Instructors
Meet our instructors! They include pioneers in their fields, inventors, patent holders, internationally sought-after speakers, and authors. They are committed to helping you build your professional skills and carve out a great career.
Are you an expert in your field? Do you have years of experience and/or graduate work you want to share with others? UCSC Silicon Valley Extension is interested in meeting you!
ABIZAR LAKDAWALLA, Ph.D, director of Proxeom, is a molecular biologist with more than 20 years’ experience in first- and second-generation DNA sequencing technologies. His experience includes work at Thermo Fisher Scientific, I…
ABE T. CHEN is a leader in end-to-end digital and physical investigations, advanced layered security architectures, compliance/risk mitigation methodologies, and product security. He brings bleeding-edge security techniques to …
AHMAD NOURI, M.S., has more than 15 years of experience designing and developing client/server software products at IBM and NetFrame using WebSphere, Java EE, Java SE, EJB, XML, and databases. He has expertise in client-server,…
AHMAD YAZDI, M.S.C.S., custom projects engineer, has more than 25 years of experience in network management and networking at leading high tech companies. Yazdi retired from Cisco after over 16 years, advancing from engineer to…
AJIT NATARAJAN, M.S., is a senior software engineer at Google. Previously, he worked on networking, virtualization, and storage software for enterprise servers running HP-UX and 3PAR enterprise storage arrays at Hewlett-Packard…
ALAKH VERMA, M.S., is the director of platform technology solutions at Oracle and has over 20 years of experience in software technologies. Verma is responsible for providing solutions and services among global partners and eco…
MBA, has over 15 years' industry experience as a consultant in technology and corporate training and is the founder of ResultWorks, a Silicon Valley consultant firm. A veteran of the computer and tech industries, he specializes…
ALEX ALTEN, M.S., lead infrastructure security engineer with Salesforce, Inc., has 30 years’ experience as a software engineer and architect in computer networking and security development. He specializes in AWS/GCP cloud and K…
ALEXANDER KORNIAKOV, Ph.D., CPA, CGMA, is in private practice and teaching accounting and taxation at local community colleges. His accounting experience includes assisting various clients with federal and state research tax cr…
ALICE GOLDSTEIN, BA, is a Go-to-Market Leader at NTT Data Services. She works with the Accelerating SMART Team to deliver business outcomes that customers need facilitated by NTT’s SMART IoT Data Platform. Her expertise include…
ALKA JARVIS, M.B.A., a Distinguished Quality Engineer/senior director at Cisco Systems. She has authored 10 books and is an Exemplar Global certified auditor. Jarvis served as the chair for nine years for the U.S. Technical Adv…
ALP TIRITOGLU, M.A., M.F.A., has over 20 years of experience in user interface design. He has been a design manager, design consultant and director of user experience design at design agencies and major Silicon Valley companies.
Amanda Whalen, M.A., a clinical data manager at Genentech, has nearly a decade of experience in clinical research. She has first-hand experience as a control subject after enrolling herself in various clinical trials run by UC,…
AMER ATHER, B.S. E.E., has nearly 20 years of industry experience in operating system technologies and performance analysis of enterprise system solutions. He also has extensive experience in writing and debugging low-level ker…
ANDREA L. AMES, M.S., a senior technical staff member and information experience strategist and architect at IBM, specializes in user-centered information usability, strategy, architecture, and design. Her specialty is architec…
ANGELA BIRTS, Ed.D, MA, is founding principal consultant with Birts Equity and Inclusion Solutions, a leadership consultant leveraging diversity to promote equality and inclusion. Former positions include director of diversity …
Archit Kalra, BS, a staff DevOps engineer with the Search & Sensei Team at Adobe Inc., has over seven years of experience in site reliability engineering (SRE), DevOps engineering, and systems engineering in Silicon Valley. He …
ARUN RAMANNA, M.S., PMI-ACP®, CSM®, PMP®, has more than 18 years’ IT experience as a developer, team lead, and consultant. A scrum master, lean-agile coach, and trainer, he has worked for Fortune 500 companies including eBay, G…
MIKE TZAMALOUKAS, Ph.D., M.B.A., has more than 12 years of experience launching multiple high-volume consumer and enterprise products in industries ranging from telecommunications and transportation to government and services. …
AUDREY BLUMENEAU, M.Ed., runs a private consulting firm, which develops, implements and maintains websites for a diverse clientele that includes large businesses, small start-ups, nonprofits and regional associations. She has t…
AUSTIN LESEA, principal FPGA/ASIC engineer at Lockheed Martin, is a highly skilled engineer with a demonstrated, decades-long history of working in the semiconductor industry and sharing his experience in the classroom. He prev…
BENJAMIN TING, M.S.E.E., is a principal engineer at Micron Technology. He is responsible for developing block-to-SOC UVM methodology, architecting Coverage-Driven Verification solutions, and developing re-usable plug-and-play v…
BILL KURANI, M.S.R.A., M.S.E.E., is head and director of regulatory affairs and quality assurance at a Silicon Valley-based global genomics company. He has over 20 years of experience in regulatory affairs and quality assurance…
BINEET SHARMA, M.S.C.S., is an architect and director of engineering for a software company. He has nearly 20 years of experience developing large and medium-scale software products. Sharma has held a variety of leadership role…
BIPIN THOMAS, M.S, is the president of ICURO, a Santa Clara-based artificial intelligence (AI) systems company delivering hardware and software integrated solutions for business growth outcomes. He is an award-winning senior ex…
