The team here at SIAM has grown recently, bringing aboard a new Marketing and Communications Associate in the Marketing Department and a new Systems Engineer in the Information Management Systems Department. Get to know Jonathan and Scott!
Jonathan Velazquez, Marketing and Communications Associate
Johnny is a 24-year-old Temple graduate with a BA in Media Studies & Production and a minor in Africology & African American Studies. He joins SIAM after serving as the Multimedia Specialist at Thomas Jefferson Hospital and Creative Director at a cosmetics company called Pound Cake.
Q. Why are you excited to be working at SIAM?
A. I love that an organization over 60 years old has so much enthusiastic and contemporary output. If you look at the website, the social media channels, the journals, or the events, all you see is an organization that creates from the world around it. I want to be partially responsible for sending those creations back to the world as thanks.
Q. Why do you think STEM is important?
A. STEM, when manifested altruistically, chips away at accessibility bubbles. Knowledge has become more accessible to students in underfunded school districts through the internet, longevity has become more accessible to those in food desserts through advancements in medicine, sense-of-self has become more accessible through advancements in surgical technology/practices, capitalism has become more accessible through social media, etc. STEM is a very general concept but, when I separate its practice from its study, I see something that can change rather than explain.
Q. What is one thing that most people don't know about you?
A. I used to act and can be seen in the movie 'Endless Love.'
Scott Juffe, Systems Engineer
Scott has two adorable daughters and a son arriving in August. He spent the last 10 years working in IT for a bank in New Jersey. He graduated in 2002 from Temple with a degree in Communications, specifically in Television Production. When he's not in the office he enjoys spending time with his family, going to concerts, and trying new restaurants.
Q. Why are you excited to be working at SIAM?
A. I am excited to work with everyone here to accomplish SIAM's goals, which allows our members to improve the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics that effects everyday life.
Q. Why do you think STEM is important?
A. Without science, technology, engineering, or mathematics we would never have evolved as humans. If we don’t continue to teach this, we will stop evolving. Could you image life without Einstein or other scientist?
Q. What is one thing that most people don't know about you?
A. I once was part of a search and rescue team.
Please join all of us here at SIAM in welcoming Johnny and Scott to the team!