Monya Lane

CEO & Board Chair

Monya Lane is a retired mechanical engineer whose tenure included overseeing the development of innovations in advanced manufacturing, bioengineering and data science as the associate director of Engineering at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Throughout her 35-year career she held a variety of energy, environment and national security project and program management roles in service to the nation. As the senior leader of Lawrence Livermore’s largest organization, Monya managed a diverse collective of 1,600 employees in providing the necessary engineering, science and technology to ensure the success of the laboratory’s missions. Earlier in her career she was the one of the system engineers on the team responsible for designing the NIF laser.

Known for her “can-do” attitude, Monya brings nonstop energy and a track record for building successful teams to Quest where she is, once again, leading the effort to “create something bigger than ourselves.” She is an active participant of Innovation Tri-Valley, a collective of business leaders, educators and elected officials dedicated to championing the Tri-Valley. She also serves as chair of the Livermore Commission for the Arts and sits on the Board of Trustees for UC Merced as liaison to the Tri-Valley region. An avid tennis player, Monya still competes in local tennis leagues and was on a team that made it to the national competition in Las Vegas in 2018.

“Teaming up with colleagues to bring Quest to our region is the perfect way for me to ‘give back’ and help demystify the science and technology around us. I’m excited by the opportunity to create “questing” experiences that build practical skills and confidence to engage in our increasingly complex world.”

Alan Burnham

Founder & Director Emeritus

Alan Burnham lives for all things chemistry. He is a professor, consultant and mentor with more than 50 years of experience as a chemist and 250 professional publications to his credit. During his 31 years at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory he worked on a variety of energy and national security projects before becoming the chief technology officer for American Shale Oil. He has consulted with numerous oil companies and serves as adjunct professor in the Energy Resources Engineering Department at Stanford University.

A visionary who cares about his community, Alan originated the idea for Quest, his second nonprofit startup, after serving as the founder and CEO of Partners for Change Tri-Valley, which provides life-skills training to lift people out of poverty. Alan is passionate toward all levels of teaching, whether serving as an adviser to postdocs, teaching a class to graduate students, tutoring middle schoolers or introducing basic science concepts to grade school students. He is passionate about science learning and has built a number of pop-up exhibits to encourage young minds to pursue science and to promote Quest.

“Science impacts so many decisions we all make throughout our lives. I’m passionate about increasing scientific literacy and hope Quest inspires more people to work in this fascinating field.”

Vaughn Draggoo

Secretary

Vaughn Draggoo is a retired physicist and technical manager with a passion for science education. He spent more than 30 years at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory working in lasers and optics, with an emphasis on the construction, integration and operation of industrial-scale equipment and facilities.

Since taking on his “second avocation” as a Quest board member, Vaughn has been actively supporting educational programs and working to introduce scientific phenomena to inquisitive minds of all ages. Vaughn serves as a docent at the Chabot Space and Science Museum in Oakland and is an active mentor/volunteer in the Livermore schools, where his wife taught for 30 years. He sits on the Livermore Joint Unified School Unified School District’s Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee, responsible for monitoring bond finances to ensure the money is spent properly. An avid golfer, Vaughn proudly admits to putting his game on hold so he can design classroom experiences based on Next Generation Science Standards and help launch Quest.

“As its potential emerges, I am energized by what Quest will become – a place of learning, inspiration, community and inclusion.”

Jay Davis

Director Emeritus

Jay Davis is a seasoned leader and nuclear physicist known for building new facilities, standing up government organizations and raising funds to advance science and engineering. While at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, he built accelerators for research in basic and applied science, culminating with the Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry. His work enabled groundbreaking research in forensics, climate change, materials research and medical and biological sciences. After the first Gulf War, jay served as a U.N. nuclear inspector in Iraq and as the first director of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency within the Department of Defense.

Closer to home, Jay has chaired the board of the Livermore Valley Chamber of Commerce and served on the boards of Innovation Tri-Valley Leadership Group, and the Livermore Valley Performing Arts Center. In 2019 he became president of the Rotary Club of Livermore. For five years he was president and chief fundraiser for the Hertz Foundation, where he secured millions to help fund graduate student studies in the applied physical, engineering and medical sciences. A retired windsurfer, biker and back-country skier, Jay now spends his free time as the self-proclaimed “chief sharecropper” and owner of the Davis-King Vineyard, home of Talking Bull Petite Syrah.

