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About the Santa Fe Alliance for Science
Acknowledgements As we locals like to say, Santa Fe is "A City Different." Indeed, few other cities in America can lay claim to such vibrant and outstanding communities in art, culture and science. At the same time, we are painfully aware that New Mexico does not have the financial resources to address adequately the educational needs of its children. Perhaps a more accurate way to put it is that the resources we do have are often devoted to other demands deemed more worthy. In any event, New Mexico ranks near the bottom of all states in terms of per-capita educational expenditure and in student performance. These facts reverberate with highly negative consequences throughout all aspects of life in New Mexico. Fortunately, not all needed resources are in the form of money. In fact, by virtue of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, a significant number of local scientifically- and technically-oriented non-profit organizations, businesses and educational establishments -- not to mention a well-educated retirement community -- the greater Santa Fe area is extraordinarily rich in scientific, engineering and technical talent. Yet another way in which Santa Fe is "A City Different." The idea for the Santa Fe Alliance for Science was born (in the heads of Bob Eisenstein and Susan McIntosh) in the Fall of 2004. With the help of many friends and colleagues (see the acknowledgements below), it has been slowly developing since then. The basic idea of the Alliance is to try to "make a marriage" between the students and teachers in our local schools (public and private), and our scientific, engineering and technical community, in order to improve science education in greater Santa Fe. How this might be done is described in the tab on goals. It is not the purpose of the Alliance to replace or supplant any of the many existing efforts in Santa Fe aimed toward improved education. Instead, the goal is to bring added value through greatly improved communications, networking, extensive mentoring arrangements and a general unity of purpose with all contributors. We very much hope that you too will consider joining the Alliance in some capacity! The need is great and there are many ways for you to contribute. The Alliance is registered as a non-profit organization in the State of New Mexico, and has 501(c)(3) status with the US Internal Revenue Service. As such, donations to the SFAFS are tax-deductable under IRS rules. The people comprising its Board of Directors are listed below. Acknowledgements As the idea for the Alliance developed, we received much encouragement, wise advice and constructive critcism from friends and colleagues here in Santa Fe and elsewhere. People helping us included educators familiar with local Santa Fe scholastic issues, members of the non-profit community wise in the ways of our regional non-profit world, and scientists, engineers and business people thoroughly conversant with the importance to New Mexico of education in general and science education in particular. We record with thanks their names below. We particularly wish to thank Cathie Zacher of Santa Fe Economic Development, Inc. for her never-ending supply of good ideas and people to contact. Her steadfast support of the SFAFS and its potential importance to the economic development of Santa Fe, has been invaluable. Through Cathie we met Mike Sutin, of the law firm of Sutin, Thayer and Browne, who in turn provided important legal advice and help toward the incorporation of the Alliance. Laureen Pepersack of REV Productions has generously made video recordings of our "Science Café for Young Thinkers" series. These are available here for video streaming. We have also received generous financial support from the LANL Foundation, the Los Alamos National Bank, the McCune Foundation, and from individuals who wish to remain anonymous. From the Business Community: Val Alonzo, Susan Burgess, Stephen Guerin, Harry Hummer, Larry Kilham, David Miller, Mike Sutin and Cathy Zacher. From the Educational and Non-Profit Communities: Tom Aageson, Katherine Bueler, Leslie Carpenter, Bill Carson, Diane Catron, Michael Chamberlain, Nicolla Covey, Tony Gerlicz, Lorraine Goldman, Paquita Hernandez, Susan Herrera, Smith Holt, Mary Howard, Denise Johnston, Norty Kalishman, Ellen Levy, Ellen Loehman, Owen Lopez, Greg Malone, Mary McLeod, Sheila Ortego, Paige Prescott, Teri Randall, Rich Reif, Mimi Roberts, Cliff Ross, Rick Sanders, Melissa Savage, Rick Scott, Jay Shelton, Katherine Sienicki, Dick Sisson, Kurt Steinhaus, Donna and Ron Stowe, Judy Richardson, Kate Thomas, Anne Weaver and Gene Weisfeld. From the Los Alamos National Laboratory: Cathy Berryhill, Tom Bowles, Carol Brown, Carlos Chacon, Tom Cordova, Denny Erickson, Dave Foster, Hubert van Hecke, Terry Lowe, Chuck Mansfield, Gordon McDonough, Lillian Montoya-Rael and Chuck Pacheco. From the Scientific, Engineering and Technical Community: Ken Apt, Jim Bradbury, Vic Cook, Gerry Garvey, George Gumerman, Len Kisslinger and Don Sandstrom. Biographies 
Bob Eisenstein is a retired physicist living in Santa Fe. He was born and raised in St. Louis,
Missouri, and was educated at Oberlin College, Yale University (PhD) and the Weizmann Institute (Rehovot, Israel).
He spent many years on the physics faculties of Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Illinois,
where he often taught physics to freshmen and sophomore engineering students. He also spent more
than a decade at the National Science Foundation, and for a brief time was president of the Santa Fe
Institute. He and his wife Karolyn have two grown children.
Susan McIntosh was born in Brooklyn, New York and raised in southern California. She was educated at
the University of Denver and received her Master's Degree from Pacific Oaks College in Pasadena.
Her teaching career began in the Denver public
schools and continued in Landstuhl, Germany and in Los Angeles public and private schools before
coming to Santa Fe in 1980. She has taught in the Santa Fe public schools since 1983.
She was a co-founder of the
Santa Fe Children's Museum
in 1985, and she founded the
Santa Fe Science Initiative
in 2001. In 2004 she was named
a New Mexico Golden Apple Fellow. Susan holds a Level 3-A teaching license from the State of
New Mexico.
Board of Directors of the SFAFS The Board of Directors is composed of the following individuals. Their affiliations are listed for identification purposes only, and do not imply an endorsement of SFAFS by those organizations.
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