CHAD G. MILLER, AM, from Harvard University, developed innovative chemical methods and instrumentation for protein analysis at the Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope Medical Center. He authored over 50 publications …
CHARLES DANCAK, M.S.E.E., is a consultant with 25 years of experience in the semiconductor and EDA industries. He has taught RTL design and debug using Verilog, SystemVerilog, and VHDL as well as DFT/ATPG. His expertise is draw…
CHERYL PALLADINO, Ed.D, a kindergarten teacher in the Union School District, has over 20 years’ experience in education, primarily pre-kindergarten and transitional kindergarten through sixth grade, as well as inclusion, curric…
CLARISA TATE, B.S.M.E., M.S.R.A, is vice president of product development and regulatory affairs at AIRx Medical, Inc. She has over 18 years of medical device industry experience and has specialized knowledge in manufacturing, …
CLAUDIO SANCHEZ, M.A, has extensive experience teaching TESOL practices and methodologies to international students and prospective second language teachers in the U.S. and abroad. He teaches customized language courses at San …
CONCETTA RICCOBENE, Ph.D., MBA, PMP, is a semiconductor industry professional with a blended expertise of engineering, management, and current Agile/Waterfall program management practices. Most recently she has consulted with N…
CRAIG HARRISON, B.A., is a professional speaker, trainer, consultant and coach. As founder of Expressions of Excellence!™ he has conducted training for Fortune 500 companies since 1997 and has taught for UCSC Extension since 20…
CRAIG J. COOMBS, B.S., RAC, president of Coombs Medical Device Consulting, has more than 26 years of regulatory experience in the medical device industry. He develops U.S. and European regulatory strategies, negotiates on behal…
CYNTHIA RILEY, B.S., is a financial planner with Equinox Wealth Management. She worked for Intel Corp. in a variety of individual contributor and management positions for nearly 20 years before completing the UCSC Extension Per…
DARIN MATTHEWS, FNIGP, CPPO, CPSM, CPM, is the director of West Coast Operations for Negometrix, an international leader in digital procurement. He has over 25 years of procurement and supply chain management experience in both…
DARRYL SWEET, CPSM, C.P.M., is the director of business services at UC Hastings College of the Law where he manages the college’s purchasing and contracting functions. He has been in supply chain management for nearly 25 years.…
DAVID WEST, D.H.Sc., M.P.H., senior manager of medical writing at Gilead Sciences, Inc., has more than 10 years of pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry experience. His expertise includes drug development management and wri…
DAVID CONMY, M.S., GPHR, SHRM-SCP, principal consultant for Zenzile Consulting, Inc., is a career business and human resources professional with more than 30 years’ experience leading HR organizations in domestic and internatio…
DAVID G KERN, MBA, is principal and founder of K2 Regulatory Consulting. Formerly head of regulatory affairs at Illumina, he has held leadership positions at Myraqa, XDx, Adamas Pharmaceuticals and Affymetrix, and other compani…
DAVID J. KEENAN, B.S., is an environmental health and safety consultant with Performance Safety Associates. He has 34 years of experience in environmental health and safety. He has taught at UCSC Extension since 2001.
DAVID SWANSON, M.A., SHRM-SCP, is a human resource management consultant, author and keynote speaker with more than 30 years’ experience. Most recently he was executive vice president of HR for SAP SuccessFactors, following pre…
DAVID WACHENSCHWANZ, M.S. ECE, senior associate at SmartOrg, has more than 20 years of experience developing and integrating components, sensors, hardware and firmware in the data storage industry. Previously he worked for West…
DAVID BAKHTNIA, BSEE, MSEM, is a certified technical and professional consultant with over 20 years of technical expertise providing full-stack, end-to-end e-solutions, business, and technical consulting services. A change mana…
DEANNA J. MOUSER, J.D., L.L.M., is an attorney in employment law. She is well versed in offering practical solutions to employment law issues. Mouser has authored articles and chapters on employment law topics, including defama…
DEBORAH CRIM, M.S., BCET, a teacher and educational specialist, has worked in public and private schools, clinics and private practice. She trained as a special educator at Bank Street College in New York City and teaches struc…
DIANA KENNEDY, MA, is a board-certified educational therapist with more than 20 years’ experience as a teacher specializing in math, reading, writing, autism spectrum disorder, and dyslexia. Through Mindspark Custom Learning So…
DIANNE V. CONRY, M.S. in financial accounting, CPA, is a consultant with Kranz & Associates and has more than 20 years of accounting experience both in public accounting and in private industry. Her specialties include: general…
DONALD KEIDEL, Ph.D., a software engineer with Apple, has six years of software development and nine years of research experience in bioinformatics. He is proficient in Python, PHP, HTML, and shell scripting, and has worked at …
EDISON FONG, Ph.D., is a design consultant. He worked at Loral Space System, Microsoft and National Semiconductor. He has 25 years of experience in analog design for communications, data conversion and RF systems. Fong has 12 i…
EDWARD ROZHON, Ph.D., chair of the Biotechnology and Clinical Trials Design and Management programs, has had a long career in the biopharmaceutical industry as a contributor to the development of drugs to treat viral and autoim…
EDWARD ONG, D.B.A., M.S., has 18 years of experience in the development of power supply solutions for consumer electronics, high-end computing, and networking equipment applications. Ong also has extensive industry experience m…
EDWIN MACH, M.S., is a senior software engineer. His experience spans multiple companies in software engineering and development. He has extensive knowledge in Eclipse, Java, XML, and AJAX, among dozens of other technologies.
