Shows
Leader to Leader with Darryl CobbThe Best Kept Secret: Isabel Garcia on 60 Years of Serving Farmworker FamiliesJoin Darryl Cobb, President of the Charter School Growth Fund, for Episode 3 of Leader to Leader Season 2 as he sits down with Isabel Garcia, Executive Director of RCMA. Founded in 1965, RCMA began as a single child development center serving farmworker families and has since grown to 55 centers and 3 charter schools across rural Florida. Isabel, herself the child of farmworker families, shares how access to teachers, mentors, and opportunity shaped her journey and now fuels her leadership. In this episode, Isabel reflects on what it takes to serve hard-to-reach communities, sustain mission-driven growth, and ensure that when children are given...
2025-12-1757 min
Leader to Leader with Darryl CobbBuilding Schools That Serve: Insights From Dr. Adriana TamezJoin Darryl Cobb, President of the Charter School Growth Fund, for a special edition of the Leader to Leader podcast recorded live at NACSACon 2025. Darryl sits down with Dr. Adriana Tamez—educator, executive leader, and fierce advocate for Houston’s underserved communities—to unpack what it takes to build and sustain great public schools.Drawing on her upbringing and a career grounded in service, Dr. Tamez reflects on her path from classroom teacher to President & CEO of the Tejano Center and Raul Yzaguirre Schools for Success. Guided by a belief in education as the key to opportunity, she br...
2025-12-1032 min
Leader to Leader with Darryl CobbLeading with Purpose: Jamar McKneely on Inspiring the Next Generation in New OrleansJoin Darryl Cobb, President of the Charter School Growth Fund, for Episode 2 of Leader to Leader Season 2 as he sits down with Jamar McKneely, CEO of InspireNOLA Charter Schools. Since co-founding InspireNOLA in 2013, Jamar has built one of Louisiana’s highest-performing charter networks, rooted in a mission to inspire and empower every student to reach their full potential. In this episode, Jamar shares how his experiences growing up in Louisiana and serving as a teacher and principal shaped his belief that strong schools can transform entire communities, and reflects on the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. From academic excellence to...
2025-11-121h 12
Community Conversations with NACSALeaders in Community: A Charter School Growth Fund CollabThis episode takes you inside NACSACon 2025, where NACSA President and CEO M. Karega Rausch, Ph.D. delivered powerful remarks about why strong foundational authorizing policies and practices have never been more important. It also features a special collaboration with our friends at the Charter School Growth Fund. CSGF President and host of the Leader to Leader podcast, Darryl Cobb, sits down with Dr. Adriana Tamez to discuss what it takes to build and sustain great public schools. qualitycharters.org
2025-11-1041 min
Leader to Leader with Darryl CobbBuilding a Culture of Excellence: Roblin Webb on Leadership and LiberationJoin Darryl Cobb, President of the Charter School Growth Fund, in the Season 2 premiere of the Leader to Leader podcast series, featuring Roblin Webb, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Freedom Preparatory Charter Schools. In this episode, Roblin shares how she built Freedom Prep from a single school into a thriving network serving more than 2,500 students across Memphis and Birmingham. Hear how her unwavering belief that education is the key to liberation has shaped her leadership and the network’s mission to prepare every student to excel in college and in life.
2025-10-151h 03
Leader to Leader with Darryl CobbBig System, Bigger Purpose: Inside Pablo Villavicencio’s Charter Leadership PlaybookJoin Darryl Cobb, president of the Charter School Growth Fund, in a back-to-school limited series of the 'Leader to Leader' podcast, featuring Pablo Cesar Villavicencio, CEO of Alliance College-Ready Public Schools in Los Angeles, California. In this candid conversation recorded Live at the National Charter Schools Conference, Pablo reflects on his journey from South LA to the helm of one of the largest and most impactful charter school networks in the country. He shares how his personal experiences as a student, educator, and leader shape his belief in the power of public education to change lives. Pablo and Darryl...
