Nick Williams has taught Physics, Engineering, AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination), Biology, and Earth Science at San Marin High School since 2007. He’s been the Science Department Chair since 2011, and he serves as the Lead Teacher for STEM Marin’s STEM Program. During his time at San Marin, he’s coached ultimate Frisbee, freshmen girls volleyball, and JV and varsity boys soccer.

Mr. Williams earned his bachelor of science in evolution and ecology, his teaching credential in science, and his masters of education from University of California, Davis. He was selected as the 2014 Bay Area Educator of the Year by the California League of High Schools. In 2015, Mr. Williams was named a Milken Educator for California which is described as the “Oscars of Teaching.”

Mr. Williams currently lives with his family, including his wife, three kids, and dog, in Novato. In his spare time, Nick enjoys playing with his kids, running, hiking, reading The New Yorker, playing ultimate frisbee, going to the beach, building things, and working in the yard.

Shea Mathews has taught Biology, Biotechnology and Marine Biology at San Marin High School since 2016. She is also involved in the Athletics Department as a coach for cross country in the fall and women’s lacrosse in the spring.

Ms. Mathews earned her bachelor’s degree, teaching credential, and masters of education from Boston College. At Boston College, she was active in leadership, teaching English as a second language and service trips to Appalachia and Vietnam as well as serving as a member of the BC Division 1 rowing team.

Ms. Mathews is a native of Marin. She loves all the outdoor activities that she was able to enjoy growing up in Marin. She spends her time traveling, hiking, running, swimming, or boating out on the Bay when she is not teaching, lesson planning, grading, or coaching.

Claudio Tronconi has taught Senior Project Engineering, Environmental Engineering, CAD/GIS, Biology, and Physics at San Marin High School since 2015.

Mr. Tronconi is originally from Italy and earned his bachelor of science in environmental science from the University of Florence, Italy. He earned his masters of science in environmental management from the University of San Francisco and his masters of arts in teaching and his teaching credential from the University of San Francisco.

Mr. Tronconi lives in Napa with his wife. In his spare time, he enjoys running or hiking. He loves snorkeling, tinkering with technology, programming, reading/researching non-fiction (science, nature, tech, history) and anything sci-fi. He’s also fascinated with archaeology and, like any good teacher, he loves coffee.

Melissa Havel has taught Marine Biology, Biology and Earth Science at San Marin High School since 2013 and has also taught at Novato High School and Thurgood Marshall High School in San Francisco.

Ms. Havel earned her Bachelor of Science in Ecology and Evolution at the University of California at Santa Barbara. She was employed in a variety of occupations, including studying steelhead salmon for Fish and Wildlife and working as a dive master in the Caribbean, before returning to school at Dominican University to obtain a teaching credential.

Melissa lives in Novato with her husband, Curtis and son Declan, who attends Sinaloa Middle School. In her free time she loves to be outside, whether sailing on San Francisco Bay or hiking the local trails.

Adriana Lopez started at San Marin High School in 2018. She teaches Biology and Bridging ELD, this used to be called English as a Second Language. Mrs. Lopez is also the head of our ELD program.

She obtained her bachelor’s degree at UC Davis in Animal Science and Behavior. After UCD she decided to stick around and study primate behavior at the UC Davis primate center where there are currently 6000 Rhesus macaques housed!

After getting enough of the non-human primate species, she went to Sonoma State to get her Masters in Biology and Animal behavior. She did her research project at Safari West in Santa Rosa studying the effects of novel rearing strategies on captive African Ungulates.

A fun fact about Mrs. Lopez is that her husband who graduated from SMHS in 2006 had Mrs. Carlomagno and Mrs. Lowrie as teachers!

Ms. Femmel is new to San Marin this year. She graduated from Humboldt State in 2017 with a degree in Marine Biology with a focus on Marine Ecology. After graduation, she partnered with the Institute for Wildlife Studies to work on a marine mammal extinction database as a research assistant, surveying elephant seals in Ano Nuevo. She began her career in education as a paraprofessional in a K-8 Montessori School. Sarah is new to Novato so say hello around town if you see her. In her spare time, she enjoys sewing, creating art, hiking, scuba diving, playing softball, and travelling.

Katie was born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin and earned a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame. She also holds a certification from Notre Dame in Nonprofit Leadership Principles, Fundraising Strategies and Effective Grant Proposal Writing. She has extensive marketing and customer service experience. She oversaw national operations for the NIKE Volleyball camps for several years before taking time off to raise her young children. She returned to the workforce in 2019 as the Director of Fundraising and Community Outreach for a Novato-based nonprofit called Equip Sports. In 2020, Katie was promoted to Executive Director of that same organization.
As the STEM Coordinator, Katie is responsible for many aspects of STEM Marin including marketing, community outreach and internal operations. She oversees many of the day to day operations that keep the program running at a top-notch pace.

Katie currently lives in Novato with her husband, 3 children and 1 very busy puppy. She loves watching sports, especially Notre Dame athletics (Go Irish) and spends as much of her free time as possible at her family’s lake house in Minnesota.