Board of Trustees
Our hardworking Board of Trustees is responsible for guiding the growth
of the Rockville Science Center and ensuring its sustainability for years to come
Bob Ekman
President
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Soo Lee-Cho, Esq.
Vice-President
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David DeLalio
Facilities Oversight
Bob Ekman is a software engineer and project developer. He recently retired from a forty-four year career in software development and teaching for IBM and Lockheed Martin. He worked on government contracts from space projects (Apollo) in the 60’s to defense research projects (DARPA) in the 90’s. He developed commercial software for IBM and human resources software for Lockheed Martin, as well as taught internal classes in software engineering, programming, and web development for over 30 years. Mr. Ekman is deeply committed to developing the next generation of engineers. He has led the Lockheed Martin Exploring Engineering Program in Rockville Maryland for over sixteen years. This program uses hands-on learning activities in robotics and rocketry to give high school students experience in engineering and inspire them into engineering careers. He has mentored over 400 teenagers through this program.
Soo Lee-Cho is a member of the Land Development & Real Estate Group at Miller, Miller & Canby. Ms. Lee-Cho’s practice includes land use, zoning, real estate, and administrative and municipal law. She focuses on representing clients in zoning and land use matters before various administrative boards and commissions, and also elected and appointed bodies. These include the Montgomery County Council, the Maryland-National Capital Park & Planning Commission Planning Board, the Montgomery County Historic Preservation Commission, the Montgomery County Board of Appeals and Sign Review Board, the City of Rockville Mayor and Council, Planning Commission and Historic District Commission, and the City of Gaithersburg Mayor and Council and Planning. Her efforts on behalf of clients have also included work on land use-related legislative matters before the State General Assembly.
David R. DeLalio is currently the Director of Operations for Instrument Manufacturing at Meso Scale Diagnostics LLC in Rockville. In this capacity he oversees all aspects in the production of advanced electro-mechanical laboratory equipment used in the bio-pharma industry and research. David received his Bachelor's degree in Physics from the University of Virginia. While a student he assisted research in the puzzling asymmetry between matter and antimatter in the universe under the later-named Frontier Physics Group. He received a Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland College Park, with a specialization in Design and Manufacturing. While a graduate student he developed robotic birds used for zoology research in Australia. David is also an energetic proponent of the "maker movement" and was tapped in 2016 to launch and develop the RSC Makerspace at the Rockville Memorial Library. Since then the site has welcomed thousands of visitors in hundreds of programs and talks ranging from robotics to knitting to DIY biology research. David, along the support of many others at RSC, helped to launch the new Town Center site on Maryland Avenue right on the Square.
Ulisses Santamaria
Program Oversight
Melissa Scales
Marketing & Development Oversight
Sydney Woelfel
Budget Oversight
Ulisses Santamaria is a research technician for the National Institutes of Health serving the Rockville Science Center in his personal capacity. He currently works on clinical trials primarily on infectious diseases for the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Disease, and formerly conducted research in the Laboratory of Avindra Nath, where he worked on improving clinical databases, testing new possible treatments for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, and studied how HIV affects aging in the brain. He obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology from The University of Virginia. He then obtained a Master’s in Biotechnology with a specialization in Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine Technologies from the Johns Hopkins University. Ulisses is also a founder of The DMV Petri Dish, a collective of DIY-Biology and Maker groups in the DC Area. In his spare time he enjoys stocks, reading books, writing, and building things out of cardboard.
Melissa Scales is an attorney who has been engaged in issues at the intersection of law and science throughout her career. She is currently Assistant Director for Educational Programs at the Food and Drug Law Institute, where she creates educational conferences, courses, and webinars for the food and drug law community. She has worked on science regulatory and policy issues at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
As the newest member of Rockville Science Center’s Board of Trustees, Sydney serves as head of the Finance and Strategic Planning committee and is focused on ensuring a sustainable future for the facility. When she’s not volunteering at the Science Center, Sydney works as an Upscale Development & Compliance Manager at Choice Hotels, where she also serves as a Co-Chair for the Women's Business Alliance (WBA). In this role she has hosted monthly article club discussion forums that centered on topics that reflected the challenges women in business face and is currently developing a mentorship matching program for all associates interested at Choice.