David Heil is the Aspen Science Center President and Treasurer, and a member of the executive committee. As President of David Heil & Associates, he works with non-profit organizations, governmental agencies and corporations to design, launch, and evaluate a range of educational and public outreach initiatives. Former Director of Informal Science Education for the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), Mr. Heil is an innovative science educator, new enterprise developer, lecturer, and author. He is the former host of the Emmy Award-winning science series, Newton’s Apple. He was lead author on the award-winning program, Discover The Wonder, and is editor of Family Science. David was the Associate Director of the Oregon Museum of Science & Industry. While there, he initiated and administered many of the museum’s nationally recognized education and outreach programs, and also developed hands-on exhibits for a national tour. He also taught science and enrichment programs in grades 7-12, conducted research in plant biochemistry and radiochemistry, and worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. He served on the Board of Directors of the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study, the Keystone Center, and currently serves as the Senior Science Advisor for the Council of Chief State School Officers. Mr. Heil recently received NSTA’s award for Distinguished Service to Science Education.
William “Bill” Turner is chair of the board of directors. Bill spent 35 years as a management consultant, working with large financial institutions on issues of strategy, corporate governance, and operational effectiveness. While at McKinsey, PriceWaterhouse Coopers, and A.T. Kearney, he assisted clients in 25 countries and resided overseas for more than a dozen years in London, Seoul, and Hong Kong. He led strategy and financial services consulting practices in the U.S., the United Kingdom, the Middle East, across Europe, and in Greater China. Prior to consulting, Bill led the corporate banking business for Chemical Bank, now JPMorgan Chase, in five mid-western states, managing relationships with large corporations and banks, and structuring and negotiating complex credit transactions. Eons ago, he graduated from Brown University with a degree in economics and then earned an MBA in finance from Columbia. Bill’s family has been coming to Aspen and Snowmass since the mid-1980’s, and Bill, wife Paula, and their dog Sofia have lived in Snowmass Village for 25 years. Bill rolled off the board of Aspen Public Radio, where he was Chair for several years, and he serves on the board of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation in New York. Science – especially physics – has played an important role in Bill’s life. Brownian motion has kept him traveling around most of his life. From early on he accepted Einstein’s attributed comment that the most powerful force in the universe is compound interest. And, Bill views the world with lots of Fresnel rings, now that he has multi-focal intraocular lenses.
Mark Munger recently retired from a 40+ year career in science education, including 13 years at Aspen Community School, and 28 years at Aspen Middle School. Mark earned a B.A. degree in Geography from the University of Kansas, a Teaching Certificate from the University of Northern Colorado, and an M.A. degree in Science Education from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. He considers himself a very lucky person, having the good fortune to live and work in the Roaring Fork Valley for the past 42 years. His passions of hiking, skiing, fly fishing, and salsa tasting are all readily accessible. Working with two school systems that valued academic achievement, experiential learning, and community involvement, provided the opportunity to fully engage with students while taking them on numerous outdoor trips, cultural exchanges, and community service projects. He has been known to say that “Outside the classroom is the best classroom”. For nine years Mark served as Board member and President (2010-2012) of the Crown Mountain Park & Recreation District in El Jebel, Colorado, and from 2014 – 2020 he served as Vice President and then President of the Aspen Education Association.
With an award-winning architecture firm in Aspen since 1981, Charles Cunniffe, FAIA, is a champion of thoughtful community-based design, educational opportunities, the arts and human welfare. Charles and his firm have donated pro-bono design services to countless non-profits, and consistently give back to the community; earning the AIA Colorado Community Service by an Architect Award in 2011. CCA has also earned AIA Colorado West Firm of the Year, Mentor of the Year, and has been on OUTSIDE Magazine’s 100 ‘Best Places to Work’ in the US for four consecutive years. Charles is currently the elected Pitkin County Representative on the Board of Trustees of Colorado Mountain College, is a Founding Board Member and Chairman of Governance of Jazz Aspen/Snowmass, served as President Elect and President of the American Institute of Architects Colorado West from 2013 through 2017, is a member of the Aspen Art Museum, the Urban Land Institute’s Small Scale Development Council, Rocky Mountain Institute’s National Solutions Council, Aspen Institute’s Society of Fellows, Aspen Science Center, the Aspen Rotary World Service Committee, and the Aspen Elks Lodge #224. Charles Cunniffe Architects (CCA) has garnered national recognition, appearing in the Wall Street Journal, Architectural Digest Veranda, LUXE, Modern Luxury, and Architect Magazine amongst others. CCA has received numerous American Institute of Architects design awards and has earned Mountain Living Magazine’s ‘Home of the Year’ four times.