ERIC C. HEILMANN, B.S., M.S., M.B.A., has over 20 years of experience in the aerospace, embedded systems and semiconductor industries. His major responsibilities include project management, new product introduction, product req…
ERIC DORF, B.F.A., D.M.B.A., director of UX/UI design at Megastar, the world's first global crowdsourced online talent competition platform. Formerly he was a principal user experience and interface designer and design manager …
Eric Solve, CFP®, EA, is a senior advisor and partner at Wade Financial Advisory. He is an active member of the Financial Planners Association of Silicon Valley, having served both as past president of the chapter and on the bo…
FARHAN SHAHAB, M.B.A., is a management professional with more than 15 years of experience in quality systems, quality engineering and process improvement for the medical device industry. He has held management representative po…
FRANCES ANN MCKENNEY, M.S., is a quality and compliance consultant for McKenney Consulting, LLC. She has more than 20 years' experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry and has hosted inspections by the FDA and …
FRANK M. MANGINI, M.S.E.E., M.B.A., PMP®, PMI-ACP®, CSP, has over 25 years’ experience in project management and product development and served as the director of programs for ARGOSystems/Boeing Electronic Defense Systems. As s…
FRAUKE UHLENBRUCH, Ph.D., was educated in Germany and England. She teaches English and German as second languages in a variety of settings to business professionals, university students, and children. She has worked as an edito…
GAIL FERREIRA, Ph.D., a focused senior executive with deep expertise in technology and digital transformation, has more than 25 years’ experience spanning the intersection of technology and business. She is an expert in Agile@S…
GAIL KATSIR, Ph.D., has been a biochemist for over 10 years. Dr. Katsir has experience in both academia and industry. She has worked on signal transduction pathways in bacteria, and protein and gene analysis of cancer pathways…
GARTH WILLIAMS, BSEE, MBA, CFP®, is a financial advisor with Honu Wealth Management, where he focuses on helping people make the most of their financial lives. He enjoys guiding his clients through the significant financial eve…
G. PETER SHABE, M.S., is a biostatistician and president of Advance Research Associates, Inc., a contract research organization (CRO) providing data management and biostatistical services to the medical device, biotech and phar…
GERRI O’RIORDAN, RN, BSN, CCRN, is a research nurse manager of cardiovascular medicine at Stanford University and co-director of the Stanford Clinical Research Preceptor program. At Stanford, O’Riordan has worked as clinical re…
GILBERT GARCIA, B.S., M.B.A., is a business and technology consultant with over 30 years of experience in IT, digital marketing, software development, data science, system architecture, mobile phone app development, networking;…
GUIDO BORDIGNON, Ph.D., M.S., is a professor in molecular biotechnology at the University of Ca’Foscari of Venice, Italy. Dr. Bordignon was a visiting scholar at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography and Oregon Health Science U…
HAONING Y. RICHTER, MBA, CPA, CIA, CCEP, founder of HYR Consulting, LLC., has more than 20 years of accounting experience working with Fortune 100 companies in Silicon Valley. Her experience includes senior management positions…
HIEN LUU, M.S, an engineering manager at LinkedIn, has over 20 years’ experience designing and developing scalable web applications and big data infrastructure and applications at Silicon Valley companies, such as Uber, Netflix…
HINKMOND WONG, M.S., is a principal software engineer at Apple and highly passionate Java architect and developer. He formerly worked as a software engineer for LinkedIn and as a consulting member of technical staff at Oracle. …
HOLLY CORNELISON HOPLA, M.Ed., a secondary English language arts specialist for the Issaquah School District in Washington and an independent educational consultant, has worked extensively with K-12 students and adult learners.…
HONG NGUYEN-PHUONG, PMP®, PSM I, PSPO I, SASM, SA, has managed teams, technology projects and programs at Sun Microsystems, Symantec, and PG&E, as well as at smaller organizations and startups. He trained and coached Agile Scru…
HSIAO-CHI CHANG TZENG (ANGEL CHANG), M.Ed., Ph.D., a bilingual educator and researcher at Stanford University. She received her doctorate in Education from the UC Davis where she taught in many departments, including Asian Amer…
IMRAN HAJIMUSA, M.S., has more than 20 years of experience in payment, security, authentication, connectivity, mobile, broadband, consumer and networking industries. He has held various leadership roles at Siemens, Infineon, La…
IRV KALB, M.S., is a software consultant with 10 years of experience in the development of educational software. He has contributed to a wide variety of classroom and e-learning products and has taught entry-level programming c…
JACKIE WILDAU is founder, president, and lead facilitator for All In Play™, a progressive methodology for teaching early cognitive development. She created The Wildau Method, and, in partnership with the City University of New …
JAGADEESH VASUDEVAMURTHY, Ph.D., a principal software engineer at Xilinx, has more than 20 years of experience in electronic design automation. He has worked on the design and development of commercial EDA tools at Cadence, Xil…
JAMES DINWIDDIE, M.A.Ed., obtained his TESOL Certification from the University of California Santa Cruz Extension. He has more than 12 years of ESL classroom teaching experience in the U.S. and abroad. Dinwiddie is also an adju…
