Dr. Linda Gorman earned her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from UCLA in 1990 and was privileged to have among her mentors Dr. Arnie Schiebel and Dr. Don Becker.  It was during her tenure at UCLA working with Dr. Schiebel, that Dr. Gorman developed her interest in community education efforts.  Dr. Gorman completed her post-doctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University working in the lab of Dr. David Olton, a world-renowned behavioral scientist. Following her post-doctoral training, Dr. Gorman completed a purely-research fellowship at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.  While she loved her research which was focused on Neuroplasticity and Brain Injury, she realized that teaching was her true passion.  She returned to the Johns Hopkins University campus where she could devote all of her time to teaching and the administration of the Undergraduate Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology Programs. 

Starting in 2003, Dr. Gorman designed and managed Making Neuroscience Fun, a STEM based community engagement project for pre-K through 8th grade students in the Baltimore, MD community. Upon her retirement from Johns Hopkins University in 2019, Dr Gorman revised and revamped the Making Neuroscience Fun program to focus on educating school-age children on the importance of their brain health as determined by their Social, Physical, Emotional and Cognitive health.  With the support of the Office of the President at Johns Hopkins, she developed the MNF-Brain Health: It’s SPECtacular program which is designed to improve people’s awareness of brain health and to apply scientific knowledge to real-life activities. The program’s core components are that it is: 1) anchored in science, 2) fun and informative, 3) age-appropriate, and 4) free for all.

Andrea Warren graduated from the University of Maryland College Park in 2009 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice. Following graduation, she attended graduate school full-time while serving as a Graduate Assistant at Stevenson University. She graduated in 2015 with a Master of Science degree in Forensic Studies.

Following her graduate work, Andrea served as the Academic Program Coordinator for the undergraduate neuroscience and behavioral biology programs in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences at Johns Hopkins University. In this role she worked directly under Dr. Linda Gorman and was first introduced to the Making Neuroscience Fun (MNF) program. Having grown up in Baltimore, Andrea quickly became interested in the program and community outreach efforts and Dr. Gorman’s goal to expand the program to reach more students and teachers. In this role, Andrea coordinated the logistics for the MNF program and managed the scheduling for the undergraduate student participants and participating elementary schools. Andrea served in this role for a little over a year from 2015 to 2016 before accepting a position in civil service where she currently serves in a subject matter expert training role.

Andrea and Dr. Gorman kept in touch over the years and when Dr. Gorman retired in 2019 and reached out, Andrea was excited to join the MNF team… again! Andrea serves as the Operations and Training Director responsible for website maintenance, operational logistics, and the pending training program.

To maintain her brain health, Andrea loves to travel with her husband, spend time with her family and friends, do spin classes, volunteer, watch true crime series, and try new foods. She is always on the lookout for great pizza places!

Shelley Nebel graduated cum laude from Elon University (Elon, NC) in 2010 with a Bachelors of Arts in Elementary Education and Middle Grades: Social Studies. During her time there, she was honored to participate as a selected member of the North Carolina Teaching Fellows Program. Following graduation, she spent nine years as a classroom teacher. While teaching Science and Social Studies in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade in North Carolina and Tennessee, she emphasized and reinforced literacy development with her students. She held numerous leadership positions within her schools and districts, including creating and writing district-wide curriculum maps for the implementation of the Social Studies Essential Standards.

Upon relocation to Florida and beginning a family, Shelley stepped away from the classroom and began teaching English virtually through an international company for two years. She returned to the classroom for a brief time as a Teaching Artist with the Orlando Repertory Theatre, which focused on the integration of arts in classroom curriculum. When Dr. Gorman asked her to join the Making Neuroscience Fun team as the Curriculum Director to help revamp the current program, she did not hesitate! She is excited about being part of a team that is providing relevant and important information to students, teachers, and caretakers in a fun and inventive format. 

To maintain her Brain Health, Shelley loves to spend time with her husband and two little boys, be physically active, catch up with her girlfriends while playing card games, and travel…to really anywhere!

Carrie Munday graduated from Indiana University (Bloomington, IN) in 1997 with a Bachelor of
Science in Education with a concentration in Language Arts. Upon graduation, she began her
teaching career on the west coast teaching for nine years in northern California and western
Washington.  Since 2006, she has been teaching in North Carolina.  During her career, she has
taught 1st-5th grades and is currently an Academically and Intellectually Gifted (AIG) Specialist for
Lincoln County Schools in Denver, NC.  She is a National Board Certified teacher as a Middle
Childhood Generalist. She holds various leadership positions in her school and was recently named
Teacher of the Year in 2023. 

Carrie serves as the activities director for the Making Neuroscience Fun team. She creates hands-
on, engaging, and age appropriate activities to accompany the scientifically based stories written by
Dr. Linda Gorman, Ph.D.  The research she has completed to write these activities has helped her to
understand and relate better to her students.  She believes it has made her a better teacher. 
Knowing that she had a part in something that is going to positively impact so many children is
something that makes her very proud. 

To maintain her own brain health, Carrie enjoys playing golf, running, reading, and baking.  She also
loves to travel around the country going to concerts.  She cannot sing, but loves all music from
country to rock and most things in between.

TeeTurtle created the adorable graphic assets and animated presentations for Making Neuroscience Fun. TeeTurtle is an e-commerce company founded by Ramy Badie, one of Dr. Gorman’s former advisees at Johns Hopkins University. After college, Ramy parlayed his talents for art and business into a successful t-shirt company. TeeTurtle now sells t-shirts, accessories, games, reversible plushies, and more. Their nerdy pop culture brand encourages people to be proud of their passions and celebrates the pursuit of knowledge. Additional major contributors to this project included Jessica Fitting, Senior Creative Programs Manager, and Charlie Gaines, Senior Illustrator.