Curriculum Advisory Committee

Members of the Curriculum Advisory Committee are experts in their fields. They help generate new course ideas, shape current curriculum, and keep Exploration on the leading edge of the world of people and ideas.

(F) former faculty; (S) former student; (P) current or former parent

Robert S. Berg is a physics professor at Wellesley College. He has taught courses ranging from introductory to advanced quantum mechanics. He received his A.B. from Princeton University and his Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Berkeley. Robbie co-developed a course at Wellesley called Robotic Design Studio. In this innovative, interdisciplinary course, students learn how to design, assemble, and program robots. Through their robotics projects, Robbie's students tap into a wide range of disciplines, including computer science, physics, math, biology, psychology, engineering, and art.

Neil H. Buchanan is an associate professor of law at The George Washington University Law School. He received his A.B from Vassar College where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Neil went on to earn his A.M. and Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University. He won the Allyn Young Teaching Prize and a certificate for distinction in teaching from Harvard. Neil has taught economics at Wellesley, Goucher, and Barnard Colleges, as well as the University of Wisconsin. He earned his J.D from the University of Michigan magna cum laude and clerked for Judge Robert Henry for the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Neil was national champion of the American Parliamentary Debate Association and coached the Harvard Speech and Parliamentary Debate Society to two national championships.

Leah Hager Cohen (F) is the author of four non-fiction books and three novels. She has written extensively for the New York Times and has taught writing at Lesley University and Emerson College. Her honors include making the New York Times Notable Book List three times, the American Library Association's Ten Best Books of the Year, and Toronto Globe and Mail's Ten Best Books of the Year. Leah received her B.A. in creative writing from Hampshire College and her M.S. in journalism from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Michael C. Dorf (F) is the Robert S. Stevens Professor of Law at Cornell Law School and was previously the Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law at the Columbia University School of Law. He was also the Michael Sovern Professor of Law and the vice-dean of the Columbia University Law School. While teaching at Rutgers University School of Law (Camden), he was the recipient of the Outstanding Professor of the Year Award. Mike writes extensively on U.S. constitutional law issues and civil procedure matters for both scholarly publications and popular audiences. While at Harvard Law School, Mike was Best Oralist and captain of the first-place team for Ames Moot Court. He clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. Mike earned his A.B. from Harvard College magna cum laude and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. As an undergraduate, he was named national champion of the American Parliamentary Debate Association.

Barry J. Fishman (S + F) is an associate professor of learning technologies in the University of Michigan School of Education and School of Information. He is currently a visiting associate professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. His research focuses on the use of technology to support teacher learning, standards-based systemic school reform, and the role of education leaders in fostering classroom-level reform involving technology. Barry is the 2001 recipient of the Jan Hawkins Award for Early Career Contributions to Humanistic Research and Scholarship in Learning Technologies and the 2003 Pattishall Junior Faculty Research Award from the the University of Michigan. He received his A.B. from Brown University in English and American literature, his M.S. from Indiana University in instruction systems technology and his Ph.D. in learning sciences from Northwestern University.

Nathaniel O. Keohane (F) is the Director of Economic Policy and Analysis for Environmental Defense. Nat works to develop and advocate environmentally responsible and economically sound climate policies aimed at reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. He seeks to bring economic theory and empirical analysis to bear on questions such as the optimal design of cap-and-trade systems and the long term impacts of climate policy on the U.S. economy. Prior to working at Environmental Defense, Nat was Assistant and then Associate Professor of Economics at the Yale School of Management. He received his B.A. from Yale College and his Ph.D. in political economy and government from Harvard University. He has published articles on environmental economics in academic journals including the Journal of Public Economics, the RAND Journal of Economics, and the Harvard Environmental Law Review.

Wei-Chung Allen Lee (F) is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School. He is working on elucidating the functional role of interneuron classes in the visual cortex. Prior to his work at the medical school, Wei worked at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Wei earned his Ph.D in neuroscience at MIT, his S.B. in chemical engineering from the California Institute of Technology, and his A.B. in biochemistry and government, with a minor in physics from Bowdoin College.

Douglas Liman (S) is a film director and producer. He began making short films while still in junior high school and studied at the International Center of Photography in New York City. While attending Brown University, he helped to co-found the student-run cable television station and served as its first station manager. While a graduate student at the University of Southern California, Doug was tapped to helm his first project, the comedy thriller Getting In/Student Body. He went on to direct Swingers, then did double duty as director and cinematographer on the film Go. Doug enjoyed further success when he helmed the action thriller The Bourne Identity. He then stayed on and served as Executive Producer of The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum. He directed Mr. & Mrs. Smith, his most commercially-successful film to date, and executive produced and directed the pilot episode as well as the second episode of the Fox prime-time drama, The O.C.