“After six decades as a student and practitioner of science, helping to build Quest and its program gives me the chance to experience again the awe and wonder of science — and to share it with others. I can hardly wait!”

Rick Stulen

Director

Rick Stulen is a solid-state physicist with a 36-year career at Sandia National Laboratories, retiring as vice president of the Sandia-California site. He helped formulate and lead the Department of Energy’s largest public private partnership to create advanced semiconductor manufacturing technologies in partnership with Lawrence Livermore and Lawrence Berkeley national laboratories. He spent four years in New Mexico leading Sandia’s Science and Technology portfolio before moving back to California as the senior executive in charge of the California site and laboratory program lead for Energy, Climate and Infrastructure Security.

Rick is a visionary executive who excels at building partnerships and encouraging young minds to persevere and pursue science and technical careers. Always willing to take on new challenges and learn from any setbacks, Rick is trying to perfect a 360 degree turn on a wake surfing board (he’s “getting close”). A home coffee roaster and trained barista, he has a passion for sailing and often can be found on the San Francisco Bay.

“Helping others come together to explore the world around us through the lens of science is what I love to do. The journey to create Quest has been full of surprises, fun, learning and deeply gratifying.”

Nan Ho

Director

Nan Ho serves as Vice President of Academic Services at Las Positas College (LPC). One of her passions is to connect the talent at LPC with community, education, and industry partners to inspire and support all students in their academic and career pathways. Nan was a faculty member for more than 20 years at LPC, where she helped originate the Science and Engineering Seminar Series with Lawrence Livermore National Lab and the Undergraduate Science Research Poster Session, and was advisor to student clubs and Beta Beta Beta National Biological Honor Society.

Nan serves on the Board of Directors for the Bay Nature Institute and for the Las Positas College Viticulture and Enology Foundation, and the Institutional Biosafety Committees for Sandia National Laboratories and Daybreak Labs. She previously served on the Understanding Evolution Teacher Advisory Board for the UC Museum of Paleontology and the Oakland Zoo Docent Council Board. Nan earned her doctorate at the University of Southern California and her Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees at Stanford University. Nan received the John and Suanne Roueche Excellence Award, the Unity Award, Outstanding Full-Time Faculty Award, and is a three-time recipient of both the Outstanding Teaching Award and the Chancellor’s Award.

José Hernández

Director

Inspired by the first Hispanic-American astronaut Franklin Chang-Diaz, José Hernández has wanted to fly in space since was in high school. One of four children in a migrant farming family from Mexico, José didn’t learn English until he was 12 years old and spent much of his childhood traveling with his family harvesting crops. After graduating high school in Stockton, he enrolled at the University of the Pacific in Stockton and earned a degree in electrical engineering. He was awarded a full scholarship to the graduate program at the University of California in Santa Barbara, where he continued his engineering studies. In 1987, he accepted a full-time job with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory working on signal and image processing applications in radar imaging, computed tomography, and acoustic imaging.

Later in his career, José worked on developing quantitative x-ray film imaging analysis techniques for the x-ray laser program. He applied these techniques in the medical physics arena and co-developed the first full-field digital mammography imaging system. He has also worked in the international arena where he represented Lawrence Livermore and the U.S. Department of Energy on Russian nuclear non-proliferation issues. After three years and being turned down eleven times for astronaut training by NASA, José was selected in May 2004 to begin training as a mission specialist and flew on a 14-day space shuttle mission to the International Space Station in 2009.

After retiring from NASA, José and his family returned to Stockton, where he now works as an engineering consultant and motivational speaker throughout the U.S. and Mexico.

“Dream BIG, anything is possible with hard work, an education, and perseverance!”

Michael Mosby

Director

Michael Mosby is an operations and systems guru who has over 20 years’ experience amplifying impact and partner experience through operational excellence.
Michael is a certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt. He was Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s first certified Master Black Belt in 2007, where he deployed a Lean Six Sigma Program that resulted in cost savings more than $200M. As the former Chief Operations Officer of Tides Foundation. he built Tides’ first Grants Management System, led Tides’ Strategy & Governance Initiative, and spearheaded Tides’ Salesforce enhancements resulting in a Best In Sector designation and speaking engagement at Dream Force. He has been recognized for building efficient and effective solutions for the Department of Energy and United States Army. He is also a contributing author for the book, “Mastering Excellence: A Leader’s Guide to Aligning Strategy, Culture, Customer Experience and Measures of Success.”