2025-09-2452 min
Leader to Leader with Darryl CobbOld School, New Rules: Peter Anderson on Building Culture That LastsJoin Darryl Cobb, president of the Charter School Growth Fund, in a back-to-school limited series of the 'Leader to Leader' podcast, featuring Peter Anderson, Head of Schools at Washington Latin Public Charter Schools in Washington, D.C. In this thoughtful and energizing conversation recorded Live at the National Charter Schools Conference, Peter shares how classical education, deep community roots, and a relentless commitment to academic excellence are shaping the future of Washington, D.C.'s students. From his early days as a teacher to now leading one of the city's most respected charter networks, Peter talks with Darryl about...
2025-09-1058 min
Science in ParallelS6E7: Steven Wilson: Craving Chemical EfficiencyComputational scientists can take on the role of utility players in research, and Steven Wilson is one example. At Arizona State University he's built instruments, carried out experiments and dove deep into computational work. As a postdoc, he's working on a new challenge: building a quantum chemistry startup company. In this episode, he discusses his career that started with 10 years in the United States Navy Nuclear Program, how that military experience shaped his academic studies and the role of the Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship (DOE CSGF) in shaping his research to make chemical reactions more efficient.
2025-09-1025 minScience in ParallelS6E5: Amanda Randles: A Check-Engine Light for the HeartDuke University associate professor Amanda Randles' work to simulate and understand human blood flow and its implications demonstrates how high-performance computing paired with scientific principles can help improve human health. In this conversation, she talks about how she brought together early interests in physics, coding, biomedicine and even political science and policy and followed her enthusiasm for the Human Genome Project. She discusses how supercomputers are pushing the boundaries of what researchers can learn about the circulatory system noninvasively and how that knowledge, paired with data from wearable devices, could lead to new ways to monitor and treat patients...
2025-07-1529 min
Leader to Leader with Darryl CobbLessons in Leadership: Nella Garcia Urban’s Path from the Classroom to the C-SuiteHow do early life experiences shape the kind of leader you become in education?On this episode of Leader to Leader, Darryl Cobb sits down with Nella Garcia Urban, CEO of DSST (formerly known as the Denver School of Science and Technology), to explore her remarkable journey from a chalkboard-wielding kid on the Texas-Mexico border to the leader of Colorado’s largest charter school network.Nella shares how growing up in the Rio Grande Valley shaped her hunger for educational opportunity, how a detour through law school ultimately led her to YES Prep, and how 20+ ye...
2025-06-181h 09
Leader to Leader with Darryl CobbFrom Kindergarten to Cap and Gown: Greg White on Building a College-Going Culture EarlyWhat does it mean to be a college prep school… in kindergarten?On this episode of Leader to Leader, Darryl Cobb sits down with Greg White, CEO of LEARN Charter School Network, for a rich conversation about early ambition, sustained results, and why he believes every student deserves to out-grind the odds. From his roots in Baltimore and South Carolina to his work today across Illinois and D.C., Greg shares how his life has been shaped by generations of educational advocacy—and how he now pays it forward as a leader.With 11 schools and near...
2025-05-1456 minScience in ParallelS6E3: Jackson Burns: Avoiding Chemical Dead EndsChemists and chemical engineers have modeled molecules for decades, but artificial intelligence and foundation models offer the prospect that researchers could train models with predictive abilities in one area of chemistry that could be fine-tuned for another. Trustworthy chemistry foundation models could help streamline the experimental time and resources needed to discover new medicines or design new batteries. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Ph.D. student Jackson Burns is working on these questions. He describes the promise and challenges of building foundation models in chemistry, his work on chemprop, and his advice to other researchers interested in working on foundation m...
2025-05-1426 min
CharterFolk35 Years In and Still Picking Up Steam: A CharterFolk Chat with Kevin HallJed Wallace and Kevin Hall explore the evolution of the charter school movement, touching upon Hall's extensive journey from a fourth-grade educator to a prominent figure in educational philanthropy. Hall recounts his early experiences in Compton and his founding role in Chancellor Academies, illustrating the genesis of his commitment to educational reform. The conversation further delves into the transformative impact of the Charter School Growth Fund (CSGF), which Hall has helmed for over a decade. The CSGF has significantly expanded its reach, growing from supporting a mere 25,000 students in 2005 to nearly 750,000 today. This impressive growth highlights the dynamic potential...