JANANI RANGARAJAN, M.S., is a statistical data analyst at Gilead Sciences where she supports the Quality Risk Management department with data analysis for plant-wide interdepartmental KPIs. Former positions include working as a…
JASMINA TOPALOVIC, Ph.D., is an ESL instructor at De Anza College and English Language Development program coordinator and teacher at the San Jose Unified School District. She earned a master’s degree in Educational Leadership …
JEANEEN WALLIS, M.B.A, Ph.D., has worked in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device sector for 20 years in a wide range of positions including senior research manager. She has worked as a vendor and a sponsor, a f…
JEANETTE SMITH, B.A., is a clinical research professional and the owner and creative director of Wild Horse Design. An accomplished entrepreneur and graphic designer with experience educating students of all ages and background…
JEFFREY SONAS, B.S., is owner of Sonas Consulting, providing sponsors, vendors, and CROs with comprehensive EDC and eClinical services such as study design, requirements/specification design, vendor auditing/evaluation, databas…
JEFF MILLER, B.S., principal software engineer with Bio-Rad Digital Biology Center, has over 20 years’ experience as a software developer, architect, consultant, business owner, and instructor. His areas of expertise include iO…
JENNIFER A. FELL, BA, enterprise content strategist at Expert Support, has over 25 years of experience providing enterprise-scale content solutions for highly technical audiences. She is a content strategist, information archit…
JENTI VANDERTUIG, BA, a highly sought-after procurement expert and speaker, served as chief procurement officer for the County of Santa Clara for 17 years overseeing a $2.5 billion annual budget. As CPO, she steered one of the …
JESSE GILLISPIE, Ph.D., a seventh grade teacher at Peninsula School, serves as chair of the UCSC Extension TESOL certificate program. She has taught since 2002 in a variety of contexts, including early childhood classrooms, a d…
JESSE DOGILLO, CFP®, CLU®, ChFC®, AEP®, founder of Bay Area Financial Advisers, has been a financial planner since 1988. He provides planning, counseling, and financial services to individuals and small business owners in Silic…
JILL PODOLSKY, B.S., has more than 20 years of experience in HR. Her expertise is in aligning employees with the needs of company customers and training leadership teams. She is certified to administer the Myers Briggs Type Ind…
JOHN FLEMING, M.Ed. BCET, is founder and director of Developmental Learning Solutions, Inc. He has a master’s degree in Special Education with concentrations in Learning Disabilities, and in Emotional Disturbances that Affect L…
CHRISTINA RI, M.S., Ed.D. is an innovative academic leader, learning experience director, senior instructional designer, project manager, and professor with more than a decade of experience teaching in higher education. Previou…
JUAN GOMEZ, Ph.D., is a software development engineer at Amazon AWS and serves as chair of the UCSC Silicon Valley Extension Information Technology certificate program. Formerly he was a senior staff engineer at F5 Networks. He…
JUAN JOSÉ FUNG, Ph.D., director of Protein Sciences ProNovus Bioscience, LLC, has worked as a researcher in the small-molecule, biotherapeutic and CRO industry sectors, focusing on cell physiology and drug discovery for more th…
JUDY A. LaCROIX, M.A. in management, is a dynamic, innovative trainer and consultant. She has been involved in consulting, management, training and education for over 20 years. Her experience encompasses managing, consulting fo…
JULIUS SCHILLINGER, M.S., Ph.D./ABD, is vice president of strategic partnerships for MHN, the Behavioral Health subsidiary of Health Net, a Fortune 200 healthcare company. He also held senior-level management positions at Healt…
KARIM SAJWANI, M.P.H., CCRA, associate director at Santen, has more than 16 years of experience in clinical drug development in cardiovascular, dermatology, infectious disease, oncology, ophthalmology and respiratory areas. Pre…
KEITH MOREL, Ph.D., is vice president/U.S. team manager of regulatory compliance at Qserve Group, the largest EU-based medical device consulting company focused on medical devices and in vitro diagnostics. Since 2000, he has he…
KEVIN M. TEN BRINK, MBA, a manager for Human Factors Engineering at Intuitive Surgical, has over 19 years of clinical, operating room, and technical experience with medical devices. He has been applying this background to the f…
KIRAN GULATI, Exemplar Medical Device Lead Auditor (Cert No. 6111), M.B.A. is a management consultant with more than 29 years of experience in the area of quality systems and process improvement in the medical device and biotec…
KRIS LAMBERT, M.A., holds Clear Multiple Subject, CLAD, TESOL and Gate credentials. She has over 20 years of teaching experience in both elementary and adult education. Lambert has served as a mentor to teachers and as the univ…
LAMIA WAHBA, Ph.D., is a molecular biologist completing her postdoctoral research at Stanford University. She is working on the mechanisms involved in RNA interference. Wahba finished her doctoral research at the University of …
LAURENCE F. O’CONNELL, M.B.A., M.S., M.A., has over 30 years of experience in the corporate, government and nonprofit sectors. His major responsibilities included project management, finance and accounting, economic analysis, m…
LEON BEZDIKIAN, B.A., vice president of Human Resources at Eta Compute, has more than 30 years of experience in the high tech industry, including SiBeam, Inphi and InvenSense. His experience includes running HR departments for …
