Jeff is currently an algorithm developer at Quintig in Philadelphhia PA. After attending PGSS as a student in 2006, he matriculated at Brown before transferring to Penn State’s Schreyer Honors College and graduating with a degree in math and statistics in 2011. After college, he spent the next two years living and working abroad as a teacher in Cambodia and China, having caught a travel bug during his time on Semester at Sea, his second-favorite academic program. He now holds an MS in scientific and theoretical computing, spends the majority of his year developing artificial intelligence algorithms, and has immensely enjoyed his last three summers as a math and computer science TA at PGSS.

Chloe is a former PGSS Biology TA and Residence Life Director who missed the opportunity to attend PGSS when the program was cancelled in 2009. As an aspiring educator, Chloe is currently teaching 11th grade biochemistry with the School District of Philadelphia where she finishes her M.Ed. at the University of Pennsylvania.

Katelyn is a Policy Analyst for the Allegheny Conference on Community Development. She is currently working on transportation policy relating to the Regional Transportation Alliance of Southwestern Pennsylvania. She completed her masters degree in Public Administration with a focus on Public and Nonprofit Management at the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. A member of the PGSS class of 2005, she subsequently served as the PGSS Program intern in 2014. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and Psychology from Case Western Reserve University. She is excited to serve on the board and hopes that her studies in nonprofit management will be beneficial for the program. She also serves on the Oikocredit Southwestern Pennsylvania Support Association board of directors, serves as an adviser for the Beta Nu chapter of Delta Gamma at CMU and serves as a member of the session at East Liberty Presbyterian Church. She served in the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone from 2010-2012 and now lives in Pittsburgh.

Jeremy is a software engineer at Google in Mountain View, CA in January. He graduated from MIT with degrees in math and computer science, before obtaining an M.S. in theoretical computer science from Caltech. Jeremy attended PGSS in 2003, returning as a TA in 2006, and now works as the webmaster of the Alumni Association in the hope that future students will get the same wonderful opportunity that he had. He also served as the first treasurer for several years.

Beverly is a small animal veterinarian living in Philadelphia. She and her husband, Keith Mathers, both attended PGSS in 1997, and both returned as TAs in 2002 and 2003. Having attended high school in an underfunded urban public high school, her experience at PGSS was a major factor in encouraging her to set higher goals. It took her out of her comfort zone academically, but into a comfort zone socially. She then pursued her undergraduate studies in Biology and Physical Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, and continued at Penn to earn her Veterinary Medical Degree. Beverly feels very strongly that PGSS is a unique and extremely valuable experience for students who want to learn for the sake of learning, and inspires them to have greater ambition to contribute to their communities and to advances in science. Keith and Beverly now have two little boys, and they hope that their children will someday have the same wonderful opportunities that they were afforded as students in Pennsylvania.

Brian is President of Sigma Resources, a Pittsburgh-based technology consulting firm and also serves as the CIO for SAE International, an association serving automotive and aerospace design engineers. He previously held positions at national firms, such as IBM, Deloitte, and PwC, as well as local technology companies. Brian received his B.S. in Computer Science from Penn State University and received his M.B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh. His son was a member of the 2016 PGSS class, and he wants to contribute to sustaining the PGSS program so that other students can benefit from this unique experience.

Muriel is a founding and emeritus board member of the PGSS Alumni Association. Working with inspiration from the tireless and indefatigable David Reiley, she drafted the organization’s founding documents and obtained its federal tax-exempt status. Muriel’s law firm, Mintz Levin, donated over $15,000 to the cause. Muriel is a member of the PGSS class of 1986. She holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the College of William and Mary and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the Ohio State University where her work focused on discovering new molecular targets for the treatment of breast cancer. Muriel continued her breast cancer research at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University for a number of years before deciding to pursue a career in law. Muriel is a graduate of Fordham University and practices patent law at the New York offices of Mintz Levin. She lives in Hoboken, NJ with her husband, Joe, and their three children. Muriel was inspired by her PGSS summer and the wonderful people she interacted with there to pursue her love of the sciences, which continues unabated to this day.

Betsy (Krichten) López has made a career in commercial real estate, most recently in investment sales and development. She attended PGSS in 1997 prior to getting her BS in Management Science at MIT in 2002. Betsy credits PGSS with directly changing the course of her life both academically and through the enduring personal relationships she formed with her fellow govies. She hopes that the renewal and continued existence of PGSS will provide the same impact in the lives of future students and joined the Board in an effort to achieve that goal. Betsy currently lives with her husband and children in the Philadelphia area.

Board Member Since 2021
Albert Robertson leads the Business Systems and Business Intelligence functions at Koppers, Inc., a multinational manufacturer headquartered in downtown Pittsburgh. ‘Bert has deep roots in the Pittsburgh area, having been born in Hazelwood, attended high school in Squirrel Hill, and graduated as a Mechanical Engineer from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). His first experience with CMU was as a PGSS student in 1988, which confirmed his lifelong interest in all things Information Technology related. After a few years as a Mechanical Engineer, ‘Bert moved to Los Angeles and inevitably transitioned from I.T. Consulting and Project Management. He earned a Project Management Professional certification from the Project Management Institute and an M.B.A. from the Anderson School at UCLA, after which he spent several years implementing Enterprise Resource Planning and Customer Relationship Management systems. A lover of culture and travel, ‘Bert’s career has taken him to the Caribbean, South America, Europe, Asia, Australia, Mexico, Canada, and all but 8 US states. His life has now come full circle, having moved back to Pennsylvania, where he is once again involved with Carnegie Mellon University, both as a PGSS board member and as a participant in the Executive Leadership Academy hosted by CMU’s Tepper School of Business. With fond memories of PGSS, ‘Bert is dedicated to seeing the program grow and thrive, inspiring additional genertaions of diverse and talented STEM students.

Sera is a Learning Scientist and Teaching Consultant at the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Teaching and Learning. After completing her undergraduate education at Penn State’s Schreyer Honors College and her PhD in biology at MIT, she followed her growing interest in education, doing a postdoc as a Digital Learning Fellow at MIT, creating biology Massive Open Online Courses and other digital educational resources. Sera was PGSS class of 2002 and returned as a biology TA in 2005 and 2007. Her experiences at PGSS have inspired many of the important choices in her career, and she hopes to help the program continue offering opportunities as widely as possible.