2025-04-2551 min
Leader to Leader with Darryl Cobb5,000 Signatures, Three Schools, One Vision: Elsie Urueta Pollock’s Education Blueprint for Tulsa, OKIn the heart of East Tulsa, how do you build a school that carries your mother’s dreams, your community’s story, and your passionate fight for education in every classroom?On this episode of Leader to Leader, Darryl Cobb sits down with Elsie Urueta Pollock, founder and CEO of Tulsa Honor Academy, to talk about how her journey from immigrant student to school founder is reshaping education in Oklahoma. Born in Ciudad Juárez and raised in East Tulsa, Elsie shares how her mother’s advocacy planted the seeds for a school built on family, trust, and hig...
2025-04-161h 12
Leader to Leader with Darryl CobbThe Future of High School: Oliver Sicat’s Blueprint for SuccessHigh school is about more than just test scores.On this episode of Leader to Leader, Darryl Cobb sits down with Oliver Sicat, CEO of Ednovate Charter Schools, to talk about his journey from first-generation college student to leading one of the most innovative charter school networks in California.Oliver shares how his own struggles with the college admissions process shaped his belief that schools must do more than prepare students for exams—they must prepare them for life. At Ednovate, that means a Whole Child Report Card that measures intellectual curiosity, self-awareness, empathy, and pu...
2025-03-1958 min
Leader to Leader with Darryl CobbBuilding a School From Scratch: Amanda Johnson’s Mission to Transform Rural EducationWhat does it take to start a charter school from the ground up—without a charter law in place?On this episode of Leader to Leader, Darryl Cobb sits down with Amanda Johnson, Executive Director of Clarksdale Collegiate, to explore her journey from Teach for America to founding a high-performing K-8 charter school in rural Mississippi.Amanda shares the challenges of launching a school in the Delta, the impact of literacy-focused instruction, and her vision for expanding to high school. From securing transportation and food service to recruiting local teachers and creating STEM opportunities, Amanda is...
2025-02-191h 02
Leader to Leader with Darryl CobbHow the 2008 Recession Changed Everything: Constance Jones' Path to Charter School LeadershipJoin Darryl Cobb, president of the Charter School Growth Fund, in the inaugural episode of the 'Leader to Leader' podcast series, featuring Constance Jones, former CEO of the Noble Network of Charter Schools. Hear about Constance's personal journey, the challenges she faced, and her dedication to empowering over 12,000 students across 17 campuses in Chicago. Discover what fuels her leadership and the innovative approaches Noble employs, from college prep programs to supportive social-emotional learning environments. This episode dives deep into the successes and struggles of leading one of the most impactful charter school networks in the country, offering invaluable insights for...
2025-01-151h 08
2025-01-0800 minScience in ParallelS5E4 - Paulina Rodriguez: Building Credibility and AuthenticityEarly in her applied math journey, Paulina Rodriguez was a little skeptical of calculators and computers. But her desire to really understand what's going on under the hood has ultimately led to satisfying research. During her Ph.D., she's explored the credibility of computational models for medical device applications, making sure that researchers understand the accuracy, validity and uncertainty of simulated results. Paulina shares how she honed her problem-solving skills and creativity as she navigated her education. Her enthusiasm and determination are infectious, and she describes her personal struggle to bring her whole self to her work.
2024-10-0930 min
Science in ParallelDanilo Pérez: Embracing VersatilitySometimes extraordinary circumstances like the pandemic offer researchers unexpected opportunities to serve others. Danilo Pérez, now a Ph.D. student in computational neuroscience at New York University, found himself in this situation in Puerto Rico in 2020. He contributed his mathematical modeling expertise as part of a team that built and maintained Puerto Rico's public health data during that intense period. Later he contributed to AI-based modeling of coronavirus variants that won major honors in the computing community: the 2022 Gordon Bell Special Prize for HPC-Based COVID-19 Research. These days Danilo is developing computational tools to understand value-based d...
