Candidate for
Board Member; Goleta Union School District

I am a product of the public school system which is one of the reasons that I believe in it so strongly. I originally started out going to school in England (where I was an Air Force Brat) but I ended up completing most of my elementary school, and all of my junior high and high school years at the Sacramento area's public school system. I received my Bachelor's degree (B.S.El.) from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in Electronic Engineering, and following that, I received a Masters Degree (M.S.E.E.) in Signals and Systems (specializing in Robotics) from U.C.S.B. I am due to finish my Ph.D. in Geological Science (specialty is Computational Geochemistry) in June of 2005.

I have lived in the Goleta area for over 18 years and I am currently an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at S.B.C.C. where I've been teaching for over 6 years to a very diverse student body. While at S.B.C.C. I have taken an interest in academic and student issues by serving on the Curriculum Advisory Committee (CAC), the Scholastic Standards Committee (SSC), and the Instructional Technology Committee (ITC) among others. CAC is concerned with curriculum development campus-wide, SSC works with students who have special circumstances when trying to complete their degree, and ITC works campus-wide to purchase and implement educational technology initiatives.

In the community as a whole, I've done things like build (with a couple of friends) a huge Solstice Parade Float and I served on the board of the Santa Barbara-Toba Sister City Committee as both a member and as an officer (treasurer). I was part of the group which obtained official non-profit status for the SB-Toba Sister City Committee. Additionally, I was paid the ultimate compliment by parents when I was allowed to chaperone four (two girls/two boys) young students from Santa Barbara to go to Japan as part of an exchange program. I have had that honor twice.

I have been working with the Goleta Union School Board as an active parent over the past year and a half and I was part of a parent group that saved the District hundreds of thousands of dollars on the La Patera project. Our approach gave students the best facilities at the lowest cost. I have also taken on issues that I have no personal benefit from so that parents can get better representation.

I have owned my own software and hardware development company, Castlebar Technolgies, for over 6 years and I have consulted to many of the area's high technology companies. This has taught me about business money management and how to get the most out of every dollar.