New NCSE board members, clockwise from top left: Fouad Abd-El-Khalick, Leonardo Banchik, Eric Rothschild, and Tom Matzzie.
NCSE is pleased to announce that Fouad Abd-El-Khalick, Leonardo Banchik, Tom Matzzie, and Eric Rothschild have joined NCSE's board of directors. At the same time, NCSE bids a fond farewell to Jo Handelsman, Michael Lubic, and Michael E. Mann.
Fouad Abd-El-Khalick is Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and recipient of the Distinguished Contributions to Science Education through Research Award from the National Association for Research in Science Teaching. His research program has focused on teaching and learning about nature of science in K-12 science classrooms and science teacher education settings.
Leonardo Banchik is Investment Director at Voyager, an early-stage climate and deep-tech venture fund. He is a former founding Climate Tech Partner at Global Founders Capital and McKinsey alumnus focused on sustainable investing and energy transition strategy. He was product innovation lead at Sandymount and a founder of startup OleoSep. He received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from MIT as an NSF Fellow, and previously served as a scientist at two US national labs and researcher at the Department of Energy.
Tom Matzzie is founder and Chief Executive Officer of CleanChoice Energy, a renewable energy developer and independent power producer providing clean energy to homes and businesses. He is also chair of the Coalition to Power America, a clean-tech industry advocacy and education organization. Prior to founding CleanChoice, Mattzie led advocacy and political efforts on behalf of various causes and campaigns. He studied economics at the University of Notre Dame.
Eric Rothschild is Litigation Director at the National Student Legal Defense Network (Student Defense), a non-profit that works through litigation and other advocacy to advance students' rights to educational opportunity and to ensure that higher education provides a launching point for economic mobility. In 2005 he served as lead counsel in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, the landmark case that established that the teaching of "intelligent design" in public school science class violates the First Amendment principle of separation of church and state.
Jo Handelsman, Michael Lubic, and Michael E. Mann all left the board at its February 2025 meeting when their terms of office expired. "NCSE is incredibly grateful to all three of them," commented NCSE Executive Director Amanda L. Townley. "Handelsman for her insight into education as well as a broad array of environmental issues, Lubic for his legal acumen, and Mann, of course, for his tireless commitment to promoting the understanding and acceptance of climate change, and defending the science against its detractors."
The new members of the board, Abd-El-Khalick, Banchik, Matzzie, and Rothschild, officially joined the board at its February 2025 meeting, joining Kenneth R. Miller, Michael Haas, Sarah George, Maya Garcia, and Joseph L. Graves Jr.