2023-10-2537 min
Science in ParallelCasey Berger: Choose Your Own Multidimensional CareerTraditional science career advice often urges people to specialize and become the best at one activity. But that perspective can undervalue interdisciplinary researchers and other polymaths who can see connections between and beyond science and engineering fields. This episode's guest, Casey Berger, describes how she has navigated this second approach, embracing her many interests, such as science, computing, teaching and storytelling, to make her mark as a physicist and data scientist and as a fiction author. In the second episode of our podcast series on creativity in computing, Casey talks about her path to physics and computing...
2023-10-1129 min
Science in ParallelClimate Modeling: Compelling Research Questions and Human ConcernsSeason 4 of Science in Parallel centers around creativity and computing, starting with an interview about climate modeling. At this nexus of physics, earth science, mathematics and computing, researchers are also racing against the clock to accurately predict how global climate is shifting before the changes happen. Pulling all the scientific pieces together and communicating those results so that others can use them are significant creative challenges—ones that both Tapio Schneider and Emily de Jong of California Institute of Technology have embraced. In our conversation, Tapio and Emily describe how both the science and societal im...
2023-09-2736 min
Science in ParallelMargaret Lawson: Finding Her PlaceEven after enjoying her first computer science course, Margaret Lawson wasn't convinced she'd have a place in the field. But today she works on cloud storage for Google after completing her Ph.D. at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where she was supported by a Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship (DOE CSGF). This conversation was recorded at the Supercomputing meeting (SC22) in Dallas in November 2022, where Margaret co-led a Birds of a Feather (BoF) session on Ethics in High Performance Computing. We talked about that session, her pursuit of challenging computer science problems and progress f...
2023-05-1021 min
A Canadian Celiac PodcastFebruary 2023 Roundup Time to catch up with Ellen Bayens of theceliacscene.com. Ellen and I talk about a study that looks at celiac children with persistent symptoms after one year of being established on the gluten free diet. As well Ellen introduces a study in the form of online surveys to be taken by 8 – 16 year old celiac patients, in an effort to improve recommendations for celiac youth. Oats have been in the news lately and Ellen and I look at a study recognizing that some celiacs are not able to tolerate even pure oats. More investigation needs to be done on th...
2023-02-0859 minA Canadian Celiac PodcastFebruary 2023 Roundup Time to catch up with Ellen Bayens of theceliacscene.com. Ellen and I talk about a study that looks at celiac children with persistent symptoms after one year of being established on the gluten free diet. As well Ellen introduces a study in the form of online surveys to be taken by 8 – 16 year old celiac patients, in an effort to improve recommendations for celiac youth. Oats have been in the news lately and Ellen and I look at a study recognizing that some celiacs are not able to tolerate even pure oats. More investigation needs to be done on th...
2023-02-0859 min
Science in ParallelSeason 2, Episode 3 -- Two PhDs + Pandemic + BabyPandemic work was especially challenging for computational scientist parents, who often juggled new work arrangements while balancing their children's care. In this episode you'll hear from a couple who were Ph.D. students and had a 10-month-old baby when lockdowns sent them all home in March 2020. The situation challenged their work and their mental health. As they adapted to these experiences, they changed career paths and their perspectives on life and work. You'll meet: Kalin Kiesling is a nuclear engineer in the nuclear science and engineering division at Argonne National Laboratory. Her work focuses on t...
2022-06-2235 min
Science in ParallelSeason 2, Episode 2 -- Future of Work (part 2): Adapting to ChangeIn Season 2 of Science in Parallel, we're examining how pandemic shutdowns have reshaped computational science workplaces. In our last episode we focused on the effects of virtual work and how the Exascale Computing Project's Strategies for Working Remotely panel series fostered communication and creativity. This episode brings in additional stories from graduate students, a professor and an early career researcher at a DOE national lab about the challenges and benefits of remote work. You'll meet: Episode one guests Elaine Raybourn of Sandia National Laboratories and Jerry Wang of Carnegie Mellon University. Jason Torchinsky...
