Frieda

Frieda is the Senior Director of School and Public Programs, Planetarium and Gallery Experience. She oversees the Science OFF Center team, as well as the Science Center's educator programs, the James S. McDonnell Planetarium and the museum gallery staff! Frieda manages the higher-level business operations of these departments. At the Science Center, she enjoys the freedom and flexibility to experiment with new ideas. Frieda's career has been in non-profit management. Before joining the Science Center in 1999, she worked with YWCA, Blackburn College, Red Cross and the Girl Scouts. She served three years as the board chair and is now on the Advisory Board of the Diversity Awareness Partnership, which promotes diversity in the St. Louis region. Frieda holds a master's degree in Organizational Communication from SIU-Edwardsville. She has a son and a daughter, both of whom are married and live on the west coast.

Pamela

Pamela Braasch is the newest member of our team, starting her career at the Science Center in April 2012 as the new Manager of Public Programs, School Programs and Day Camps. Pam has a Bachelors degree in Forestry and a Master of Science Degree in Environmental Education and Resource Management that she obtained from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. Pam has a wide range of educational experiences including working as a tour guide for the Forest Service, Park Service and the Dept. of Natural Resources and most recently as the Education Director at the Endangered Wolf Center. Pam enjoys the outdoors and spends most of her time hiking, canoeing or gardening. In March of 2012, Pam became the proud mother of a baby boy!

Erin

Erin joined the Science OFF Center team in May 2008. As an instructor, Erin takes on a wide range of public programs from a pre-k version of Icky Sticky Science to a Segway 101 class designed specifically for senior citizens. She graduated from Michigan State University with a bachelor's in physics, and can relate just about anything back to her beloved major. In her spare time she tutors students in physics and English as a second language and she teaches Sunday school. Her strongest motivator for learning is the chance to explain what she learns to someone else; coupled with a heart for children and a passion for science. This makes working at the Science Center a great job for Erin!

Josh

Josh joined the Science OFF Center team on March of 2011. In May 2011, Josh earned his Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics with a minor is physics from the University of Missouri St. Louis. Josh got his start at the Saint Louis Science Center at Center Stage doing Amazing Science Demonstrations. Now along with these demonstrations, you can find him leading a class room, or just helping young people use their brains. He has a love of weather which has lead him to spend most of his time during a storm wet and outside watching for lightning.

Cate

Cate began working at the Saint Louis Science Center in 2008 as a Summer Science Blast Instructor. If you don't hear her boisterous laughter around the Science Center's main building, you’ll usually find her teaching science programs around the greater St. Louis area to school-aged children. As a graduate of Millikin's University education program, her favorite parts of teaching are seeing returning students and continuing a life of learning. When Cate is not teaching, she's usually sketching, running, reading, gardening or researching butterflies.

Joel

Joel is our Camp-In Science Guy. He began in 1997 as a gallery assistant where he wrote, performed and trained other staff on Amazing Science Demonstrations. In 2000, he began working at Camp-Ins and has also been involved with Summer Science Blast. Joel earned a B.S. in science education from UM-St. Louis and a master's degree in education from Webster University. Since 1999, his full time job has been teaching chemistry at Parkway West High School in Chesterfield, MO. He believes science is important because it helps us understand the world in which we live. Joel thoroughly enjoys being in the classroom and bringing science to the students he teaches. At the Science Center and at school he makes use of lively demonstrations, discrepant events and humor to bring an understanding of scientific phenomena to everyone. Outside of work, his time is spent with his two beautiful little girls, born in 2006 and 2008.