The Team
Directors
Founder, President, & Board Chair - Elizabeth Kennick
Liz Kennick has directed the TIS program since 2011, initially as a project manager for the Space Frontier Foundation (SFF). In 2014, Liz and her management team incorporated TIS as an educational nonprofit organization in the state of New York.
A member of SFF’s Board from 2009 to 2013, Liz was formerly the vice president of client technology at Morgan Stanley with a $2M annual budget for 1700 software users. She has degrees in information systems/operations analysis, Education, and English. Liz is also certified as a project management professional and network engineer. Additionally, she is a co-founder of NYC’s Software Process Improvement Network and has produced Yuri’s Night NY, a space-themed party for 200+ guests, annually since 2008, and TEDxMidTownNY, a space-themed speaker series, from 2010 to 2011.
Liz created the Space Frontier Foundation’s Business Plan Bootcamp for the five finalists in the foundation’s 2011 Business Plan Competition. Additionally, she was a judge at the 2011 SEDS Student Business Plan Competition. She also created Escape Guesthouse LLC, a boutique bed and breakfast in Brooklyn, NY, in 2006 and sold it for three times the purchase price in 2013.
Liz has flown on ZeroG, experienced centrifuge and hypobaric chamber training, scuba-dived to 70 feet, and climbed Cotopaxi, Earth’s highest extinct volcano. She is a frequent speaker on The Invisible World, The Space Show, Rotary Club and TEDx events, and at conferences, such as Space Vision, Project World, New Space, and the International Space Development Conference (ISDC).
Board Treasurer - Salil Joshi, MS, MPS, MPH
Salil, co-founder of Enspire Advantage in Little Rock, Arkansas, is a distinguished professional with a versatile background in digital health, equity research, and higher education. His academic achievements include multiple advanced degrees, reflecting his deep commitment to education and public service. His passion for fostering innovation and critical thinking in STEM education has always been a cornerstone of his career.
Joining the Board of Teachers in Space was a natural extension of this passion, driven by the organization’s commitment to inspiring the next generation of scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs. The chance to mentor students and guide them towards realizing their potential in space exploration and technology innovation is both an honor and a responsibility he deeply values.
The organization’s hands-on approach to education, which bridges theoretical learning with practical application, resonates with Salil’s belief in experiential learning as a key driver for student engagement and success in STEM fields. “At Teachers in Space, we believe that the future of humanity lies not just among the stars but in the hearts and minds of the students and educators we inspire today.
Our mission transcends the classroom, aiming to ignite a lifelong passion for exploration, innovation, and entrepreneurship in the field of space and STEM. It is in nurturing these young minds that we pave the way for a future where the boundaries of human potential are as limitless as the universe itself.”
Board Member - Christopher G. Murphy
Chris has a bachelor’s degree in plant science and agriculture from SUNY Cobleskill and a master’s degree in elementary education from the College of Saint Rose. He currently teaches living environment and high school Earth science at Gloversville Enlarged School District in upstate New York.
After joining a suborbital workshop through Teachers in Space in 2012, Chris has established a high-altitude balloon program with his students and local agencies. The High-Altitude Achievement program has successfully launched and recovered balloons carrying student payloads from various schools for over three years.
Since 2015, the club has represented TIS at the World Science Festival annually. Chris and one of his students participated in the first TIS ground crew in Minden, NV. They developed payload procedures for the student experiments, which flew on initial flights of the Perlan II stratospheric glider in Argentina in 2016.
Chris is a member of the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA), Science Teachers Association of New York State (STANYS), and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). He now serves as the TIS Director of High-Altitude Balloon Operations.
Board Member - Peter Edward Wainwright
Peter co-founded the Space Future website with Dr. Patrick Collins in 1997. This powerful website features about 200 papers discussing every aspect of space tourism and other related subjects. Space Future aims to educate students, journalists, enthusiasts, and the public about the real commercial and societal potential of space.
He is also a senior partner in Space Future Consulting, an international consultancy group that offers advice and analysis to the space, tourism, and media industries. It was the first in the world to conduct market research about space tourism, and its work has been endorsed extensively by other organizations, including NASA.
A Senior Engineer with Bloomberg LP he joined the Board of Directors to support the mission; “Teachers in Space performs a vital role in connecting todays’ students to technology in ways that give them the ability to think in terms beyond the atmosphere and see the possibilities of the future with a global perspective.” In addition, “Liz’s drive and dedication to the cause of educating STEM students with activities that both educate and excite them is fantastic. She has also demonstrated the ability to turn these ideas into real-world results.”