Ramien R. Pierre (F) is administrator in the education department at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts where he directs the Vilar Institute for Arts Managment and works on various educational projects across the globe. Prior to his work at the Kennedy Center, Ramien was the Executive Director of the Dance Institute of Washington. He has worked as Assistant Dean of Students at Haverford College and at the George School. Ramien has years of experience as lead and supporting vocalist for vocal and vocal-instrumental ensembles ranging in size from four to 100 people. Ramien earned his B.A. in political science at Haverford College, an M.A. in teaching, social studies at Brown University, an M.Ed. in mind brain education at Harvard University Graduate School of Education, and a certificate in arts management from the Vilar Institute for Arts Management. He is expecting to receive his Doctorate of Education for Learning & Teaching at Harvard University Graduate School of Education this year.

Gideon Rose (S) is the Managing Editor of Foreign Affairs. From 1995 to 2000 he was the Olin Senior Fellow and Deputy Director of National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, during which time he served as Chairman of the council's Roundtable on Terrorism and director of numerous council study groups. Prior to his work at the Council on Foreign Relations, he served as Associate Director for Near East and South Asian Affairs at the National Security Council. He has taught American foreign policy at Columbia and Princeton Universities. Gideon received a B.A. in classics from Yale University and a Ph.D. from the Department of Government at Harvard University. He writes extensively on terrorism and foreign affairs.

David Saltonstall (S) is an award-winning senior correspondent for The New York Daily News. He covers national political affairs recently focusing on the 2008 presidential campaign with a particular emphasis on the candidacy of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. David was the City Hall Bureau Chief for the News and was the principle writer covering Mayor Bloomberg’s first term. He was also the paper’s lead writer on September 11th coverage. David is the winner of a George Polk Award for local reporting and The Selden Ring Award for investigative reporting. He was awarded first place for spot news by the National Association of Black Journalists and is the recipient of the National Headliners Club Award. David is a graduate of Harvard University where he majored in government.

Jonathan Z. Simon (F) is an assistant professor at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he splits his time between the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Department of Biology. Jonathan's research interests are in auditory neural computations and representations, magnetoencephalography and cortical physiology, signal processing in biological systems and computational and theoretical neuroscience. He has been awarded numerous grants from the National Institute of Health to support his work. Jonathan graduated summa cum laude with an A.B. in physics from Princeton University. He also holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Linda Siperstein is a staff doctor at the VCA Wakefield Animal Hospital (Massachusetts). Linda earned her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DMV) degree from Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine and completed an internship in small animal medicine and surgery at the Angell Memorial Animal Hospital in Boston. Linda received her B.S. from Northwestern University, after which she became a public radio producer.

Brian R. Soucek (F) recently decided that his philosophy research would be enhanced by a deeper understanding of the law. Consequently, he enrolled at Yale Law School. Prior to embarking on his legal journey, Brian was an assistant professor in the Humanities Collegiate Division at the University of Chicago. Much of his work centers on the personification of art: the way that notions such as autonomy, agency, authenticity, or expression are invoked analogously in discussions both of persons and of artworks. Brian also writes on the philosophy of music, particularly opera. He graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in philosophy and economics from Boston College. Brian was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and was awarded the college's highest honor, the Finnegan Award. Brian earned an M.Phil and a Ph.D. in philosophy from Columbia University. He is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities grant, and was a Jacob Javits and Andrew Mellon Fellow.

James C. Spohrer (F) is the Director of Global University Programs at IBM in San Jose, CA. IBM Global Services is a business of over 170,000 professionals world-wide, accounting for almost half of IBM's yearly revenues. Jim received a B.S. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in computer science from Yale University. He has lived in Rome, Italy where he was a visiting scholar at the University of Rome La Sapienza, and lecturer at major universities across Europe. Jim has published broadly in the areas of speech recognition, empirical studies of programmers, artificial intelligence, and authoring tools, to name a few.

Glenn Stark is a professor of physics at Wellesley College, where he has taught for 19 years. Glenn holds a Ph.D. in physics from the University of California at Berkeley and a B.S. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Prior to his work at Wellesley, Glenn was a post-doctoral fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. His research is in the field of experimental molecular spectroscopy. His laboratory programs emphasize molecular transitions which are of interest to astrophysics, planetary atmospheres, and aeronomy communities.

George T. Whitesides (S) is the Executive Director of the National Space Society. NSS is dedicated to the promotion of human spaceflight and exploration, as well as to space education and development. Whitesides co-founded the global astronomy education program Permission to Dream(PTD) in 2002. PTD has donated over 60 telescopes to disadvantaged students and has local presence in 16 countries. A Fulbright scholar, George received his graduate degree in remote sensing and geographical information systems from Cambridge University, and his undergraduate degree in public and international affairs from Princeton University. He is a licensed private pilot and certified parabolic flight coach.