2022-06-0825 min
Science in ParallelSeason 1, Episode 6 -- Aurora Pribram-JonesAurora Pribram-Jones works on hot, dense electrons – simulating extreme chemistry that can happen within giant planets like Jupiter or nuclear fusion experiments. Aurora's career included many initial detours on the way to science, but the flexibility of community college classes and a job at a technical bookstore paved their path toward research. Now a member of the chemistry faculty at the University of California, Merced, Aurora finds purpose in teaching and mentoring students and supporting the whole scientist. Aurora completed a Ph.D. at the University of California, Irvine, and was a DOE CSGF recipient from 2011 to 2015. Th...
2021-10-2728 min
Science in ParallelSeason 1, Episode 5 -- Alternative EnergyAvoiding the changing climate's most extreme impacts will require a technological revolution to power daily life from renewable sources. An entrepreneur, an engineering professor and a DOE-laboratory materials scientist – all DOE CSGF and Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni – discuss technical challenges from nuclear energy to heat transfer to hydrogen generation and the importance of choosing high-impact research problems. In addition to talking about science, engineering and computation, they highlight the need for a strong social and political movement to drive a complete overhaul of our energy infrastructure. You'll meet: Leslie Dewan is a nuclear engineering entr...
2021-10-1338 min
Science in ParallelSeason 1, Episode 4 -- Alicia Magann Alicia Magann got her start in control systems engineering research, exploring tools for controlling large-scale chemical processes. As a Ph.D. student, she turned the dials of quantum chemistry in Herschel Rabitz's research group at Princeton University with support from the DOE CSGF. She talks about her work on quantum algorithms, her cross-country road trip from New Jersey to her practicum in California and how her dad is her scientific hero. Read more about Alicia and her work in the 2021 issue of DEIXIS.
2021-09-2919 min
Science in ParallelSeason 1, Episode 3 -- Quentarius MooreCuriosity, mentors and a summer working in concrete with his grandfather shaped Quentarius Moore's science career studying 2-D materials. He recently completed his fourth year as a DOE CSGF recipient, while pursuing a chemistry Ph.D. at Texas A&M University. He completed both his bachelor's and master's degrees in chemistry at Jackson State University in Mississippi. Read more about Quentarius and his graduate research in the 2021 issue of DEIXIS magazine.
2021-09-1533 min
Science in ParallelSeason 1, Episode 2 -- Artificial Intelligence and Climate ChangeOne of today's hottest areas of computational research could help build better solutions for one of global society's steepest challenges. Three early career computational scientists talk about AI's potential for understanding and predicting climate shifts, supporting strategies for incorporating renewable energy, and engineering other approaches that reduce carbon emissions. They also describe how AI can be misused or can perpetuate existing biases. Working at this important research interface requires broad knowledge in areas such as climate science, public policy and engineering coupled with computational science and mathematics expertise. These early career researchers talk about their approaches to...
2021-07-1534 min
Science in ParallelSeason 1, Episode 1 -- Jeff HittingerJeff Hittinger of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory embodies the term scientist-chimera. He talks about the many scientific hats he's worn simultaneously – computer scientist, applied mathematician and physicist. As director for the Center for Applied Computing (CASC) and as co-principal investigator for the DOE CSGF, he wears many more. He talks about scientific success, leadership and the tricks he's cultivated for communicating science to broader audiences through the Livermore Ambassador Lecture series. Jeff was a DOE CSGF recipient from 1996 to 2000 while earning his Ph.D. in aerospace engineering and scientific computing at the University of Michigan. He was on...
2021-07-1532 min
Square Pizza#57 - Mia Howard, Partner, The Opportunity TrustGIVEAWAY - send us a message and let us know your favorite thing about the Square Pizza Pod. We are giving away SchermCo swag to the first three people that send us a note!Welcome back to the Square Pizza podcast. In the first episode of 2021, Mia Howard of The Opportunity Trust joins Greg in conversation. Mia will share more about The Opportunity Trust later in the episode, an organization that is working to ensure that every child in St. Louis is prepared to lead a life of choice and dignity.Keep listening on to...
2021-01-2040 min
Goodbets UnpluggedEpisode 10: Nicole answers questions from CSGF Fundraising session.Tune in for some useful advice from Goodbets founder and fundraising mastermind, Nicole Jarbo. In this episode, she goes through questions from a fundraising session she led.
2019-11-1826 min