director for the Greater New Orleans Science and Engineering Fair, helps coordinate the FIRST Lego League and FIRST Robotics competitions for Louisiana, and serves on the board of the Greater New Orleans STEM Initiative.