Board Member - Carol Pinchefsky
Carol is a freelance writer who has written for Forbes.com, IT World, Syfy Wire, The New York Times, and many other publications. Winning the NewSpace Journalism Award in 2012 for her writing about space for Forbes; as well as her editorial work on the Space Future Journal.
Currently residing in New York City with her husband she joined the board of Teachers in Space believing access to space is critically important to the growth of our economy, as well as the growth of the human race. “We won’t be able to get a foothold beyond our atmosphere unless we have educated, enthusiastic people to achieve this.
Teachers in Space gives teachers the tools they need to identify and encourage our next generation of astronauts, engineers, and scientists. It’s a critical mission for those of us who know that humanity needs room to grow.”
Board Member - Robert “Bob” Werb
Since 1977 Bob has been a partner in a privately held, real estate firm, RiverCrest Realty Investors. For 24 years he was the partner in charge of commercial leasing, development, and construction for the affiliated property management firm.
In 1988 he co-founded the Space Frontier Foundation (SFF) and was serving as Board Chair when Teachers in Space (TIS) started as a project within the Foundation. He’d been away from the NewSpace community for a decade and when he decided to re-engage, he looked at all the various non-profits, including those like TIS that had been spun off from the SFF. He decided that TIS had multiple standout success stories. Bob’s decision to join the Board of Directors came from his passion for the space industry and his compelling need to make STEM education, especially about space, more hands on and relevant. His goals include protecting the Earth’s fragile biosphere and creating a freer, fairer, and more prosperous life for each generation by using the nearly unlimited energy and material resources of space. Bob also serves on the board of the Center for Space Commerce and Finance.
“Teachers in Space is already doing great work and has the potential to scale up dramatically. I want to be a part of the positive collective impact they are having on educators and students, bringing my wide-ranging experience and business acumen to expand their mission. I am motivated to see their vision of teachers going to space with classroom experiments come to fruition.”
Advisors
James Kuhl
James Kuhl retired from teaching Earth science to 6th-grade students at Central Square Middle School in Central Square, NY, in 2017. Over the years, he has taught various summer STEM classes, including flight science for Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth and Summer of Science (SOS) Maker Movement Class at Cape Cod Community College.
In 1985, Jim applied for the original NASA Teacher in Space program, and he was a finalist for the NASA Educator Astronaut program in 2004. He has received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Education and now serves on the STANYS board of directors.
Jim has conducted numerous workshops at local, state, and national conferences. He has also been published in trade magazines and peer-reviewed journals and consulted on the Master Teacher Board for Pearson’s Interactive Science textbook series. Currently, his students are preparing an experiment to fly on the Perlan 2 glider’s record-breaking, high-altitude flight.
Jim Adams
W. James “Jim” Adams served as the deputy chief technologist in the Office of the Chief Technologist (OCT) at NASA from 2012 until retiring in 2016. NASA’s OCT is in charge of the direct management of NASA’s space technology programs and coordinating and tracking all technology investments across the agency.
Before serving as NASA’s deputy chief technologist, Jim was the deputy director of the Planetary Science Division in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. It is responsible for NASA Solar System exploration efforts, including the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Exploration Rover, and New Horizons missions. Jim was in charge of the scheduling, budget, and performance of NASA’s planetary missions.
Most recently, Jim served as the project manager for the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS). During his career, he has worked on the design, development, testing, and operations of over 24 launched spacecraft across three scientific disciplines and human spaceflight.
Project Manager
Noah Luogameno
Noah holds a B.S. in Business Administration with a focus in management. He has a wide array of skills, with experience in multiple fields. He has worked as a vocational high school math teacher, an ESL teacher in China, a livestock manager at a 270 acre farm, and more.
Noah got started with Teachers in Space as a volunteer in 2017. He helped as an instructor for multiple workshops for teachers in NYC then went on to participate in Teachers in Space’s cross-country event tour for the total solar eclipse in Nashville, Tennessee. He transported a mock-up of the Perlan high altitude glider from Reno to Nashville, stopping along the way to teach about various Teachers in Space projects.
In the summer of 2021 Noah was hired by Teachers in Space to be a project manager and help the organization expand and reach more teachers.