LINDA RODGERS-PRICE, M.A., is principal consultant of Professional Dynamics, a management consulting firm specializing in team building, communication and personal development. Her professional experience includes serving as hu…
LINDA GUNTHER, B.A., M.A., M.B.A., has over 18 years of experience in HR business partner leadership and leadership development. She has led HR teams for companies including Sun Microsystems, Kaiser Aerospace (now Rockwell Coll…
LY-HUONG PHAM, Ph.D., M.B.A., M.S., has over 30 years of experience in high tech and is CEO of Mobiscale LLC, a provider of management, educational and software consulting services. Her clients range from startups to Fortune 50…
Lynn Hunsaker, MBA, is co-founder of ClearAction Value Exchange and chief customer officer and board chair of its parent company, ClearAction Continuum. She formerly served as president of Marketing Operations Partners and in k…
LYNN M. HUGHES, M.A., SPHR, CCP, has more than 20 years’ experience in HR management in high tech and life sciences companies. She has worked as director of organizational development for Cepheid, vice president of HR for Jazz …
MALKIAT SANDHU, B.S., M.A., has over ten years of experience teaching economics, international political economy, introductory business and computer information systems at a number of Bay Area colleges and universities. He also…
MANDAR MUNISHWAR, B.E., is a formal verification engineer at Google, where he is part of the team responsible for formally verifying next-generation machine learning accelerator chips. He has more than 15 years of experience in…
MARC J. FRIEDMAN, M.B.A, a management consultant with McMillan/Doolittle, has worked in market research, management consulting and asset management industries for more than 30 years in a variety of line and leadership positions…
MARCO ROSA, M.A., is a certified communication and leadership executive coach supporting C-level and director-level executives in human resources management. He coaches clients and consults in the areas of HR management, execut…
TERRI FITZMAURICE, B.A., a webmaster at Central California Alliance for Health, has more than 30 years’ experience in the high tech industry in web and graphic design, illustration, writing and editing, and project management p…
MARIA FILIPPOU-FRYE, MD, M.B.S, the clinical research manager at the Rodriguez Lab at the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, has more than 10 years of experience in clinical research. Filip…
MARILSON CAMPOS, B.A., principal data architect at Zoosk, an online dating site, has been designing complex big data systems for more than a decade. He specializes in developing and implementing architectures to massively build…
MARILYN ARMSTRONG, M.Ed., has taught over 40 different education courses at a number of colleges and universities. She has served as a preschool teacher and director, has owned her own school, and also has 15 years of experienc…
MARILYN DAVIS, Ph.D., is a well-regarded Python trainer for the industry and has taught Python at UCSC Extension since 1997. She has contributed software for computer-aided instruction, astronomy, statistics, environmental rese…
MARK MONTROSE, M.S., is principle consultant of Montrose Compliance Services, Inc., USA, with 40 years’ experience in applied EMC design, analysis, testing, and troubleshooting of printed circuit boards and system. He was a lon…
MELISSA LE, B.A, Multi-Subject Teaching Credential (MSTC), has more than 23 years of experience working with infants, preschoolers, and children in K-6 classrooms. She has worked in public and private school settings and examin…
MICHAEL A. WANG, M.S., M.B.A., is senior field applications manager at Macronix. He has taught for UCSC Extension since 2006. He has held various technical and management roles at startups and multi-nationals in Silicon Valley.…
MICHAEL D. TAYLOR, M.S., MPM®, FAAPM, is a PPM-certified master instructor and principal of Systems Management Services. He has taught for UCSC Extension since 1997. He has more than 30 years of project management, and engineer…
MICHAEL SAVOD, B.S., M.B.A., is a marketing consultant specializing in communications and targeted lifestyle marketing techniques. His background includes assignments as vice president of sales and marketing for the Oakland As,…
MICHAELA DE SAPIO-YAZAR, M.S. in education, E/T, has run her own educational therapy and tutoring practice since 1998. Ms. De Sapio-Yazar has been a certified educational therapist since 2011 and also works part-time at Myndfle…
MICHELLE CARPENTER, J.D., RAC, a seasoned regulatory affairs professional with more than 20 years of global pharmaceutical industry experience, is president of RPSpharma, a consulting firm that provides regulatory and developme…
MICHELLE ROSENAUR, B.A., has been a key player on teams providing relational database solutions for more than 20 years. At Cisco Systems she worked in both SQL server database administration and Oracle development. Previously s…
MICHELLE CORBIN, M.S., is a senior web editor and information architect for IBM Developer at IBM. She is a Society for Technical Communication fellow with more than 25 years of experience as a technical communicator. She has p…
MIN WU, Ph.D., front-end developer and UI designer at Cloud Lending Solutions, has over 10 years of research and practical experience in the areas of human-computer interaction, user interface design, web security, collaboratio…
MIN “ADAM” CHU, Ph.D., a principal engineer at IDT, has held technical positions with Intel and SiBEAM, where he developed analog and RF ICs. He has authored a number of technical papers and several book chapters.
