I co-founded my own STEM game design company to fulfill my passion for enhancing public awareness of STEM concepts. At Catlilli Games (www.catlilli.com), we believe in learning through play. As a neurobiologist and civil engineer who transitioned to education, we have observed children in our classrooms absorb complex STEM concepts when they are presented within games. We aim to reach children of all ages by making learning fun. Our ultimate goal is to create entertaining tabletop games that even adults will enjoy playing.We have been honored to have earned several awards, including semi-finalists in the Washington Post/1776 inGENuitY Pitch Contest and Round 2 finalists in the Duke University Start-Up Challenge. We have also won Gold, Silver, and Bronze in the Serious Play Awards, as well as Silver and Bronze in the Imagination Gaming Awards. I was nominated for a Rising Star Award from Women in Toys in 2017 and received a New Voices in Gaming Scholarship from Tabletop Network in 2019.We welcome any collaborations to help us with our mission to transform STEM education.

I taught full-time at this public high school in Fauquier County in the subjects of Biology, Anatomy & Physiology, AP Research, and Chemistry. I create hands-on, inquiry- based curriculum designed to excite the students about cutting-edge science while also meeting requirements for their SOL test. I am also the Coach of the FHS Academic Team and was a finalist for the 2019 Superintendent's Innovator of the Year Award.

ideaventions™ is a science and technology enrichment center. We teach a range of science, technology, engineering and mathematics classes throughout the year at our Science Center located in Oakton, Virginia. We also run science camps, do after-school programs at local schools, develop new STEM curriculum and lots more. ideaventions is a place where no idea is too crazy and where children, the adults of tomorrow, learn that anything is possible with a little creativity.Our hands-on labs are led by experienced teachers who emphasize divergent thinking and seek to harness a child’s natural curiosity about our world. Our programs are designed to share and nurture children’s love for the sciences.

I performed systems biology/bioinformatics research to understand molecular events underlying autism spectrum disorders. Additionally, I developed the Protein Interaction (PIN) module of our autism database AutDB, which is licensed to the Simons Foundation as SFARI Gene.