Leadership

Note:  Given the nature of the background of our learners and one incident in particular, we removed all but two names and photos from the website to protect the privacy of staff and volunteers.  The two people that you really should know about are listed below but last names and a photo were omitted to protect their privacy.

Dean of Students - Denise

Denise is a community organizer who is committed to expanding access to education, workforce opportunities, and essential resources for underserved communities. Her work bridges community needs with training and support systems that help individuals and families achieve long-term stability and success.

With experience in outreach, workforce engagement, and nonprofit initiatives - Denise supports students and community members as they navigate education pathways, employment readiness, and public systems. She is bilingual in English and Spanish and is trained in Mental Health First Aid, enabling her to provide culturally responsive support grounded in dignity and care.

Through her work with nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, and community partners, Denise has built strong relationships with community leaders, elected officials, legal advocates, and grassroots organizers. 

Denise is deeply committed community education and collaborative solutions that create lasting impact for the learners, their communities, and the environment.

At CM Tech, Denise contributes to community engagement and student support efforts that align education with real-world opportunity. She believes that access to skills training and workforce education is a powerful tool for economic mobility and community resilience.

Denise is known for her collaborative approach and her ability to translate complex systems  including workforce programs, civic processes, and immigration-related resources  into clear, actionable information that empowers individuals to move forward with confidence.

Chief Academic Officer - Elizabeth

"Most colleges / universities seem to take an approach to education that could be compared to a shotgun blast.

CM-Tech is a Polytechnic.  We only need to do a handful of things but do them extremely well.  Like with the precision of a laser-mounted sniper rifle instead of throwing educational content at a wall like spaghetti and seeing what sticks."

"We specialize in preparing students for jobs in fields that literally do not exist yet."

Elizabeth studied Electrical Engineering and spent about a decade conducting research in fields including AI as it applies to electromagnetic radiation.

Given the nature of her work, she needed to keep an eye on the latest and greatest research coming out of a lot of very niche / specialized areas within STEM.

Elizabeth identified a potential massive impending skilled labor shortage.  (And a handful of smaller ones.)

It is possible that even if every. single. person. presently locked up in the US decided to dedicate the rest of their lives to this field - it still probably would not be enough to meet the potential future global demand for skilled labor in a field that most people have never even heard of.

Elizabeth prefers not to be photographed but authorized us to share the below image.  She is also the creator of a game called Realms of Redemption. It is a table-top roleplaying game (TTRPG) optimized for the prison environment (turn based and does not require dice, completely removes escaping dungeons as a central theme) and STEM education.

It is kind-of like a cyberpunk Dungeons and Dragons.

It also is meant to teach STEM in a more fun and engaging way.  "Magic still exists in Realms of Redemption.  But if your character wants to use magic, they need to be able to understand and explain what laws of physics/the universe they are violating and come up with a plausible explanation as to how they are able to break those laws of physics using magic."

Alchemy and potion brewing still exists - it's just called chemistry.  Players are encouraged to solve challenging problems using their minds and gadgets and gizmos they invent and mech suits that they design.

Where games like Dungeons and Dragons use Mana - Realms of Redemption replaces it with two other attributes - Battery Life and Heat.  (And weight.)

Meaning if players want to be able to use their tools, mechs, and gadgets for an adventure it also means - it means that they need to figure out how to recharge and cool them on the fly using whatever resources they have available.