Meet the NASA Space Apps Challenge Rohnert Park organizing team. We are as different as the challenges and glad to have you join us.
Dr. Raquell Holmes
Associate Director, EdEon
I am a cell biologist, trained in computer modeling and an organizer of arts, humanities and STEM conferences. I grew up in Sonoma County, went to Rancho Cotate High School, attended Williams College and University of California at Santa Cruz. I did my graduate and postdoctoral studies at Tufts Biomedical Sciences and Harvard University. I have worked over 25 years in areas of computational science using theater, hands-on learning and games to help people be creative and happy at work.
Troy Wilson
Software Developer, EdEon
Troy is a software developer at Sonoma State Universities EdEon STEM Learning and alumni of the computer science program at SSU.
Prof. Lynn Cominsky
Physics & Astronomy, SSU
Professor Cominsky grew up in the snows of Buffalo, New York, and attended college at Brandeis University, where she studied Chemistry and Physics. After graduating from college, she worked at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, analyzing data from the first X-ray astronomy satellite, Uhuru. When she found out that she could get paid for studying black holes, she went to graduate school in physics at MIT, and after getting her PhD there in 1981, she moved to California. She recently retired from the faculty at Sonoma State University after 39 years, and chaired the Department of Physics and Astronomy for 15 years before stepping down in 2019. She is also the director emerita and founder of SSU's EdEon STEM Learning, formerly known as the Education and Public Outreach group. EdEon is involved in programs that build rocket payloads and CubeSats, as well as developing and testing STEM curricula and other education products for NASA, NSF and the US Department of Education. EdEon also runs a robotic telescope north of campus that can be used over the internet by high school and college students nation-wide. On a personal note, she lives at the Little H-bar Ranch in Petaluma, California, where she is a servant to two horses, two miniature horses, two cats, five chickens, a three-legged goat, and one dog
Neil Martin
Robert Ferguson Observatory
Neil Martin is a retired engineering director and a board member of the Robert Ferguson Observatory in Sonoma County. He manages one of the observatory’s large telescopes and is involved in its technical operations, public programs and community partnerships. Neil also teaches astrophotography and mentors students. He is passionate about astronomy, STEM education and creating opportunities for people to engage with science and space.
Haley Joerger
Software Engineer, Keysight Technologies
Haley graduated from Sonoma State University in 2024 with a degree in Computer Science. Currently she resides in Santa Rosa and works at Keysight Technologies as an R&D Software Engineer. She enjoys reading, hiking, and watching anime.
Dr. B Negru
Chemistry, SSU
Dr. B Negru (he/him) emigrated to Chicago in 1999. He received his B.S. in Chemistry from UIUC and completed his Ph.D. in Chemistry at UC Berkeley in the Neumark group blowing up unstable molecules with high-power lasers. Subsequently, Dr. Negru became a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University in the Van Duyne group where he continued his work destroying molecules with high-power lasers and also learned some things about making very small gold antennas that make the destruction of molecules more efficient. Dr. Negru has a multitude of hobbies and a converted van that he likes to live out of in the summer-time when not in the lab.
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