Meet the Board

Founding Board Member
David is a Principal Scientist at Pandora Media in California, where he uses controlled experiments to measure the effects of advertising on purchases and other consumer behavior. He previously was a professor at Vanderbilt University and at the University of Arizona. A member of the PGSS class of 1986, he subsequently served as a physics TA in 1989 and 1991. He holds a bachelor’s degree in astrophysical sciences from Princeton and a PhD in economics from MIT. He is passionate about PGSS because it is the only educational institution he’s ever been associated with where all the students wanted to learn and all the teachers wanted to teach. He lives in Berkeley with his wife Jill Sazama.

Founding Board Member
David is a Principal Scientist at Pandora Media in California, where he uses controlled experiments to measure the effects of advertising on purchases and other consumer behavior. He previously was a professor at Vanderbilt University and at the University of Arizona. A member of the PGSS class of 1986, he subsequently served as a physics TA in 1989 and 1991. He holds a bachelor’s degree in astrophysical sciences from Princeton and a PhD in economics from MIT. He is passionate about PGSS because it is the only educational institution he’s ever been associated with where all the students wanted to learn and all the teachers wanted to teach. He lives in Berkeley with his wife Jill Sazama.

Founding Board Member
Janet is a retired teacher of gifted students and students with learning disabilities at the South Williamsport Area Jr.-Sr. High School in South Williamsport, PA. She is the mother of Jeremy Hurwitz, a PGSS govvie from 2003. After earning a Bachelor of Science from the University of Rhode Island in Child Development and Family Relations with a minor in Early Childhood Education and a Master of Education in Special Education from Rhode Island College, she went on to teach every grade level from preschool to 12, as well as parenting classes. In 2013, she received the Outstanding Educator Award presented by the Pennsylvania Association of Gifted Education (PAGE). Janet is married to Ken Weiss and has another son Jason and two wonderful grandchildren. She is dedicated to sustaining PGSS so that other students can have the same opportunity her son had. It is her belief that PGSS is invaluable due to the academic rigor, the advisory access to colleges and majors through TA’s and professors, and the many social benefits it provides.

Founding Board Member
Alfred grew up in New Castle, PA and attended PGSS in 1994. He earned a BS in Astronomy at Case Western Reserve University in 1999 and now works as a Business Analyst at PNC Bank.He lives outside Pittsburgh and spends his spare time reading, gaming and playing trombone in several community bands. PGSS was one of the most important and influential times of his life and he wants to ensure that future Pennsylvania students have the same opportunity he did.

Board Member Since 20XX
Zachary is the founder of Gates Law Office PLLC in Troy, PA, where he focuses his practice on general civil litigation, disputes involving the natural gas industry, and intellectual property litigation. A member of the PGSS Clas of 1997, he later served the program as a teaching assistant (2000, 2001) and resident life director (2002). A registered patent attorney licensed in four states (PA, MA, NH, and VT), he holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from The Pennsylvania State University and a J.D. from The Pennsylvania State University–the Dickinson School of Law. As a native of north-central Pennsylvania, Zachary wants to preserve PGSS for future Pennsylvanians, particularly those students from rural or economically challenged parts of the Commonwealth, so that they can be afforded the once-in-a-lifetime education experience he had when he was a teenager. He lives in Troy, PA, with his wife, sons and daughter.

Board Member Since 2021
Jennifer is the Chair of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Akron Children’s Hospital and Chair and Professor of Pathology at the Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED). Jennifer grew up in York, PA, and attended PGSS in 1992. She returned to PGSS as a TA in 1995 and as a Residence Life Director in 1997. Jennifer went on to do her undergraduate degree as a College Scholar at Cornell, completed her MD, PhD dual degree training at the University of Pennsylvania, and remained at Penn for Anatomic Pathology residency, Neuropathology fellowship and Surgical Pathology Fellowship. After beginning her career at Penn State Hershey Medical Center, in 2017 she took on her current roles in Ohio. Jennifer is active in several professional organizations and currently serves on the Executive Council of the American Association of Neuropathologists as the Secretary-Treasurer and the Executive Council of the Association of Pathology Chairs as the Chair of the Undergraduate Medical Education Committee. She is currently working toward her Master in Healthcare Management degree at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health.

