Press Room

Ed Sobey, Ph.D.

Ed develops hands-on, inventing activities that help kids learn science. He gives workshops on “inventing to learn” to teachers, museum staff, and the public throughout the US, in Europe and Asia, and he leads several Kids Invent! camps each summer.

Ed has directed five museums, published more than a dozen books, and traveled around the world. He holds a Ph.D. in oceanography and has participated in scientific expeditions throughout the Pacific Ocean, and has wintered over in Antarctica. Ed is a Fellow in the Explorers Club and chairs the Pacific Northwest Chapter.

After directing two museums in Florida, Ed was selected to be the founding director of the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Along with work on exhibits and facilities, Ed co-created Camp Invention. Later, while on the faculty of California State University, Fresno, he teamed with Prof. Tim Stearns to create Kids Invent! Also in Fresno, Ed developed and hosted a kids television series on inventing, The Idea Factory.

While directing the A.C. Gilbert’s Discovery Village in Salem, Oregon, Ed founded the National Toy Hall of Fame. The Hall is now part of the Strong Museum in Rochester, New York.
Ed resides in Redmond, Washington.

Timothy M. Stearns, Ph.D.

Timothy M. Stearns is the holder of the Coleman Foundation Chair in Entrepreneurial Studies and Director of the Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at California State University, Fresno http://www.lylescenter.com/. Professor Stearns received his MBA degree in management and a doctorate in management/sociology from Indiana University. He previously was a member of the Management faculty at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and Marquette University. He has served on the editorial board of the Academy of Management Journal, and currently services on the editorial boards of the Journal of Business Research and the Journal of Small Business Management. Professor Stearns has co-authored a textbook on management and is the author of more than 75 research articles and presentations. He has taught and lectured on entrepreneurship and innovation to students and executives in Thailand, Poland, Japan, Kazakhstan, Macau, and the Peoples Republic of China. He is a founding member of the Coleman Council for Entrepreneurship Education http://www.colemanchairs.org/ and serves on the executive committee of the National Network for Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialization www.n2tec.org. He currently serves as Program Chair for the Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management. In addition, he is President of the Central Valley Business Incubator, a not for profit organization http://www.cvbi.org/.

Professor Stearns is leading an effort to bring Fortune 500 patents to firms in the Valley that will lead to job and business growth. In addition, he is co-owner in two businesses launched in Fresno. He writes a monthly column for the Fresno Business Journal called “Venture Ink” and is a co-host of Valley Business Roundtable heard each Saturday from 9-11am on KMPH 107.5 FM radio.