Lynn Basham received her B.S. in 1977 and M.S. in 1985 from the University of Southern Mississippi and completed her doctoral work in 2006 at Louisiana State University. As a state specialist for technology education at the Virginia Department of Education, she is responsible for curriculum projects and the development of new initiatives. Ms. Basham has received many professional honors and has been active in professional organizations throughout her career. From 2000 to 2002, she was Region 2 representative for the International Technology Education Association (ITEA) Board of Directors and was recently president of the ITEA Council for Supervisors (CS). She was awarded the ITEA-CS Distinguished Service Award in 2004 and the ITEA-CS Outstanding State Supervisor Award in 1992 and 2001. Ms. Basham is also a member of the Mississippi Valley Technology Teacher Education Conference, a member and past president of the Southeastern Technology Education Conference, and a member of the Association for Career and Technical Education, American Association for Training and Development, and American Society for Curriculum Development. She is currently working on the U.S. Department of Energy Real World Design Challenge.

M. David Burghardt is a professor of engineering, a licensed professional engineer in New York, and a Chartered Engineer in the United Kingdom. He is also co-director of the Hofstra University Center for Technological Literacy (CTL), which he established in 1989, and the author of 11 books on engineering and secondary-school technology education. Since 1993, through CTL, he has won seven major National Science Foundation grants for work on improving technological literacy. Dr. Burghardt’s particular interest is in how engineering design can promote student learning in mathematics and science, especially for lower performing students. In addition to developing engineering courses at the university level, he was co-creator of a master’s degree program for in-service teachers, which now has more than 300 graduates.

Kathleen Conn, assistant professor at Neumann College in the Division of Human Services, is a scientist, educator, and former school administrator. She earned her Ph.D. in physics/biology at Bryn Mawr College, completed postdoctoral work at Lankenau Medical Research Center in Philadelphia, and took her legal training at Widener University School of Law. She was a participant and leader in the Thayer School of Engineering (Dartmouth College) “Engineering Concepts in the High School Classroom” Program,