“I believe we are all agents for good. The most cherished moments of my life have involved being a part of efforts to make the world a better place. I couldn’t think of a better use of my time and my talents than to serve others.“

Gina Bonanno

Director

Gina Bonanno is a laser scientist with over 30 years of experience in laser technology development and operations at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). She held a number of senior technical and management positions in LLNL’s largest laser programs including over a decade on the National Ignition Facility (NIF). She later served as Program Director for Photon Science and Applications, an applied research and development organization working on advanced photonic capabilities in support of LLNL’s national security mission.

Since retiring Gina has devoted much of her time to activities in the community in a variety of roles with the City of Livermore and with local non-profits. Gina was a member of the Pedrozzi Foundation Board of Directors where her work emphasized providing more support to the community’s underserved schools and students. She is a founder of the Pedrozzi Young Scholars Program and helped foster the relationship of Quest with the Pedrozzi Foundation. She has served on both the Livermore City Council and Planning Commission. While on City Council she championed the completion of the City’s Climate Action Plan. She continues to serve on the Livermore Climate Action Team helping to coordinate partnerships in the community including with the schools, businesses and national laboratories, and sees Quest as one of the City’s key partners in this effort.

Her work with Quest began in 2019 as an advisory board member. Gina was a major contributor to Quest@Home which provided web-based content to the community during the COVID pandemic. She was a leader in the project to construct Quest Plaza, an outdoor science exploration space in downtown Livermore.

Glenn Kubiak 

Director

Glenn D. Kubiak was raised and educated in New England and New York by parents – one an engineer, one an artist – who consistently fostered curiosity and exploration. He received an Sc. B. in Chemistry from Brown University, the second of two sons to do so. He first visited California during college, traveling by hitchhiking and buses to Mendocino, where he worked for a local hotel while living in a campground a few miles from the birthplace of his future father-in-law. Returning to California for graduate school at Stanford, he had the good fortune to meet and marry his wife Linda and to receive a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry.

Kubiak worked at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, CA for 28 years as a research scientist, research manager, program manager, and organizational leader. His research interests were focused on the structure and chemistry of diamond surfaces and on the development and use of laser-driven Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) light sources and novel EUV-sensitive photoresist materials for use in semiconductor microlithography. Along with several other Quest members, he had leadership roles in the industry- and DOE-funded EUV Lithography (EUVL) research, development, engineering, and commercialization program, a close partnership between Sandia, Lawrence Livermore, Lawrence Berkeley, and semiconductor equipment suppliers. This program led directly to the current use of EUVL for commercial production of the most advanced integrated circuits and computer chips.

Kubiak then moved to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to assume the duties of Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Director of Operations, where he was responsible for leading the planning, development, and delivery of all institutional operations functions and services provided to over 4300 scientists and staff.

He is now retired, working part-time as a community volunteer, consultant, and non-profit board member, while also pursuing his life-long passions of cycling, long-distance running, and travel with Linda, his wife of 40 years, and with their two adult children.

David Svec

Director

David Svec M.D., M.B.A. is a Clinical Associate Professor at Stanford School of Medicine. He completed his joint M.D./M.B.A. degree at Case Western Reserve University and then completed his Internship and Residency at Stanford University. He has been an academic hospitalist at Stanford since 2012. He is the Chief Medical Officer at Stanford Health Care Tri-Valley. He started the hospitalist team at Stanford Health Care Tri-Valley and also served as the Section Chief from 2015-2018. He has been the Director of the Stanford Medicine Consult and Procedure Team at Stanford, a Core Residency Faculty Member, a member of the Department of Medicine Quality Council, and a member of the SHC Bylaws Committee. 

David has been recognized for his teaching, receiving the David A Rytand Clinical Teaching Award, the Arthur L Bloomfield Award for Excellence in Clinical Teaching and the Lawrence Mathers Award for exceptional commitment to teaching in Medical Student education. He has mentored multiple quality improvement projects of the Stanford Healthcare Consulting Group and his research and projects focus on high value care and sustainability.