MOHAMMED FENNICH, Ph.D., has more than 20 years of experience in program and project management, leadership, enterprise information systems and business engineering. A certified project panagement professional and an active mem…
MOSHE GOTESMAN, Ph.D., CSM, SAFe, LeSS, PMP, ITIL, is an experienced consultant, trainer, and coach on project and program management, specializing in Agile, Scrum, and related topics. He has worked in engineering management, p…
NANCY A. PYZEL, EA, M.B.A., is an Enrolled Agent with 28 years’ experience in tax preparation, planning and represenation. She has worked in management and tax preparation at Tiret & Company CPAs; Kimbell, McKenna, and Von Kasc…
NANCY ISAAC, BS, MPH, JD, is a senior management leader and regulatory/clinical/quality advisor with more than 25 years of experience in strategy and obtaining approvals for devices, in vitro diagnostics, drugs, biologics, and …
NANCY LONG, MS, a university lecturer and speaker with more than 40 years of business experience, is the former chief human resources officer and executive vice president of Global HR for Hitachi Data Systems. She has also held…
NARINDER SINGH, Pharm.D., M.B.A., pharmacy director at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, directs medication management at the hospital and its ten network clinics. He has been in healthcare industry for 20 years and specialize…
NATALIE BERNASCONI, Ed.D, has taught at the K-12 level for the past 20 years and undergraduate and master’s level courses at UCSC since 2010. Her research focus is on English learners and access to technology as a social justic…
NATE MANLEY, Ph.D., is senior consultant with Dark Horse Consulting, serving the cell and gene therapy field. Previously an associate director of neurobiology at Asterias Biotherapeutics and an academic researcher at Stanford U…
NINET MORADI, BA, MA, has more than 20 years of experience in the field of early childhood education. She is an early childhood education professional advisor with the California Child Development Training Consortium. She has r…
NIRANJAN MAHARAJH, MS, director of R&D at Carl Zeiss Meditec, Inc., has a demonstrated history in the medical device system and software development, quality systems, FDA regulations, and driving operational efficiency. Formerl…
OLIVER GILDERSLEEVE, M.S.E.E., PMP® is a lead planner for Dynamics Research Corp, working remotely on a contract with the Department of Veterans Affairs. He has 12 years of experience in project management. He was vice presiden…
OSWALD CAMPESATO, MBA, MA, MIS, BSCS, BA, is the co-founding CEO of iQuarkt and author of 23 technical books. He is a software engineer with more than 20 years’ experience as a software developer and has worked in numerous mana…
PADDU MELANAHALLI, M.S., director of software development at Cisco, leads product development and solutions in various business units in engineering. He has more than two decades of software industry experience and has contribu…
PARISA MOUSAVI-SHAFAEI, Ph.D., is a consultant to biotechnology, pharmaceutical companies, and investors. She has taught courses in molecular genetics, biotechnology, physiology, and cancer biology for both undergraduate and gr…
PARTHASARATHY PADMANABHAN, M.B.A., is a data architect at one of Silicon Valley’s leading technology companies. Padmanabhan has more than 20 years of experience in information technology and has worked in data modeling for more…
PATRICK WILLIAMS, M.B.A., B.S., senior director of marketing at The Jacuzzi Group, is a customer and consumer marketer with nearly 20 years’ experience working with leading brands and strategic customers. Grounded in brand mana…
PATRICK LEE, M.B.A., M.S., PE, RAC, director of regulatory affairs at BioCardia, Inc., is a regulatory affairs / QA professional with over 25 years of experience in FDA–regulated industries including health-care, medical device…
PHILIP ZIMAN, MBA, enjoyed a 30-year human resources career in global high tech. He most recently held the position of vice president of Global Human Resources at Nanometrics. Previous senior level HR positions include working …
PRAMOD GUPTA, Ph.D., has over 15 years of experience in industrial and academic settings. His areas of expertise include controls, simulation and modeling, estimation, robotics, machine learning, data modeling, data analysis, p…
Preethi Kumaresan, M.S, is a speaker, industry professional, and entrepreneur in the field of artificial intelligence and machine learning. She has 15 years of experience managing multimillion-dollar projects at Fortune 500 co…
PURNIMA KRISHNAMURTHY, M.B.A., a learning strategist with eBay, has over 14 years of high-tech industry experience, building and aligning technical talent and performance practices with strategic business objectives. She curren…
RACHAEL “SHELLEY” M. HAVEN, BSME, ATP, RET, has helped individuals with physical, sensory, cognitive, and learning challenges to unlock their potential with technology since 1987. Her experience in assistive technology (AT) enc…
RADHIKA S. GROVER, Ph.D., founder of SPEL Technologies, an educational product startup, has over 15 years of experience in teaching and research. She has provided training on data structures and algorithms in C/C++ to a large c…
RAGHAV VINJAMURI, B.S.E.E., is an IT and system performance architect with more than 20 years of experience in solution development and delivery, system architecture; with multi-faceted experience in engineering and IT roles at…
RAHUL BHUMAN, MS, MBA, has more than 18 years of leadership experience across three continents in startup investment, corporate development, corporate strategy, business development, and software development. He has worked in t…
RAJANI SHAILENDER, BE, MBA, is vice president of Sales at Tech Mahindra, an IT services company specializing in in digital transformation, consulting, and business process reengineering. She focuses on high tech markets in the …
RAMIN ELAHI, M.S.E.E., is a sales training portfolio manager with Infineon Technologies. Previously he was an engineering training solution architect with NetApp Inc. where he was responsible for customer-centric Cluster ONTAP …
RAVI KALLURI, M.S.E.E., M.B.A., PMP® and Certified Scrum Master, has more than 25 years of experience leading complex software development projects. He is a senior manager for program management at Cisco Systems and also works …
RAVIKUMAR NANDAGOPALAN, M.B.A., has more than 15 years of experience in information technology, primarily as a data architect. His domain expertise is in the financial and insurance arena. He works as consultant on an enterpris…
RAVISHANKAR CHITYALA, Ph.D., senior software development engineer with Elekta, has extensive experience programming Python and Django. He has been a researcher and consultant in scientific and medical image processing. He co-au…
