Lissie was a classroom teacher before she began digital career working on educational cd-roms. Next she was an interactive designer at a premier branding firm in San Francisco. In 2002, she started Sweet and Fizzy, and creates branding, websites, museum interactives, etc., for her clients.
She enjoys creativity and collaboration and making innovative learning experiences. She also supports the local tech community with NERDs.
Andrew has many years of experience programming the internet with a large number of different technologies. He is an organizer in the regional technology community. Some of his projects include Hack for Western Mass and NERD Summit.
Andrew is an enthusiastic educator and teaches courses on a broad range of topics including programming, robotics, microbiology, botany, politics, and more. He enjoys designing immersive, creative projects and sharing his enthusiasm.
Dr. Beryl Hoffman is an Associate Professor of Computer Information Technology at Elms College in Chicopee, MA.
She has over 18 years of teaching experience in computer science and programming. The author of C++ Programming for Beginners, she enjoys designing curriculum and teaching all ages.
Cyber Security, mobile apps, and robotics are some of her recent topics of interest. Beryl also leads Professional Development trainings for the Mobile Computer Science Principles course.
Before becoming a web developer, Joe had a fifteen year career as a fourth grade teacher and school counselor. Trained in progressive pedagogy and curriculum development at Bank Street College, he has found Scratch to be an ideal medium for students to engage in both creative expression and authentic problem solving.
Joe has facilitated Scratch workshops around the Pioneer Valley. Some of his projects are available on Digital Block Area.
Jacob Bashista is a student at Holyoke Community College. Currently he is working with Holyoke Codes as the official intern and as the mobile developer for a startup in Boston to create High Altitude Balloons for classrooms. He is also the developer of minelymod.com, a tool for create mods for Minecraft PE.
Jacob loves working with science and tech and runs a robotics team in Northampton. He spends his free time making small projects to test various gaming environments.
Isaias is a tech enthusiast with over 10 years experience in the telecommunications industry. He has had various management and training roles at multiple cell phone carriers. Computer Science is one of his favorite subjects along with learning the latest technologies.
Isaias currently works as a teacher’s assistant and a workshop volunteer for Holyoke Codes. He has studied multiple programming languages focusing on mobile development. Recently robotics and artificial intelligence are the latest technologies he been working with.
Peter began his digital career working in SF, CA in the early 1990s. Peter has been a web developer since the web’s debut, and a Flash animation and ActionScript interactive developer for almost as long.
In 2002, Peter co-founded Sweet and Fizzy with his wife, Lissie. They designed and developed dozens of interactive exhibits for museums around the country, receiving 2005 Gold Muse Award for their work.
Peter enjoys science, math, art, fractals, generative art, creative invention, collaborative web technology, and natural user interfaces.
As the Director of Finance and Administration at the MGHPCC, Claire’s portfolio also includes fostering the consortium’s outreach and education efforts, and participating in economic development initiatives in Holyoke and the region.
Before coming to the MGHPCC, Claire was the department administrator at the Computer Science Department at UMass Amherst for almost twenty years. There she honed her skills in a variety of areas, ranging from grant management and compliance to encouraging collaborative behavior.