One of this country’s most accomplished music administrators and respected composers, was born in 1956 in Riverside, New Jersey, and earned his baccalaureate at Princeton University (1978) and his master’s degree (1979) and doctorate (1983) at Juilliard. He studied composition with Roger Sessions, Milton Babbitt, Edward T. Cone, and Paul Lansky and piano with Jacob Lateiner and Robert Helps. In 1985, Fletcher was appointed to the faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music, teaching composition and theory and serving successively during his 16-year tenure at the school as Dean, Provost, and Senior Vice President. From 2011 to 2006, he was Professor of Music and Head of the School of Music at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, after which he assumed his current position as President and CEO of the Aspen Music Festival and School. Fletcher has lectured nationally and internationally on music and music administration, served on many boards, panels, juries, seminars, and committees, and contributed articles and op-ed pieces to Symphony magazine, Gramophone magazine, Wall Street Journal, Sonus: Journal of Global Music, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Baltimore Sun, The Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy, Chronicle of Higher Education, and many others. Fletcher has won numerous composing awards and received commissions from the National Dance Institute, the Pittsburgh Symphony (2008 and 2011), the Nashua Symphony, the National Gallery of Art, the Boston Celebrity Series, Duquesne University, the New York Camerata, and other noted ensembles, organizations, and soloists. He chaired the 1997 Salzburg Seminar Music for a New Millenium: The Classical Genre in Contemporary Society. Most recently, Alan was appointed to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
A theoretical physicist, author and former museum director who began her trek through the world of science deep in the cosmos, studying the composition and evolution of the Universe. Her most recent position took her in a very different direction - and offered her the chance to spend a day digging for mastodon bones not too far from where she lives in the beautiful Capital Creek valley of Old Snowmass. She spent most of her physics career as a member of the research faculty at the University of Chicago, and for 2 years served as Assistant Director of the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics. Her foray into the museum community began at the Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum in Chicago where she was Vice President for Science & Education. After publishing her first book, Einstein's Telescope: The Hunt for Dark Matter and Dark Energy in the Universe (W.W. Norton 2009), she returned to the museum world as the Executive Director & CEO of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. She is currently on the Board of Trustees of the Aspen Center for Physics, and the Physics Policy Committee of the American Physical Society. Her and her husband love living in Old Snowmass and spend as much time as possible exploring the trails and mountains around them. She remains passionate about inviting every curious mind on the planet to explore the natural world around us, from our own backyards to the most distant galaxies - and beyond.
Dr. Martha Elena Márquez recently moved to the Roaring Fork Valley from Mexico City where she first earned her Bachelor’s degree in Communication Sciences, then A Master’s and Ph.D. in Philosophy of Science at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma deMéxico, graduating Summa Cum Laude. In between she earned a second Master’s in Philosophy, Science, and Values from the Universidad del Pais Vasco, España/Basque Country University, Spain. From 2005 -2022 she was a Professor at UNAM specializing in Science, Technology, and Society (STS), critical thinking, history of science, and the sociology of science and technology. She combined her academic teaching career with managing multidiscipline and multicultural international research projects between academia, government, and society. Dr. Márquez also served as Institutional Management Coordinator at the Research Seminar on Knowledge, Society, and Cultural Diversity; and during her student years on campus, coordinated information at the Technical Council for Scientific Research at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UMAN). An experienced researcher, teacher, project evaluator, and speaker, Elena brings a wealth of rich experiences and a passion for STEM teaching and learning to her role on the ASC Board.
An Aspen native and long-time resident of the Roaring Fork Valley. A graduate of Princeton University (AB Sociology, 1988), Colorado Mountain College (AAS Veterinary Technology, 2009), and a certificated Equine Rehabilitation Practitioner (University of Tennessee, 2021). She has cultivated both local and global legacies in competitive athletics, civic engagement, philanthropy, innovative ranching, environmental advocacy, and education. Kate was member of the US Jr. Olympic Ski Team (1976-1984), a 6-time Champion and World Record Holder in the 24 Hours of Aspen Downhill (1993-1999), and World Professional Ski Tour member (1996-1998). In 1986 she was a member of the US National Select Soccer Team and has coached both skiing and soccer for years. Kate has served as Director, Vice President, and Secretary of the Aspen Business Center Foundation; Founder and President of the Sopris Foundation; Director of the McBride Africa Internship and the McBride Internship At Home Environmental Camp. She owns and operates The Other Side Ranch a Dairy where she also runs and Equine Fitness & Rehab Center. Kate has served on a number of local Boards and Commissions, including the Aspen Planning and Zoning Commission, Aspen Center for Environmental Studies, and the Aspen Historical Society. She is also a licensed private and commercial pilot and mother of two daughters, Riley and Annalisa.