RAY CHAU, M.B.A., B.S., CPA, is an experienced finance director/manager with almost 40 years of experience in the field. His areas of expertise are in program management, strategic planning, business process improvement, cross-…
REBECCA LEE LOVIN, Ed.D. in multicultural education, is an experienced high school teacher and has conducted research and worked in Korea, Mexico, and Egypt. She has taught English as a second language for UCSC Extension since …
RENATA CARICO, CFP®, is a vice president and financial consultant at the national brokerage firm of Charles Schwab where she’s worked since 2012. She holds Series 7 and 66 licenses qualifying her to work as an investment advise…
RENÉE SNOW, Ph.D., CFP®, has worked as a Certified Financial Planner® for the past 20 years and has combined technical expertise with psychology and philosophy in service to her clients. She earned a M.S. in accountancy and wor…
REVATHY SIVASUBRAMANIAM, M.Com., M.Phil., has taught accounting for Santa Clara Adult Education and St. Thomas College of Arts and Science in India. She has a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Commerce and a master’s degree i…
REYNOLD LEWKE, M.S., M.B.A, LLB, a corporate attorney, litigator, author and business advisor, runs his own strategic talent management consulting and executive search firm. He has worked with startups and global Fortune 100 co…
RICH RONDEAU, M.B.A., M.S., PMP®, CSM, ITIL, is a technology project manager and consultant with a passion for helping companies work together to improve results. With over 15 years of experience managing technical projects and…
RICHARD C. DAYTON, J.D., is an estate planning attorney with his own firm and a founding member of the WealthCounsel National Study Group. He earned his law degree from Santa Clara University School of Law, became a certified s…
ROBERT KNIGHT, M.S., D.P.M., has more than 25 years of experience teaching mathematics. He is a pioneer in the use of technology in the teaching of statistics and mathematics. Knight’s innovative teaching has garnered awards fr…
ROBERT (BOB) DURSTENFELD, MA, is a professional technology communicator experienced in brand marketing, public relations, analyst relations, corporate marketing, and product marketing. He’s launched more than a dozen products i…
ROBYN STONE, M.A., is a STEM specialist for The Harker Preschool where she designs and implements science, technology, and math content areas for transitional kindergarten, pre-k, and preschool classes. She holds a Site Supervi…
ROMI BEHBEHANIAN, M.S., associate director and global R&D technical integrator/program manager with Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, has more than 15 years of multi-disciplinary experience in pharmaceutica…
RONALD TJEERDEMA, Ph.D., D.A.B.T., is an Associate Dean in UC Davis’ College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and a professor in the Department of Environmental Toxicology. He has taught for UCSC Extension since 1990.
RUHINA NAJEM, MD, brings nearly 20 years of international medical, clinical and health administration training and experience to the classroom to help students understand, practice, and enjoy personal and professional growth th…
RUSS BLAHETKA, D.B.A., CFP, is founder and managing director for Vestnomics Wealth Management, LLC. He has taught at UCSC Extension since 2008. He was previously an advisor and manager with Waddell & Reed. Dr. Blahetka has over…
RUSSELL LEONG, B.A. in graphic design, operates Russell Leong Design in Cupertino, serving a diverse range of Bay Area clients. He has more than 30 years of experience in design. Leong’s firm established its reputation with des…
SADIE M. POURFATHI, B.S., M.A., president of CH Pension Service, has more than 25 years of experience in the field of qualified plans. Her expertise is in qualified plans design, administration and reporting. A graduate from th…
SAM HUYNH, Ph.D., is a principal member of technical staff and a senior manager at AMD. He has over 18 years of experience in the field of VLSI design including memory, IO, physical design implementation and full chip integrati…
SANJAY BHATIA, B.S., PMP®, director of program management at Exabeam, has over 23 years of experience managing and developing large-scale enterprise software applications. He has held senior management positions at various comp…
SARA SAATCHI, M.S., is a software developer and researcher. She teaches computer science courses as an adjunct professor and has authored scholarly articles in image processing and artificial intelligence. She earned a master’s…
SARAH HARMON, Ph.D., is an adjunct professor of Spanish and Linguistics at several community colleges in the area. She has taught Spanish and lower-division linguistics courses at the collegiate level since 1999, both at major …
SAVITA O. SINHA, M.Sc., has over 24 years of clinical research experience coordinating, monitoring, training and managing clinical trials. Her most recent clinical research focus has been on managing international studies. Ms. …
SHAHROKH SHAKOURI, M.S., is a consultant for Bay Area chip design companies. He has taught for UCSC Extension since 2008. He has 22 years of experience with high-performance and low-power IC designs in the areas of synthesis, s…
SHARMILA ROY, Ph.D., has over 30 years' experience in special education; primarily in teacher training, nonprofit management, classroom interventions, and curriculum development for special education. She has extensive experien…
SHASHI SATHYANARAYANA, Ph.D., has more than 20 years of experience in scientific programming, algorithm development, and teaching. He holds 20 patents in machine learning and ultrasound imaging, and has published 12 technical p…
SHELDON MULLINS, M.B.A., senior director of regulatory affairs at Adverum Biotechnologies, is a regulatory affairs professional who has worked on the development of biologics, small molecules and gene therapy products for a var…
SOLY PATERSON, MBA, senior quality engineer with Thermo Fisher Scientific Quality, has over 15 years’ experience managing, organizing, developing, communicating, and driving process effectiveness and product quality. Her previo…
SREENIVASAN PARUTHIYIL, Ph.D., research scientist at University of California, San Francisco Medical Center, has conducted postdoctoral studies in immunology of infectious diseases at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences…
STEPHANIE WEMUSA, BA, MSHROD, is a talent life cycle and optimization consultant with more than 15 years’ experience developing inclusive workplace practices to source, recruit, engage, and advance diverse employees. She is a d…
STEPHEN HYATT, Ph.D., M.B.A., has worked as an engineer for several major Silicon Valley companies including Seagate Technology, Novellus, Mattson Technology, and Solectron. He has an extensive background in materials enginee…
STEVE ARNOLD, M.B.A., is the owner of Custom Computer Services. He has experience teaching courses in WAN, LAN, network administration, and online systems development. He has taught at UCSC Extension since 1997.
