Edward Almasy
Co-Director

e-mail:ealmasy@scout.wisc.edu
phone: 608.262.6606

After publishing his first shrink-wrapped software package for the original Apple ][ at the tender age of 18, Ed spent most of the next six years tinkering with photons before being sucked into the Internet vortex in 1987. Since then he has been involved in various Internet-related ventures and high-tech startups before finally ending up herding virtual cats at Scout. When not sitting in front of a computer and/or pontificating on novel new ways to use the Internet, Ed can often be found boating, snowboarding, writing and playing and dancing to music, or maybe just driving around with the top down.

Rachael Bower
Co-Director

e-mail: bower@scout.wisc.edu
phone: 608.262.6587

Born in NYC and having spent most of her life east of the midwest, Rachael moved to Madison in 1995 to work for the Trace Center at the University of Wisconsin. After many years in Wisconsin she has finally learned to appreciate domestic cheese, fish icing, the true meaning of the phrase "wind chill factor" and her uncle Luke's hotel in Mexico. With a background in communications and library science, and having gone from academia to Internet-startup-land and back again, she brings strong project management, organizational, and fundraising skills to her job as Project Director. It also doesn't hurt that she has a wicked sense of humor and the ability to throw a fabulous dinner party with less than a day's notice. When not at Scout she spends her time teaching yoga, hanging out with her partner Rudy, or making pathetic attempts to throw a frisbee to Zuki the Labradoodle.

Andrea Coffin
Metadata Specialist

e-mail: acoffin@scout.wisc.edu
phone: 608.265.9453

Andi's role at Scout focuses on revolutionizing digital librarianship and all things metadata. In her spare moments, she enjoys spending time with her husband Nate and their tubby cat, Havok. She also likes to cook, agonize over word and number puzzles , and think about language and the weird ways people use it.

Tim Baumgard
Web Developer

e-mail: tbaumgard@scout.wisc.edu

Tim Baumgard is majoring in Computer Sciences and is a Web Developer for the Scout Project. When Tim isn't attached to his computer he enjoys biking, spending time with friends and new Apple products. His favorite TV shows are Futurama and Red Dwarf and his favorite books include The Elegant Universe and The Fabric of the Cosmos.

Clay Collins
Internet Cataloger

e-mail: collins@scout.wisc.edu

Raised in rural Southern California, Clay spent his childhood eating unhealthy quantities of citrus, riding his bike around the Salton Sea, and dreaming of a career as a cow finder in Bombay. In the midst of the dot-com boom of the 1990s, Clay left high school to join a technology start-up -- it seemed like a good way to feign intelligence and evade mediocre grades. After coming to his senses, Clay returned to the Academy and attended Grinnell College. He later moved to Minneapolis, where he worked for the University of Minnesota Human Rights Center and grew attached to the Midwest, world travel, cold winters, good coffee shops, and the North Shore of Lake Superior. Clay is presently pursuing a dual degree in library and information studies (M.A.) and law (J.D.) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and hopes to someday apply these disparate disciplines to the field of international human rights law.

Max Grinnell
Editor, The Scout Report

e-mail: grinnell@scout.wisc.edu

Max Grinnell is a doctoral student in the geography department here at the University of Wisconsin studying urban governance, urbanism, and globalization. More specifically, he is interested in the interaction between institutions of higher learning and their regional, national, and international context. Previously, he attended the University of Chicago where he received his AB (history and geography) and AM (community development). Some of his favorite authors include Augustine, Robert Lowell, Robert Penn Warren, and Michael Chabon. While currently Max is the editor of the Scout Report, he has also had his share of unique experiences over the past few years, including riding a camel along the Atlantic Ocean in Morocco, working for Amtrak, and attempting to sell the Hotel National Des Invalides to a group of unsuspecting tourists. In addition, Max decries the flagrant pretensions of some who are found wandering the halls of academe, most notably in this fine repartee from the 1997 film, Good Will Hunting.