Board Member Since 2019
Dr. Al Cangahuala was a member of the first PGSS class (PSS back then) in 1982, and a 1983 graduate of Baldwin High School in Pittsburgh. He earned his degrees in Aerospace Engineering and Planetary Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Since 1992 he has worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, CA, with a technical background in interplanetary navigation (inspired in part by a PSS project on orbital mechanics). Until recently he was the manager of JPL’s Mission Design and Navigation Section, and is now the Mission System Manager for the Europa Clipper project, a mission to explore Europa, one of Jupiter’s most interesting moons.

Board Member Since 2021
Alan is a gastroenterologist at Doylestown Hospital near Philadelphia. After attending PGSS in 1988, he earned his BS in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University in 1993. He went on to medical school at the University of Pennsylvania, followed by his residency in Internal Medicine and fellowship in Gastroenterology, both at Temple University Hospital finishing in 2004. He then joined a private group practice at Doylestown, where he has worked since training. Alan still looks back fondly on his experience at PGSS, allowing him to meet extraordinary peers and lifelong friends, many with whom he has crossed paths since 1988. In danger of missing the opportunity when PGSS was cancelled in 2009, he is also grateful that his daughter was able to attend PGSS in 2018, thirty years after him.

Board Member Since 2020
Andrew McGuier is the founder and president of Echo Gate Tech LLC, a software consulting company. A member of the PGSS Class of 2004, Andrew served as a computer science TA to the class of 2007 while completing a bachelor’s in computer science at Carnegie Mellon. Upon returning to Pittsburgh in 2015, PGSS has continued to be a family affair for Andrew where he has served as team project faculty advisor for the PGSS classes of 2017, 2018 and 2019, working alongside his wife, Dr. Natalie McGuier, a member of the teaching faculty at CMU and a team project advisor and elective professor for biology. Growing up in a rural school district, PGSS provided a life-altering opportunity for Andrew, and he is proud to have the opportunity to help pass that opportunity forward to future students, particularly those in underserved communities and school districts.

Board Member Since 2020
Madeline participated in PGSS class of 2013, the first year back after the program was cancelled. She attended the University of Pennsylvania, originally applying as a neuroscience major and later, after some soul-searching, decided to major in political communication and Spanish. After college, Madeline moved to Los Angeles where she now works as a legal assistant at a civil and criminal litigation law firm. She will apply to law school in the fall of 2020 to earn a J.D. in pursuit of a career in civil rights and humanitarian law. Madeline values her science background and the analytical skills she learned at PGSS which translate well to the practice of law. As a grateful PGSS alumna and Lenfest Foundation scholar, she is passionate about providing resources to gifted students in rural and underserved communities in PA, such as the one in which she grew up. She lives by the beach with her two cats, Paper and Scissors.

Board Member Since 2021
Chris Shotter is a Program Manager for MSA Safety based in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania, focused on leading the company’s value analysis program and other strategic programs. Chris attended PGSS in 2007 and afterward went on to Penn State to Acquire a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and a minor in Engineering Leadership. After spending a few years in industry as a PCBA Test Engineer for MSA, he returned to Penn State’s World Campus to acquire his MBA with a concentration in Engineering Management and a minor in Engineering Leadership and Innovation Management.

Outside of his professional career, Chris has been an active participant in his hometown of Monaca as a volunteer firefighter since age 16 and serving as President since 2014. His involvement in his community grew in 2015 when he was elected to serve as a Councilman for the 4th Ward in Monaca. Since then, he was re-elected in 2019 and serves as the Vice President of Council.