International Advisory Board

Ms. Rachel Chung

Board Member

Rachel started her profession as an educator in 2008 at Chungdahm Learning, one of the ESL corporations in South Korea. After executing the curriculum as an instructor, she began her position as an instructor trainer on the Human Resources team. During her five years as a trainer, Rachel oversaw the April English program, training over 1,500 teachers and developing a program for new instructors from abroad to teach in Korea. After completing her master?s degree from Massey University in New Zealand, Rachel used her training abilities to manage the global translation team at NAVER V LIVE for two years. In 2008, Rachel started an EdTech company, Tickr (later pivoted to BeAptive), a social media platform for STEM students worldwide. Rachel raised 1.1 million USD for app and content development, and Tickr launched on iOS and Android in 2019. After the launch, Tickr signed an MoU with SEAMEO STEM-ED to provide STEM content to students across Southeast Asia. In December 2019, she participated in the MoU signing ceremony and had an opportunity to pilot at three private elementary schools in Bangkok. Tickr also gained much traction in the United States and the United Kingdom, with over 75% of downloads accumulated from these two regions over the first six months of launch.

Dr. Rie Atagi

Board Member

Rie is an education policy expert, providing consultancy to international organizations including UNESCO, ADB, World Bank, and JICA, as well as the Thailand Ministry of Education. Her research is extensive, including teacher development, industrial human resource development, public-private partnership in education, and ICT use for education, in addition to STEM education. Rie has served as an advisor to the president at the Institute for the Promotion of Teaching Science and Technology (IPST) Thailand for 9 years and as a senior consultant for the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) STEM Education Center. A Japanese long-term resident in Thailand, she has conducted several collaborative projects on STEM education with Japanese education agencies including Japan Science and Technology Agency, STEM Education Center at Saitama University, and Tokyo Gakugei University. She has also served as a board member for the NIST international school for 6 years. She loves music and is currently serving as a board member for the Bangkok Music Society.

Dr. Margaret Whalley

Board Member

After completing her BSc and a MA in Education, Margaret undertook her PhD studies in tropical mycology in the rainforests of the Amazon and Malaysia and continues to produce peer-reviewed scientific papers in mycology. Margaret has taught at secondary, tertiary and university levels in the UK where she instigated and ran microbiology and mycology workshops, establishing beneficial links between schools and universities and furthered microbiology education through the Microbiology in Schools Advisory Committee (MiSAC). She has promoted microbiology teaching in schools internationally through lectures, workshops, schools’ competitions and symposia in Malaysia, Thailand, S. Korea, and China in conjunction with the British Council, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and universities. A long-standing member of MiSAC, with experience of producing microbiology resources for UK schools, Margaret collaborated with IPST Thailand from 2010-2018 on two teacher training programmes in microbiology, the production of STEM activities and microbiology modules for primary – upper secondary students. In 2018 she wrote a manual, Microbiology for Schools, detailing microbiology protocols and delivering a wide range of practical activities. Most successful were the schools’ competitions she ran in China and, in Thailand, where they were co-sponsored by IPST and the British Mycological Society. From 2020-2023, Margaret worked with SEAMEO STEM-ED producing the programme, Vaccines: fighting disease informing students, post-pandemic, of the importance of vaccines and how they work. Online teacher training and workshops were followed by a student video competition which produced some remarkably innovative entries. Margaret has been awarded the British Mycological Society’s Benefactors’ Medal for her work in promoting mycology internationally.

Dr. Mark Windale

Board Member

Until recently Mark held a senior academic post as Director, the Centre for Science Education, Sheffield Hallam University, UK. He was a teacher for 11 years holding posts of increasing leadership responsibility and a lecturer at the University of Sheffield. Over the past 28 years Mark’s work has included running national and international STEM Education programmes. He played a central role in all 11 Action Programmes (APs) of the UK STEM programme. He has run national Science and STEM education projects, in partnership with the British Council, ministries of education and STEM companies in Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei, Philippines, Vietnam, China, Sri Lanka, India, Kazakhstan, Ecuador, Azerbaijan and UAE. Mark has experience of working at a national policy making level, running regional, national, and international programmes to support ministries, education areas, schools, school leadership teams, departments, and teachers to effectively implement coherent and coordinated STEM programmes.

Prof. Emeritus Dr. Edward Reeve

Board Member

Ed is a professor emeritus and former teacher educator in Technology and Engineering Education (TEE) from the department of Applied Sciences, Technology and Education at Utah State University (USU) in Logan Utah, USA where he was employed for more than 30 years. His professional interests, research, and numerous publications and presentations have been in areas related to educational standards, curriculum development in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, and improving teaching and learning. He has experience as a Senior Specialist with the SEAMEO STEM Education Center in Bangkok, Thailand, a secondary education teacher, a university interim vice provost, and is a recent past president of the International Technology and Engineering Educators Association (ITEEA and is a past president of the Council on Technology and Engineering Teacher Education (CTETE). He has also served as a Fulbright Scholar and Senior Specialist in Thailand.

Dr. John Stiles

Board Member

John Stiles, an award-winning science and STEM educator for 26 years in secondary classrooms in five countries; 11 years teaching science methods in U.S. higher education teacher preparation programs; A science and STEM education advisor and consultant for 13 years (4 in the U.S. and 9 in Thailand, including 4 years at IPST and 3 years at SEAMEO STEM ED); 30 published peer-reviewed academic articles and book chapters; A former president of Science Education for Students with Disabilities; Editor in Chief of three peer-reviewed academic journals; Coordinator of four international STEM education ISMTEC conferences in Bangkok.