Julie Brown - Principal Investigator (PI)
The Principal Investigator (PI) for DRITA will be Julie J. Brown, the Director of Academic and Outreach Programs at the Institute for Advanced Learning & Research in Danville, Virginia. At the IALR, Brown oversees a number of programs designed to boost the STEM competencies of both K-12 and adult learners, and to increase the skills of K-12 teachers. Brown is a former high school science teacher and will receive her doctorate degree in early 2009.

Maurice Ferrell - Co-Principal Investigator
Maurice Ferrell, the Assistant Director of the Center for Public Technology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will serve as a co -PI for the project. Ferrell is the former Chief Information Officer for the IALR and in that capacity also served as the DRITA PI. Ferrell will ensure the quality of technology instruction, facilitate the access to UNC resources for students (particularly in the visualization track), and work with the project’s advisory committee.

Ciji Moore – Coordinator of the Dan River Information Technology Academy
Ciji Moore is the DRITA Project Director. She has day-to-day responsibility for the program, including recruitment of students, facilitating hiring of instructors, logistics for courses and workshops, arranging for externship placements, and overseeing the parent involvement aspects of the program. Moore is a graduate of Virginia State University and holds a degree in Technology Management.

Alexis Ehrhardt – DRITA College/Career Counselor
College & career counseling for DRITA is provided by Alexis Ehrhardt on a contractual basis. Ehrhardt is currently a transitional counselor at Danville Community College as is a former private college counselor with Marks Counseling Associates in Bethesda, MD.

Lori Dean – Goodman Research Group (GRG) Consulting Associates
Lori Dean joined GRG as a consultant in 2006 and has coordinated and managed several projects. She has extensive experience in project management, conducting focus groups, one-on-one interviews, and quantitative and qualitative analysis of survey and georeferenced data. GRG is a research company in Cambridge, Massachusetts that specializes in the evaluation of educational programs and materials. GRG conducts formative, process, and summative evaluation of DRITA. GRG’s evaluation of the program includes collecting data over the three project years with youth participants and their families, DRTIA instructors, and key staff members at participating organizations and internship sites.