Janel Curry

President

Janel Curry obtained her PhD in geography from the University of Minnesota. She taught at Central College in Pella, IA and at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, MI in the areas of geography and environmental studies. Her areas of research have included environmental policy, religious worldviews and the environment, and women in leadership. This research has led to over 40 peer-reviewed publications. In addition, she has held three Fulbright Fellowships to the University of Guelph, Ontario; City University of Hong Kong; and most recently, Forman Christian College in Lahore, Pakistan. Besides her scholarly interests, Janel has held several administrative roles including being dean for research and scholarship at Calvin College and provost at Gordon College. She has two married daughters, both of whom point out that they all watched Nova together on Tuesday nights when they were growing up.

janel@asa3.org•978-887-8833•Work and Publications

Vicki Best

Executive Vice President

Vicki Best joined the ASA in 2012 as Financial Manager and then in 2016, she assumed the role as Director of Operations and Development. In 2022, she was promoted to Executive Vice President as part of the leadership team. She possesses a wealth of experience as an accountant, financial officer, real estate manager, and development professional, both in the business world and the not-for-profit sector. After a decade in a variety of corporate settings, she spent 16 years as the CFO for Covenant Christian Academy (CCA), a classical, Christian school in the Boston area. Additionally, she served for 23 years as Treasurer of First Congregational Church in Hamilton. Her additional experience includes executive leadership, institutional advancement, and accounting, budget and tax consulting for several not-for-profits.

She continues work as Property Manager and Tax Consultant at CCA and as well as providing executive leadership to a number of faith-based organizations in the Boston area. In addition, she serves on the board of directors of Wazee Foundation, an organization that serves the impoverished elderly in Kenya, Africa and on the advisory council of the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership at Gordon College. She is also an elder at First Congregational Church of Hamilton. Additionally, she is an adjunct professor in the business and economics department at Gordon College.

Vicki received a Bachelors in Arts in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting and Mathematics from Gordon College and a Masters of Management in Nonprofit Organizations from Biola University. In her free time, she loves traveling with her family and friends and enjoys participating in many sports including coaching girls varsity softball as well as swimming and skiing.

vicki@asa3.org•978-887-8833

Becky English

Director of Membership and Outreach

Becky English has over 30 years of business operations experience in the areas of real estate, valuation, and the mortgage industries. As the Assistant Vice President of Operations for MCS Valuations, formerly CoreLogic Collateral Solutions Rebecca was responsible for overseeing all aspects of valuations operations. Prior to joining CoreLogic, Becky was Assistant Vice President of Default and REO at Boston Federal Savings Bank managing all default related services including REO, foreclosure, workouts, collections and bankruptcy.

Becky earned a Master of Business Administration degree and an undergraduate Bachelor of Science degree in Management from Bentley College. She is an adjunct faculty member for Endicott College and the Van Loan Graduate School as well as a faculty member for the Mortgage Bankers Association School of Mortgage Servicing. She is a licensed Real Estate salesperson in both Massachusetts and New Hampshire and a member of the Salem Historical Commission. Becky lives in Salem, MA with her son CJ, loves to travel and is an avid baseball fan.

becky@asa3.org•978-887-8833

Dana Oleskiewicz

Director of Chapters and Affiliates

Dana M. Oleskiewicz offers comprehensive business management with 30 years of outreach experience in science. She joined the ASA in November 2018 where she now serves as the Director of Chapters and Affiliates. Dana provides coordination between the regional ASA leadership teams, as well as the groups organized around a scientific discipline. Her area of specialization is in organizational development, collaborative decision making, citizen science, and environmental protection.

For the past ten years, Dana held a contract as Administrative Director with the Water Management Association of Ohio (WMAO) offering oversight within six divisions on membership development, financial reporting and budgets, fundraising, staff supervision, event planning, and marketing and communications.

Dana is currently earning a Ph.D. in Cultural Foundations with a focus on gender studies at Kent State University, Ohio, where she also received a B.S. in Biology and an M.S. in Aquatic Ecology. Career accomplishments include publications, invitations to present nationally, successful grantseeking/major donor solicitation, and professional awards.