SUBHADEEP CHATTERJEE, M.S., has 12 years of experience developing Internet and Intranet products for Yahoo as well as a range of industrial and financial companies. He specializes in information architecture blueprints, wirefra…
SUDARSHAN BAHL. MBA, ME, M. Phil., M.S., a recognized expert in operations, supply chain management, customer care, quality, reliability, and Lean Six Sigma, has managed global quality, supply chain and engineering organization…
SULEMAN SAYA, B.S., is a senior software engineer with over 20 years of experience designing, developing, debugging, and testing embedded software. He has taught at UCSC Extension since 1997. Saya has worked in telecom, network…
TARA MARTIN-MILIUS, M.S.O.D., B.A., executive director of Leadership Sunnyvale, is a former Sunnyvale City Council member and community leader. She teaches organization development and facilitation at UCSC Extension and various…
TARAL OZA, M.S., a principal software engineer with Abbott, has nearly 20 years’ experience of medical device development with leading high-technology companies in the Bay Area. A seasoned full-stack architect, his experience s…
TED GEORGE, CFP®, MSFP is a Certified Financial Planner™ practitioner and investment adviser representative. He is the founding principal of Wealthscape Advisors, LLC, a registered investment adviser firm in California providin…
TERRY BARTON, M.S., has held leadership positions in retail, container shipping, biotech, and higher education and brings over 20 years of management and organizational development experience to her students. Barton has a Maste…
TERESA HARDY, B.S., M.A., is the founder of New Media-Designs, an online marketing agency specializing in solutions for technology companies. She has over 25 years of experience in engineering and marketing in high tech compani…
TERRY MULLIN, MBA, MS, MS, an accounting instructor at Cabrillo College, has taught business and accounting-related subjects at the university and college level for more than 25 years. Previously he has taught at UC Santa Cruz,…
THARAN (Terry) J. LANIER, M.B.A., CPA, is in private practice and specializes in accounting and the tax needs of small business at Seeba & Associates, Inc. He has worked in large industries and has taught community college unde…
TOM RICO PAMUKCU, BS, principal and founder of Sounder Trials Consulting, has over a decade of experience in clinical research across institutions and indications during which he has leveraged technology to improve clinical res…
THOMAS P. MOYER, M.B.A., a delivery manager in the social media department for Genentech, is a digital marketing professional with more than 10 years’ experience with top Fortune 500 brands. His career experience includes stint…
THOMAS POLIQUIN, B.S.E.E., is president of Soft Computing Technology, specializing in object-oriented design. With more than 20 years of experience in hardware and software, he has led projects that use object-oriented technolo…
TIM BOMBOSCH, Ph.D. Stanford University, has more than 10 years of experience managing documentation and training projects at various companies. His areas of expertise include biotech, medical devices, and consumer electronics.…
VANISHREE RAO, Ph.D., is a cryptographer focused on designing provably secure cryptographic tools underlying blockchain. She is currently a senior cryptographer at O(1) Labs, a heavily cryptography-based blockchain startup in S…
VICKI WINTERS, M.A., owner of V-Link Studio, works with nonprofit agencies, businesses and local governments to develop publicity and fundraising campaigns. She has taught for UCSC Extension since 2001.
VIVEK SHARMA, M.S., has more than 10 years of experience in client-server application development and web user interface. He is familiar with all the major frameworks in the Java and Java EE domain. He also has worked extensive…
WAYNE FENTON, M.S.C.S., software architect and vice president of engineering for Alarm.com, a Silicon Valley software company, drives software architecture and scalability programs in a large enterprise IoT home security produc…
WAYNE SCHOENE, B.S., CPA, an accountant with MHTB Accountancy Group of Silicon Valley, has been a Certified Public Accountant specializing in tax compliance, tax planning and tax controversy since 2001. Previously he worked as …
WENDEM BEYENE, Ph.D., is a principal engineer at Intel where he works in the design and analysis of programmable hardware. Previously he was a technical director at Rambus Inc. where he was responsible for the design and resea…
WENLEI "WENDY" SHAN, M.B.A., is a college business instructor and consultant with 17 years’ experience in client services, account management and multichannel optimization in the high tech industry. She focuses on driving highe…