Liz Meador earned a PhD in Multicultural Education from the University of Colorado in Boulder. Her dissertation research was conducted in the Roaring Fork Valley, where she developed close ties with George Stranahan. Along with faculty from CU, George and Liz founded the Roaring Fork Teacher Education Project where they successfully embedded the progressive ideals of democratic education into a teacher licensure program housed in Woody Creek. Liz went on to teach at Cal State Monterey Bay, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Lewis and Clark College, and UC Santa Cruz where she retired as Director of Teacher Education. Dr. Meador’s research has focused on educational inequities, especially for immigrants and refugees. She was part of a team that provided diversity training to teachers in rural areas of Idaho where many refugees found work in agriculture and other industries. During her 40 years as an educator, she also held multiple administrative positions including Assistant Principal of Crystal River Elementary School in Carbondale, Principal of Aspen Community School, Principal of Yampah Mountain High School in Glenwood Springs, Head of Watershed School in Boulder, and Principal of Aspen Middle School.
A co-founder of the Aspen Science Center and a past President of the Aspen Center for Physics. He holds a B.S. from Harvard College and a Ph.D. in Physics from Cornell. He is trained as a theoretical condensed matter physicist and is known for his work in strongly correlated quantum systems. He later redirected his interests towards biology-driven research. He was awarded an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship, an Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, and a Humboldt Foundation Senior Prize. Dr. Ruckenstein is Professor of Physics and former Associate Provost & Vice President for Research at Boston University. He is also Interim Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research at Lancaster University.
President, founder and principal designer of Harry Teague Architects. Teague grew up in Alpine, New Jersey, graduated from Dartmouth College in 1966, and has lived in Colorado since receiving his M.Arch. from the Yale School of Architecture in 1972. He began his architectural practice in 1975 as a designer/builder, and personally constructed his designs for the first seven years of his career.Since 1975 HTA’s diverse practice has produced many significant buildings for educational, cultural and scientific institutions, as well as numerous award-winning residences. Teague was named AIA Colorado Architect of the Year in 2000, and Harry Teague Architects was named Firm of the Year by the AIA Colorado and the AIA Western Mountain Region in 1994 and 1995. In addition to working closely with many non-profits as their architect, Teague has served on several boards including, as board president, the International Design Conference in Aspen, Aspen Science Outreach Center, and Aspen Journalism. His work has been included in exhibitions and published internationally in magazines and books. He has lectured and taught throughout the country, served on numerous professional design award juries and has received numerous local, state and national design awards.
Born in New York, but raised in Bogota, Colombia, by his American mother and Colombian father. He attended a Swiss school in Bogota, where he became fluent in French and Spanish. Dr. Wells obtained his medical degree in 1987 from Emory University in Atlanta, after graduating Summa Cum Laude from the University of California Santa Barbara. He completed his Orthopedic Surgery residency in 1992 at USC/Los Angeles County Hospital and then went on to do a fellowship in hand surgery at the Royal Perth Hospital in Australia. He returned to Los Angeles in 1993 to head the department of Hand Surgery at Kaiser Permanente Hospital. In 1996, seeking a bigger challenge and more independence, Dr Wells moved to Atlanta and started Atlas Orthopaedics, which would soon become one of the premier orthopedic practices in Northern Georgia. After 25 years of 80-hour weeks as a full-time surgeon, CEO and President of Atlas Orthopaedics, Dr. Wells sold his practice in 2022 and moved to Aspen with his wife Kari, his daughter Alexa and his son Bryson. Duncan is now enjoying everything Aspen has to offer like mountain biking, skiing, hiking, and the Aspen Community. As a Board member with the Aspen Science Center, he is helping the ASC team develop and deliver a variety of health and medical-related programs. He also enjoys building sets for the Aspen Community Theatre, and is an active member of Health Volunteers Overseas, offering his orthopedic surgery skills in Guatemala and Tanzania.