In her (limited) spare time, Dana enjoys being outdoors, serving at her Lutheran church, traveling with her husband and three children (2 in college and a high school student), watching sci-fi shows, and reading non-fiction to expand her understanding about the great big, wonderful world that we all call home.

dana@asa3.org

Hannah Eagleson

Director of Partnerships and Innovation

Hannah Eagleson is Director of Partnerships and Innovation for American Scientific Affiliation. Her work includes developing new models for key ASA initiatives such as student/early career engagement, and growing strategic partnerships. Hannah comes to the ASA from InterVarsity’s Emerging Scholars Network (ESN), where she has served as Associate Director since 2019 and before that as Editor since 2014. She launched the Student/Early Career Track at the ASA Annual Meeting in 2017, as a joint project of ASA and ESN. The track launch was generously funded by a grant from Fuller Seminary’s STEAM project. Hannah is also Director of Graduate Student & Faculty Engagement for Chesterton House, a center for Christian studies at Cornell. She is the editor of Science and Faith: Student Questions Explored (Hendrickson 2019). Hannah holds a PhD in English literature from the University of Delaware and an MA in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College, where she studied classic texts influential in the history of science. She is also working on a children’s novel about a dragon who gave up fending off knights some time ago and now sells tea in eighteenth century London.

hannah@asa3.org

Kathy Sperounis

Marketing and Communications Coordinator

Kathy Sperounis is a communications and partnerships professional with over 25 years of experience, blending digital strategy, library sciences, and community engagement. Most recently, she served as Strategic Partnerships & Affiliates Coordinator at ChristianBook, leading efforts to expand partner networks and strengthen digital outreach through content, data, and collaboration.

Kathy’s background spans librarian roles in academic, public, and private settings—including the Feature Animation Research Library at Walt Disney World—and includes teaching and instructional experience at institutions like Covenant Christian Academy. As an author, educator, and entrepreneur, she founded Line Dancin’ LLC to share her love of dance through classes, events, and team building, bringing a bit of her Tennessee heritage to the North.

She has written Christian books for children and young adults and is currently working on a biography project. Kathy holds a BA in History with a minor in English from the University of Tennessee, an MLIS from the University of South Carolina, and an MBA from Warner Southern University.

Now living in Massachusetts, she enjoys serving as a church greeter, spending time with her husband, two adult children, and pups and connecting with others through line dancing. She feels called to share the good news of Christ and to encourage others wherever God leads her.

kathy@asa3.org•978-887-8833

Lyn Berg

Managing Editor, Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith

Lyn Berg earned a BS in elementary education from Gordon College and MEd from Rhode Island College. She taught in Rhode Island and Massachusetts before leaving teaching to raise her children. She returned to the workplace part time after her youngest child entered school: first as secretary at the First Baptist Church of Newburyport, and then as Managing Editor at ASA.

She enjoys volunteering at church, playing with her grandchildren, and doing puzzles.

lyn@asa3.org•978-887-8833

Michele Pszenny

Administrative Assistant

Michele Pszenny has a degree in Human Studies from Bradford College. She has held various managerial roles in hotel management and in operations and facility management. She has also worked most recently at another nonprofit association.

She has been married for 42 years to her husband Bob and has two daughters, two granddaughters, and a son-in law. She enjoys spending time with her family, spoiling her two granddaughters, and traveling annually to their St John US Virgin Island villa and New Hampshire lakefront home. She also enjoys gardening, reading, and walking the beach.

michele@asa3.org

Mark McEwan

Digital Content Specialist

As our Digital Content Specialist, Mark McEwan helps with the ASA website, social media, our YouTube channel, online events, and annual meeting tech support. He and his wife live near Vancouver, BC, where Mark is active in the local chapter of ASA's expression in Canada, the Canadian Scientific and Christian Affiliation.

In addition to being a red-sealed electrician, Mark holds a bachelor's degree in secondary education (math & physical sciences) and a master's degree in theological studies. His master's thesis focuses on science, Christianity, and intellectual honesty. He occasionally lectures on science and faith at Trinity Western, local high schools, and Bible study groups. His academic interests include epistemology, apologetics, and the fruitful interaction of science and theology. His personal interests include tinkering with computers and electronics, video gaming, science fiction (especially Star Trek and its spinoffs), and doing vehicle maintenance and upgrades himself. He feels called to serve Christ by encouraging responsible thinking in matters of theology, science, and especially with respect to interactions between the two.

Mark has been an ASA member since 2012. In 2016, he began working for ASA's expression in Canada, the Canadian Scientific and Christian Affiliation, and he joined the ASA team in May of 2020.

mark@asa3.org

Stephen Contakes

Editor-in-Chief, Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith

Stephen Contakes earned his doctorate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign after completing undergraduate degrees in chemistry and chemical engineering at Lehigh University. After subsequent postdoctoral research in bioinorganic and biophysical chemistry at Caltech, he taught at Azusa Pacific University for one year before arriving at Westmont. At Westmont he teaches courses in inorganic, analytical, and physical chemistry as well as a liberal arts chemistry course for nonmajors. His research, published in more than a dozen scientific journals, involves the synthesis of molecular assemblies and light-driven electron transfer catalysts for water remediation applications. He and his wife have three sons.

scontakes@westmont.edu

E. Janet Warren

Coordinating Book Review Editor,
Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith

