GSG Team

The lead agency for the Great Science for Girls Initiative is:

• The Educational Equity Center (EEC) at AED. EEC develops programs and materials to promote bias-free learning in school and after school. It is an outgrowth of Educational Equity Concepts, a national not-for-profit organization with a 22-year history of promoting educational excellence for all children.

Co-Principal Investigators:

Merle Froschl
Ms. Froschl, Senior Program Officer and Co-Director of the Educational Equity Center at AED (EEC/AED), has 35 years of experience in education and publishing, developing innovative programs and materials that foster equality of opportunity for students regardless of gender, race/ethnicity, disability, or level of family income. As co-director of EEC/AED, Ms. Froschl provides leadership and oversight to projects that include curriculum development, professional development, parent education, research and evaluation, and coalition-building. She is Co-Principal Investigator on the Great Science for Girls project, overseeing all aspects of project design and implementation.

Barbara Sprung
Ms. Sprung, Senior Program Officer and Co-Director of the Educational Equity Center at AED (EEC/AED), has over 40 years of experience in early childhood education, as a teacher and as an innovator of programs and materials to promote equality of opportunity for children regardless of gender, race/ethnicity, disability or level of family income. As co-director of EEC/AED, Ms. Sprung's responsibilities include funding and program development, project management, fiscal oversight, supervision of staff, and the creation of partnerships within and outside of AED. She is Co-Principal Investigator on the Great Science for Girls Project, overseeing all aspects of project design and implementation.

Cheri Fancsali, Ph.D.
Dr. Fancsali, Senior Program Officer at AED's Center for School and Community Services (SCS), has served as director of numerous research and evaluation projects and has authored and co-authored many publications including: The Connection between Afterschool Programs and In-School Success: The Science Mentoring Project; Science, Gender and Afterschool: A Research-Action Agenda; and What We Know about Girls, STEM and Afterschool Programs. As Co-Principal Investigator of Great Science for Girls, Dr. Fancsali oversees the research component of the project, including evaluating additional evidence-based programs and curricular for use by GSG sites, conducting an ongoing review of research related to GSG, and summarizing relevant research for GSG sites.

Project Staff:

Linda Colón
Ms. Colón, Senior Program Manager for the Educational Equity Center at AED (EEC/AED), has worked with EEC for over 20 years in numerous roles. She has managed projects, developed curriculum and provided professional development. She is co-author of After-School Science PLUS: Hands-on Activities for Every Student; Playtime is Science: An Equity-Based Parent/Child Science Program; and Including All of Us: An Early Childhood Curriculum About Disability. On the Great Science for Girls project, she is part of the professional development team, serves as a liaison to all partners, is responsible for the day-to-day management of project activities and finances, and supervision of support staff.

Maryann Stimmer
Ms. Stimmer, Senior STEM Program Manager at the Educational Equity Center at AED (EEC/AED), has many years of experience in science education, parent involvement, and educational equity, including conducting professional development for teachers, parents, administrators and after-school educators and presenting at national education conferences on science and mathematics education and equity. Ms. Stimmer is co-author of After-School Science PLUS: Hands-On Activities for Every Student and Playtime is Science for Students with Disabilities. Currently, she coordinates After-School Math PLUS, a National Science Foundation funded project. On the Great Science for Girls Project, Ms. Stimmer conducts professional development, provides on-site technical assistance and ongoing consulting.

Eliana Orellana
Ms. Orellana, Senior Research Associate for the AED Center for School and Community Services (SCS), provides evaluation assistance in formative and summative evaluation research. Over the last three years, Ms. Orellana has conducted interviews with museum and afterschool program staff; administered surveys, and conducted classroom observations. She develops SPSS data bases, manages data entry, runs preliminary analyses, and creates graphics for AED reports. Her role in Great Science for Girls will be to assist with evaluating evidence-based programs and curriculum, the ongoing review of research on STEM professional development, access issues for girls, and program content issues as well as obtain updated information on the status of girls related to STEM.

Benjamin Dworken
Mr. Dworken, Senior STEM Program Associate at the Educational Equity Center at AED (EEC/AED), is instrumental in strengthening STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) programming, including After-School Math PLUS, After-School Science PLUS and Great Science for Girls. He has experience as a researcher, technologist and as an educator. Previously, Mr. Dworken worked at General Electric's Global Research Center where he contributed to several major projects and developed many technical and analytical skills. More recently, he trained urban young adults in Information Technology and professional development in a corporate environment. Mr. Dworken holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Cornell University.

Amy Weng
Ms. Weng, Senior Program Assistant at the Educational Equity Center at AED (EEC/AED), provides support to all projects and office operations at the Center. Her technical and organizational skills contribute to the Center's daily operation. She is well-versed with web-based communications and provides technical assistance during webinars hosted by EEC. She also uses a creative eye to design program event flyers and other outreach materials for various projects, including the Great Science for Girls poster. Ms. Weng initially joined the EEC/AED team in April 2008 as the Special Events Assistant to help coordinate the EEC 2008 Equity Awards Dinner, while completing her final year at SUNY Purchase.

External Evaluator:

Yael Bat-Chava, Ph.D.
Dr. Bat-Chava is the principal of Comprehensive Research & Evaluation Services, providing research and evaluation services to nonprofit organizations and funders. She has conducted research and program evaluation for two decades in academia, the nonprofit sector and government, and has worked with a variety of clients: children, adolescents and families; people with disabilities; and victims of crime. Dr. Bat-Chava creates logic models and uses a variety of methods and data types in her evaluations, including: surveys, interviews, focus groups, structured and unstructured observations, as well as document and chart reviews. In addition to conducting external evaluations, Dr. Bat-Chava consults to organizations about how to set up systems to collect and use data for continuous quality improvement and for strategic decision-making. She has taught research methods and statistics to graduate and undergraduate students at various colleges and universities. Dr. Bat-Chava is an engaging trainer and speaker and has authored multiple peer-reviewed journal articles, reports, book chapters and training manuals. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in psychology and philosophy from Haifa University, Israel, and a Doctorate in Social/Personality Psychology from the Graduate Center, City University of New York.