About Us

Praba is a neuroscientist with dyslexia who gets to develop his ideas and inventions every day. Growing up in India, his learning disability resulted in his loss of confidence and self-esteem. To understand his learning disability, he pursued an education in neuroscience. To inspire children with language-based learning differences to overcome their challenges, he started writing stories tied to hands-on projects, with a mission to nurture their creativity and realize their dyslexic strengths. Praba believes, if it helps a challenged child, it will benefit ALL children!

Ms. Amy Trujillo is the Gifted and STEM Coordinator at Osceola Science Charter School with over twenty years of experience in advocating for the needs of diverse learners. Amy is the current president of FLAG, past president of FAST, and the new NSTA Area Five Director.

Highly accomplished senior leader with 25+ years of comprehensive experience accelerating holistic growth of educational institutes with hands-on expertise in leading integrated learning programs, curriculum development, and professional growth and development. School District leader with a history of managing thousands of students and teams of administrators, teachers, coaches, and specialists with strong mentorship. Passionate about keeping the curiosity in education through Science and Literacy by connecting students to the world outside the classroom. Susan has her Masters in Curriculum and Instruction, Leadership Certificate and her Bachelors degree in Business Administration.

Timothy Rasinski is a professor of literacy education at Kent State University and director of its award winning reading clinic. He has written over 200 articles and has authored, co-authored or edited over 50 books or curriculum programs on reading education. He's published numerous best-selling books with Teacher Created Materials and Shell Education, and has also authored books for Scholastic. His scholarly interests include reading fluency and word study, reading in the elementary and middle grades, and readers who struggle. His research on reading has been cited by the National Reading Panel and has been published in journals such as Reading Research Quarterly, The Reading Teacher, Reading Psychology, and the Journal of Educational Research. Dr. Rasinski is the first author of the fluency chapter for the Handbook of Reading Research.

Celeste Kellar, M. Ed., has been working in the field of special education since 1983 and has taught learning disabled students at all levels. After leaving the classroom, Mrs. Kellar became a Charter School Liaison and Exceptional Education Staffing Specialist for the School District of Hillsborough County. Since leaving the school district in 2005, she has held several positions with the Pepin Academies organization, a group of charter school for students with learning disabilities, to include Principal-Pepin Academies- New Port Richey, Director of Pepin Transitional School, and Director of Student Support. Mrs. Kellar currently works for the Pepin Academies Collaborative Group as the Director of Grant Administration where she has written, received, and managed almost $4,000,000 in federal, state, and district grant funding to date.

Jamie Klingman has been a serial entrepreneur for the last 15 years, with a focus on companies that provide social good. She combines her business expertise with philanthropic drive to help create solutions that enable win-win opportunities for all. Jamie has a deep appreciation for how the ability to obtain an education deepens life experiences. She is working to complete her Doctor of Business Administration in Fall of 2023.

Michael W. Fountain’s extensive experiences of over 40 years as a leader in the fields of biotechnology, drug delivery and entrepreneurship education have provided him a deep understanding of the processes of innovation. In the field of biotechnology, He is a pioneer in micro- and nano-drug delivery, starting in industry as a founder of the Liposome Company in 1981, his team developed and launched Doxcil and Ambisome, the first FDA approved liposomal human products. After 17 years in industry with numerous successful startups, three becoming public companies, he joined the University of South Florida serving in various administrative and faculty roles as a member of the President’s Cabinet, Executive Director of the Research Foundation, Founding Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Director of the Tampa Bay Research Innovation Center at CAMLS. He was the founding John and Beverley Grant Chair in Entrepreneurship in the Muma College of Business and held professorships in the Morsani College of Medicine, the Taneja College of Pharmacy and the USF College of Engineering. He is both a prolific researcher with over 80 publications and a book “Launching Successful Ventures” receiving the USF Distinguished Faculty Research and Innovation award, world-renowned inventor holding over 100 US and international patents and a Fellow in the National Academy of Inventors, and a distinguished academic leader in entrepreneurship education recognized as a Longennecker Fellow by USASBE. His efforts have led to the establishment of one of the top ranked entrepreneurship education programs in the world at USF recognized by both the AACSB as a top 15 program worldwide and by the Princeton Review as a top 25 programs for 15 consecutive years prior to his retirement form USF in 2020. His innovations include worldwide over 150 human and animal healthcare products using his patents. He has led nationwide entrepreneurship efforts working as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, serving as an Officer in USASBE, and on Boards of Public and Private organizations in the USA. He received his Honors BS from Samford University, MS and PhD from Auburn University and MBA from Bristol University.

Dr. Tanu Chatterji is currently the Associate Director of Startup development at University of Houston. In her role at University of Houston, she is focused on developing a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem by facilitating transfer of technologies from the lab to the market and teaching the next generation student entrepreneurs to be successful with their business ventures. She also oversees facilities and startup incubation operations at the UH Technology bridge. She has been involved developing partnerships and collaborations with academic institutions on commercialization and development of joint inventions. Within the Houston innovation ecosystem, she has worked with the local angel and Venture investment groups and supported founders to achieve their goals for their startup companies within the life sciences space. She has a technical background in the sciences and over 10 years of expertise in technology commercialization. Dr Chatterji earned her PhD. In Cancer Biology from MD Anderson Cancer Center and her Master’s in Biomedical Sciences from Idaho State University. She also leads Growth and Strategy initiatives for an Ed Tech startup focused on Social Entrepreneurship. She is also an advisor and a mentor to various incubators and accelerators in Houston. In her free time, she enjoys travelling and being a mom to her 2 sons.

Daniel Salinero has been a credentialed educator since 1981 in addition to a professional translator since 2011. He currently teaches at Earhart Elementary School in Indio, California, an International Baccalaureate school. He is interested in STEM education in particular and teaches his school’s robotics program to 4th and 5th graders.