E. Janet Warren, BSc (McMaster University), MD (University of Toronto), MTS (Tyndale Seminary), PhD (University of Birmingham), is an ASA fellow and served as the president of the Canadian Scientific and Christian Affiliation (CSCA) from 2016 to 2020. Residing in Hamilton, Ontario, she balances her professional life as a part-time Family Physician and an independent scholar in theology. Janet’s book publications include Cleansing the Cosmos: A Biblical Model for Conceptualizing and Counteracting Evil (Pickwick, 2012), Holy Housekeeping (Essence, 2017), All Things Wise and Wonderful: A Christian Understanding of How and Why Things Happen (Wipf & Stock, 2021), and Singing into Splintered Spaces: The Rhythms of Mission and Spiritual Discipline (Cascade, 2022). Her medical focus is on mental health care and psychotherapy, and she served as editor for the Medical Psychotherapy Review (the journal of the Medical Psychotherapy Association of Canada) for six years. Her theological research interests include the integration of science (especially psychology) and Christianity, theological anthropology, pneumatology, demonology, healing, and Christian counseling. Janet has been an active member of the CSCA/ASA since 2011, has published frequently in PSCF and remains passionate about contributing.

ejanetwarren@gmail.com

Steven Ball

Book Review Subject Area Editor,
Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith

Steven Ball has been a professor of physics at LeTourneau University since 2001. He graduated from Baker University in Kansas, where he majored in mathematics and physics. He completed his Ph.D. in experimental high energy physics in 1989 at the University of Kansas, focusing on hadronic B meson decays. His work with the ARGUS Collaboration in Germany led to post-doctoral appointments at the Max-Planck-Institute for Nuclear Physics and later at Cornell University, resulting in over 100 articles published in refereed journals.

From 1993, Ball taught at Bethel College in Indiana before following the call to join the faculty at LeTourneau University. He has taught a wide range of courses, including introductory physical science, astronomy, creation and evolution, cosmology, and various undergraduate physics courses. His passion lies in exploring the relationship between science and biblical faith. This interest led him to write three student-oriented articles on Big Bang cosmology, the age of the Earth, and plate tectonics. A key goal of his work is to be a voice of reason amid the often emotional debate between science and biblical faith, demonstrating that the two can be mutually supportive.

stevenball@letu.edu

Dean Blevins

Book Review Subject Area Editor,
Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith

Dean Blevins entered academia later in life following a career as a videographer in broadcast journalism. A call to ministry led him to discover a deep passion for teaching, which he has pursued through roles in church leadership, undergraduate education, ministry seminars, and now as Professor of Practical Theology and Christian Discipleship at Nazarene Theological Seminary. His academic focus includes Christian discipleship and ministry with youth, children, and families, and he has served as a consultant for the Church of the Nazarene in these areas. He also edited Didache: Faithful Teaching, an online academic journal in the Wesleyan tradition, and has helped guide clergy development in the USA/Canada region of his denomination. His leadership extended to roles such as president of the Religious Education Association and board chair of Youthfront, a Kansas City-based national youth ministry training organization.

Blevins maintains a strong interest in science, technology, and media—interests rooted in his early love for science fiction. These passions have informed his academic exploration into neuroscience and its relevance for theology and ministry. He served as a theological advisor for the Science for Seminaries program, sponsored by the Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion (DoSER), and participated in the TheoPsych initiative from Fuller Seminary and Blueprint 1543. His research also explores connections between theology, virtue formation, innovation, and entrepreneurship as avenues for new forms of ministry. At heart, he sees his vocation as that of an explorer—always seeking new horizons of study in service to the Kingdom of God.

dean.blevins@nts.edu

Brian Greuel

Book Review Subject Area Editor,
Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith

Brian Greuel is Professor of Biology, Emeritus at John Brown University (JBU; Siloam Springs, AR). He earned his Ph.D. in molecular biology at Washington University (St. Louis) after completing a bachelor’s degree in biology at Wheaton College (Wheaton, IL) and a Master’s degree in botany at The Ohio State University. Following a three-year postdoctoral fellowship in mammalian development at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute (Toronto, Ontario), Brian spent the first five years of his teaching career at Austin College (Sherman, TX) and the University of Scranton (Scranton, PA). At JBU for over 23 years, Brian taught courses in molecular/cellular biology, developmental biology, genetics, and bioethics. He also served as Chair of the Biology Department and Natural Science Division for 10 years and directed the Pre-Health Professions Program for over 21 years. His research interests have focused on gene regulation during mouse embryonic development and more recently on the cellular and molecular defects in Lowe Syndrome, a rare X-linked genetic disease in humans.