Michael Grossheim
System Administrator

e-mail: grosshei@scout.wisc.edu
phone: 608.262.6592

As a youngster growing up in lovely, rural Wisconsin, Michael enjoyed riding his tricycle, playing ball, and creative computing. Currently a Computer Science major at UW-Madison, he hopes if he studies diligently and compiles resume-building work experience, he will find a good job in the Bay Area. An Eagle Scout, the Project relies on him to shore-up technical infrastructure so there is no slipping on virtual banana peels.

Chanda Halderman
Managing Editor

e-mail: chalderman@scout.wisc.edu
phone: 608.265.8042

Chanda Halderman is a graduate student in the History department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison studying Early Modern European History. Her particular interests are 17th century England (before the overrated Oliver Cromwell), specifically, views of the English government in the decades before the civil war. Chanda's undergraduate career was spent at the University of Kansas where she received her BA in History and developed a lifetime obsession with Kansas Jayhawk basketball. When she is not tearing through the pages of history, Chanda spends her time with her beloved husband Andy and her German Shepherd, Max. Born in Northern Wisconsin, Chanda is enjoying the return to her home state, trying to prove to her husband that it really is not that cold. Acting as the managing editor as well as outreach coordinator with the Scout project and their new project AMSER, she enjoys the camaraderie, enthusiasm, as well as the new technical know-how that the others "kindly" bestow upon her daily.

Kyle Manna
Technical Specialist

e-mail: kmanna@scout.wisc.edu
phone: 608.262.6592

Kyle traded in his G.I. Joes for a computer and a keyboard early in his days. He stumbled upon Linux in high school, and Kyle instantly became hooked. Soon after, Kyle received his driver's license and found his best excuse yet for being broke: his Pontiac Fiero. Kyle is currently a computer engineering major at UW-Madison where he works his hardest to keep those pesky 2's out of the bit stream of 1's and 0's that rule our world. In his free time, Kyle helps the UW-Madison Formula SAE racing team keep their electrons in check.

Debra Shapiro
Contributing Editor

Debra Shapiro was Internet Cataloger at the Scout Project from 1998 to 2000, and has gone on to teach librarians how to do new things with technology at the continuing education program at UW-Madison's School of Library and Information Studies. She'd mostly rather be looking at pictures on the Web, so she contributes reviews of art, museum, and pictorial web sites to the Scout Report. When she's not doing either of those things, she is most likely to be cooking, as evidenced by Deb's recipes.

Lesley Skousen-Chio
Administrative Assistant

e-mail: lskousenchio@scout.wisc.edu

Lesley Skousen-Chio is a graduate student with the History Department at UW-Madison. She studies early modern British history, with particular focus on early modern cultural history as expressed by legislation, religion, and popular culture. In addition to her graduate work, she is also a teaching assistant for the Women's Studies Program. Lesley's non-academic interests include soccer, supporting both Arsenal and the Chicago Fire, fancy desserts, Indian food, politics, and hiking. Right now she really enjoys the music of Interpol, Robots in Disguise, Sufjan Stevens, and Cold Play. Lesley is currently planning future projects that involve bringing the Mighty Boosh to America, going dancing, ending world hunger, and writing books set at boarding schools. Her greatest ambition is to write to comedian Russell Brand and someday get to be on his BBC Radio 2 show. However, she would settle for a highly-paid tenure-track position in History.

Emily Schearer
Internet Cataloger

e-mail: eschearer@scout.wisc.edu

Emily is currently a graduate student at UW-Madison's School of Library and Information Studies. She also studied German and History at UW-Madison as an undergraduate. In her free time, Emily enjoys reading, soccer, cooking and daydreaming about what things will be like when she is a rich and famous librarian.

Mike Wilson
Web Developer

e-mail: mwilson@scout.wisc.edu

(Mike is too busy wrestling with really annoying CSS quirks to supply bio information right now, but he will get to it soon.)

Ben Yule
System Administrator

e-mail: yule@scout.wisc.edu

Ben is studying Engineering and is the general goto tech guy for all of the less than computer savvy Scouts. When he isn't studying or working at Scout he participates in the UW Formula SAE Racing Team. He also enjoys Autocross, football, pool, and all things Wisconsin Badgers.