Staff
Laura Enman is the Program Coordinator for the National Girls Collaborative Project and the TechREACH program. Before joining the EdLab Group, she worked for nearly three years as an informal science educator for Techbridge in Oakland, California. Her work experience includes classroom leadership, curriculum development, training and conference presentation, and project collaboration with the Central Texas Girl Scouts. Laura has her Bachelor of Science degree in Ecology, Behavior and Evolution from University of California, Los Angeles.
Mara Fiksdal is the Program Coordinator for several EdLab Group equity programs, focusing primarily on the Computer Science Collaboration Project and TechREACH. Before joining the EdLab Group, Mara worked for Girl Scouts of Western Washington and the YWCA of Pierce County developing and implementing informal education programs for girls. She has also served on the Northwest Girls Coalition Leadership Council. Mara graduated from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature. In her spare time Mara enjoys reading, knitting and spending time with her family.
Karen A. Peterson, M.Ed. is the Chief Executive Officer for the EdLab Group. Currently, she is the Principal Investigator for the National Girls Collaborative Project, SciGirls – A New National TV Series, the Computer Science Collaboration Project, and Bio-ITEST: New Frontiers in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, all of which are funded by the National Science Foundation. These projects all address gender, racial and socioeconomic underrepresentation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Peterson serves on local, regional and national boards which develop and administer programs designed to increase underrepresented students’ interests in STEM. Peterson has published in The Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering and has co-authored evaluation reports and promising practices reports in informal information technology education for girls for the National Center for Women & Information Technology and the Girl Scouts of the USA. Peterson has also managed U.S. Department of Education grants designed to provide professional development opportunities to Puget Sound area teachers.
For over 20 years, Peterson has been active in education as a classroom teacher, university instructor, pre-service and in-service teacher educator, program administrator, and researcher. Serving as Western Washington University’s first "Internet Librarian," she assisted teacher education faculty and students in the integration of technology into K-12 classroom teaching. She currently serves on the board of TrueChild, a research and action center devoted to challenging and transforming gender stereotypes and their impact on young people so they achieve their full potential. A graduate of the University of Washington, Bothell campus, her Master’s thesis focused on gendered attitudes towards computer use in education.
