Meet the Discovery Team

Meet the Discovery Team

Discovery Under the Hood will capitalize on the natural curiosity of females at a critical time in their lives when they are focused on getting their driver’s license. Through exposure to female role models (teachers, undergraduate teaching assistants and successful industry practitioners) and solicitation of parent, school, industry and government support, this project will seize opportunities to relate course content to Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) careers, and to challenge students’ ideas about gender appropriate careers.

Dr. Beth Parks (left) Dr. Parks has an "explosive" teaching style!

Academic Director of the Program

Principal Investigator for this National Science Foundation Project

Beth has had experience teaching and developing laboratory exercises for students at the elementary, high school, and college level. At the elementary level, she has worked with classroom teachers to develop new science units on simple machines and electricity, and has done numerous demonstrations on states of matter, sound, electricity, and gravity. She has also taught a unit on electrical circuits to elementary students.

At the high school level, she taught chemistry, developing new laboratory exercises based on the iodine clock reaction (a wonderful reaction in which two clear liquids, after being mixed together and allowed to stand for about 30 seconds, turns blue nearly instantaneously) and making ice cream to demonstrate how salt lowers the freezing point of water. She has also led one-day workshops for high school students on physics topics as part of Colgate’s Science Days.

At the college level, she has been a faculty member at Colgate University for the past five years and has taught courses at all levels, and developed many hands-on projects for introductory electricity and magnetism.

Beth and her husband, Tom, along with their two children, live in Hamilton.

Lorna Wilson

Creator of Discovery Under the Hood

and Program Administrator

Lorna is principal broker and owner of Hamilton Village Real Estate, LLC. Lorna also serves as Vice President of Westlake Enterprises, a local marketing and program development company.

Lorna enjoys soccer and has been an AYSO and High School soccer coach for 20 years. She has studied karate for 10 years. In 2002, she achieved the rank of Shodan - first degree black belt. She enjoys horse care and western dressage riding. Lorna, her husband, Reg, and their two daughters, Katie and Carey, reside in Hamilton.

An Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology graduate of The Pennsylvania State University, she received her B.S. degree in 1979.

In sixth grade, Lorna received the award, “Most likely to make a contribution to science.” After 30 years, she is happy to be making that contribution with Discovery Under the Hood.

Reg Wilson

Program Administrator

Reg has seventeen years educational programming experience, with twelve years experience at the college and high school level. From 1994 – 1999, Reg served as Director of American Management Association’s (AMA) Operation Enterprise division. Reg was responsible for the development, delivery and evaluation of AMA’s management education programs for college and high school level students worldwide.

Reg left AMA to start Westlake Enterprises in 1999, most recently serving US Chamber of Commerce in the development and delivery of the Traderoots International Leadership Program. Launched in 2000 through a funding partnership with U.S. Department of Commerce International Trade Administration and now replicated across the country, this three-day, residential trade education experience is designed for senior management of local chambers of commerce.

A forestry graduate of The Pennsylvania State University, he received his B.S. degree in 1979.

Reg works full-time with his wife, Lorna, as a real estate broker with Hamilton Village Real Estate, LLC. His hobbies include barbershop quartet singing, dramatic arts, gardening and historic preservation.

Carey Wilson and Katie Wilson

Carey is a Neuroscience major at Lafayette College in Easton, PA. Katie graduated from Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, PA with a B.A. in Management. They have been instrumental in designing the Discovery Under the Hood program and have volunteered many hours as administrative assistants, camp counselors and participant recruiters.

Guest Faculty

Dr. Gerry Gogel, Colgate U. Alison Koleszar '04, Colgate U.

Chemistry Professor Astrogeophysics and geology grad student

Automotive Technology Staff of Morrisville State College

The Morrisville State College Automotive Technology faculty members involved in the program are: (L to R): William Burt, Murray Shackelford, Matt Heckerman, Mark Ashton, Joseph Kidd, Travis LaRock, Thomas Skuce (team leader), and Stephen Law (not shown). Each member brings unique talents, educational and industrial experience, and numerous automotive certifications to the program. All are involved in other SUNY Morrisville activities such as: women’s softball coach, women’s swimming coach, Society of Automotive Engineer’s Club advisor, Tech Prep College Recruitment Program, and Vocational Industrial Clubs of America (VICA) Skills Olympics automotive and job skills judge.