Toby graduated in 1979 with a Bachelor’s degree in Physics from Cornell University, and joined the staff of the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Carderock, Maryland, the U.S. Navy’s prime experimental facility for testing the hydrodynamic designs of ship and submarine models. She received her Master’s Degree in Ocean Engineering from the George Washington University in 1987. For the 34 years, she led model-scale and full-scale experiments aimed at measuring the flow around surface ships and submarines. From 2007-2014, Toby directed the National Defense Education Program’s K-12 STEM Outreach effort at Carderock, engaging fifty lab STEM professionals in bringing authentic engineering projects to local school districts.
Toby retired from the Naval Surface Warfare Center in 2014 and joined TIES where she leads a Digital Fabrication team of Fab Lab designers and installers, Fab content developers, and educator professional development trainers. Toby also leads TIES’ work with the Defense STEM Education Consortium, including the deployment of a Mobile STEM-on-the-Go Digital Fabrication Van.
Toby and her husband Bob live near Tarcoles, Costa Rica. When she is not working, she loves ocean kayaking, birdwatching, exploring the biodiversity of Costa Rica, and spending time with her two grandchildren.
I Bet You Didn’t Know
Toby and her husband Bob live on the Portage Lakes in New Franklin, OH. When she is not working, she loves exploring the lakes in her kayak and spending time with her husband, Bob, in and around their lake house.
What I Love About My Job
I love working for TIES because I have the chance to collaborate with an amazing team of colleagues and to work closely with teachers who care deeply about their profession and want to share their passion for teaching with their students.
A Transforming Moment
Toby has seen first hand how TIES can change the teaching and learning in a classroom. TIES has been a collaborating partner with PHASTAR Corporation and Cleveland Metropolitan School district to design the Davis Aerospace and Maritime High School in Cleveland. Through a grant from the Office of Naval Research, TIES has designed and installed a Digital Fabrication Lab for the school. The Digital Fabrication Lab opened September 2017. In Toby’s words, “it has been so exciting to see the Digital Fabrication Lab managers work hand-in-hand with the Davis teachers to develop standards-based trans-disciplanary lessons with embedded projects that can prototyped in the Digital Fabrication Lab. These are the fruits of TIES Design Collaboration work.”