After his retirement from JBU in 2021, Brian and his wife, Jane, moved to Fishers, IN to be closer to their son and daughter and grandson. Brian has served as President of the Affiliation of Christian Biologists within the ASA since 2022 and is actively involved at Faith Church (Indianapolis) as a community group leader and choir member. In his free time, Brian enjoys spending time with his family and reading books on faith and science, theology, and bioethics.

btgreuel@gmail.com

Jay Medenwaldt

Book Review Subject Area Editor,
Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith

Jay Medenwaldt served in the Air Force for nine years as a behavioral scientist, which included teaching psychology courses at the Air Force Academy, consulting, and conducting research. He earned a doctorate in social psychology at Baylor, with an emphasis on psychology of religion and virtue. He also earned a Master of Divinity in apologetics, ethics, and biblical studies; a master's in psychological sciences; and a bachelor's in behavioral sciences. His research has been published by the The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, Current Opinion in Psychology, and Adolescent Research Review, and he has given presentations at the Christian Association of Psychological Studies, Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Evangelical Theological Society, and the Global Conference on Sport and Christianity. Medenwaldt is working on a book that offers a scientific and theological critique of the enneagram.

jay.medenwaldt@nwciowa.edu

Brent Purkaple

Book Review Subject Area Editor,
Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith

Brent Purkaple is a historian of science, technology, and medicine with a particular focus on the history of premodern science, the history of science and religion, and the history of the book. In his classes he emphasizes the importance of recognizing that science, technology, and medicine are all stories with a history, and pushes students to consider how such a recognition influences individual and public perceptions of these areas. He is also interested in how the history of science, technology, and medicine may be useful to the broader public, and has experience applying his professional skills in the context of K-12 education and museum development.

purkaple@gmail.com

Derek Schuurman

Book Review Subject Area Editor,
Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith

Derek C. Schuurman completed his bachelors and masters degrees in electrical engineering at the University of Waterloo and worked in industry for several years designing embedded systems. He later returned to complete a Ph.D. at McMaster University in the area of robotics and computer vision. He is currently professor of computer science at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan and a Fellow of the American Scientific Affiliation. He has written about faith and technology issues in a variety of publications, including monthly columns for Christian Courier and contributions to the Christian Scholars Review blog. He is the author of the book Shaping a Digital World: Faith, Culture and Computer Technology and co-author of A Christian Field Guide to Technology for Engineers and Designers, both published by InterVarsity Academic Press.

dschuurman@calvin.edu•Work and Publications

Sy Garte

Editor-in-Chief, God and Nature

Sy (Seymour) Garte Ph.D (Biochemistry) is Editor-in-Chief of the ASA magazine, God and Nature. He is Visiting Professor at Rutgers University, and has been: Division Director at the Center for Scientific Review, NIH; Interim Vice President for Research, Uniformed Services University; Professor at University of Pittsburgh, Rutgers University, and New York University.

Sy serves as Vice President, Washington DC Chapter of ASA. He’s been a Moderator and speaker at ASA annual meetings, and has published in Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith, God and Nature, and the Biologos Blog.

During his scientific research career, Sy published over 200 peer reviewed papers. He is recipient of numerous grants, given numerous presentations, and is author of 4 books (and one in press). Sy has been on several advisory boards, including for the John Templeton Foundation. He is Lay Leader of the Rockville MD United Methodist Church.

sy@asa3.org

Aniko Albert

Managing Editor, God and Nature

Anikó Albert grew up in Budapest, Hungary, and is a graduate of Eötvös Loránd University. A serial migrant, she taught English as a Foreign Language in her hometown; high-school Spanish in Kingston, Jamaica; and English and various subjects in Alameda, California. She is currently the Managing Editor of God and Nature, and Co-Chair of Rockville Help, an emergency assistance charitable organization in Rockville, Maryland.

aarankine@gmail.com

Randy Isaac

Executive Director, Emeritus

Randy Isaac is ASA Executive Director Emeritus, having served as the Executive Director from 2005-2016. He has a BS in physics from Wheaton College and a MS and PhD in physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His career was at IBM from 1977-2005 where he became Research Vice-President of Systems, Science, and Technology. Having spent time in building computers, he is now the IT Consultant, helping the ASA office with technical support. In January of 2021, Randy began serving as host of our monthly Diving Deeper Discussions series.

randy@asa3.org

John Wood

Executive Director, Emeritus

John served as interim director of the ASA (2019-2022) and a past president of the executive council. He is Emeritus Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies at The King’s University, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. His research has been in population and urban ecology. He has written on food insects and our cultural blind spot to accepting edible insects as one aspect of Western exceptionalism. John’s current work is on the role of fear and physical death in creation care. He was in academic administration at The King’s University and the Academic Dean for The Au Sable Institute of Environmental Studies. During his career he has also served as a program reviewer for ECO Canada.

john@asa3.org