Parag Vaishampayan

Director

Parag Vaishampayan is an esteemed microbial ecologist who has made significant contributions in the fields of Space biology, Astrobiology, and planetary protection. He is the Division Chief for the Space Biosciences Division at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. Before this, he held the role of Space Biology Portfolio Scientist, where he provided leadership and direction to maintain the scientific integrity of projects aimed at understanding how spaceflight affects living systems in simulated ground-based experiments, the International Space Station (ISS), and future human exploration missions beyond low Earth orbit (BLO). Parag has been associated with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) since 2008 and has supported planetary protection implementation for several NASA Mars missions, including Curiosity, InSight, and Perseverance. He is known for successfully managing several multi-year, multi-institutional research projects, showcasing his leadership and organizational skills. In addition, he has played a pivotal role in developing and implementing novel molecular approaches, instruments, and bioinformatics analysis tools widely used by microbial ecologists.

Parag has been a prominent speaker and motivator who has inspired students to pursue STEM careers, significantly enriching equity and diversity in the community. He has worked tirelessly to establish and advance education outreach programs for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), which have yielded profound and enduring impacts. Due to his outstanding contributions, Parag has received several prestigious honors and awards, including the NASA Exceptional Public Service Medal, the JPL Explorer Award, the Voyager Award, and the Mariner Award.

Juan Meza

Director

Juan brings valuable perspective as Professor of Applied and Computational Mathematics, and former Dean of Natural Sciences during growth years at UC Merced from 2011-2017.  He is currently serving as Associate Director for the Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute, an internationally recognized and National Science Foundation-supported research institute.  

His work focuses on real-world science problems such as power grid modeling and reliability, antibiotic resistance models and the effect of different treatment regimens, machine learning algorithms for various data analysis problems, and semiconductor device modeling.  Juan has received many recognitions for both his academic accomplishments and his commitment to increasing under-represented groups in computing.  

He raised his family nearby in Castro Valley and still commutes back from Merced on weekends.  Juan is enthusiastic about the community impact Quest Science Center is having, and excited to work with the Board of Directors as we move forward in our vision to create a permanent regional science center.  

Caleb Cheung

Chief Learning Officer

As the Chief Learning Officer, Caleb heads up the effort to develop new programs, establish partnerships, and build the infrastructure needed for a permanent facility in the future. Previously, he was the Director of Education at the Chabot Space & Science Center and also worked for 21 years in the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD), first as a middle school science teacher, then as the district’s Science Director. His career in OUSD focused on developing districtwide structures and regional partnerships for improving science education and implementing the Next Generation Science Standards.

In 2005, Caleb won the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching. From 2006-2009, served as a Commissioner and the Chair of the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. Caleb’s interests include growing rare cacti and performing magic.

Dan Golub

Director of Education

Dan is a lifelong educator excited to bring his passion for community-outreach and inquiry-based science to the Quest Science Center team. As Director of Education, Dan oversees the development, implementation, and support of various Quest education programs. He hopes to make science education accessible to all and forge connections between students, schools, families, communities, and businesses in the region.

Prior to working with Quest, Dan was a science and math teacher, instructional coach, and site manager at an education non-profit. He serves as a lecturer in UC Berkeley’s Cal Teach program where he is intent on ushering in a new generation of STEM teachers that is committed to equity in education. When he’s not at working, Dan can be found playing jazz piano, cycling through the East Bay hills, and studying chess.

Cindy Margulis

Director of Development

Cindy brings a career’s worth of expertise in organizational advancement,
alliance and fund development to Quest.

As a former trustee of the Oakland Zoo, Cindy was an early and effective champion for the capital campaign that produced the zoo’s marvelous California Trail expansion. She brings abundant leadership, strategic expertise, and fundraising capacity that’s been proven in myriad contexts.

Cindy served as the Executive Director/CEO of Golden Gate Audubon, where her vision, leadership, and collaborative talents significantly expanded the reach and impact of that organization, including administering national-award-winning STEAM education programs for thousands of Title 1 (under-served) school children and initiating the hugely popular SFBayOspreys.org community engagement project.

As Quest’s Director of Development, Cindy is focused on strengthening, expanding, and building out the network of funding relationships pivotal for Quest’s future.

“It’s remarkable how Quest empowers everyone to discover the astonishing scientific & technological developments happening all around us! Facilitating accessible learning opportunities for everyone in our local communities is a core hallmark of this organization and I’m so delighted to be on Team Quest now!”