Staff Bios

You may also view bios for emeritus Scout staff.

  • Edward Almasy
    Edward Almasy
    ealmasy@scout.wisc.edu
    608.262.6606
    Director

    After publishing his first shrink-wrapped software package for the original Apple ][ at the tender age of 18, Ed spent most of the next six years tinkering with photons before being sucked into the Internet vortex in 1987. Since then he has been involved in various Internet-related ventures and high-tech startups before finally ending up herding virtual cats at Scout. When not sitting in front of a computer and/or pontificating on novel new ways to use the Internet, Ed can often be found boating, snowboarding, writing and playing and dancing to music, or maybe just enjoying some of Wisconsin's finer exports in the great outdoors.

  • Rachael Bower
    Rachael Bower
    bower@scout.wisc.edu
    608.262.6587
    Director

    Born in NYC and having spent most of her life east of the midwest, Rachael moved to Madison in 1995 to work for the Trace Center at the University of Wisconsin. After many years in Wisconsin she has finally learned to appreciate domestic cheese, fish icing, the true meaning of the phrase "wind chill factor," and her uncle Luke's hotel in Mexico. With a background in communications and library science, and having gone from academia to Internet-startup-land and back again, she brings strong project management, organizational, and fundraising skills to Scout. It also doesn't hurt that she has a wicked sense of humor and the ability to throw a fabulous dinner party with less than a day's notice. When not at Scout she spends her time practicing yoga and barre, knitting, reading way too many murder mysteries, and hanging out with friends, her fabulous family including her talented brother Isaac, and her wonderful husband Iain.

  • Kendra A. Bouda
    kbouda@scout.wisc.edu
    608.265.9453
    Metadata and Information Specialist

    Kendra is metadata and information specialist with Internet Scout Research Group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She holds her MA in library and information studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a MA in arts management from Columbia College Chicago, and a certificate in artifact collection care from the University of Chicago. Prior to joining the Scout team, Kendra taught as adjunct faculty at Columbia, instructing arts management and business writing courses, and served as acting collections manager of Columbia’s fashion study collection. Kendra has a strong interest in the openness movement, particularly as it pertains to cultural objects and datasets that have the potential to help realize positive change in people’s lives.

  • Corey Halpin
    chalpin@scout.wisc.edu
    608.262.6608
    Software Engineer

    As a tender young undergraduate at UW-Madison, Corey studied electrical engineering and computer science with an emphasis on processor design. This lead naturally to a stint at the Forest Products Laboratory where he helped build robots that squished samples of building sealant while being outside. From there, Corey mastered science and then doctored philosophy in the department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology. His research used computer modeling combined with field data to examine trade-offs between growing space efficiency and species diversity among different silvicultural systems, and to elucidate the long-term developmental trajectory of northern hardwood forests subject to natural disturbances. He also enjoys hunting 4+ leaf clovers, teaching his daughter useful phrases like 'existential angst', eating the delicious food his wife makes, revising his spam filtering system, lusting after beautiful pens, and contributing to various free software projects (primarily FreeBSD).

  • Jessica Behrman
    jbehrman@scout.wisc.edu
    Outreach Coordinator

    Jessica grew up in suburban Chicago and attended high school near Rockford, Illinois. When the time came, she decided to attend Southern Illinois University - Carbondale with aspirations of becoming an interior designer. That dream quickly changed, and she ended up receiving a BS in Speech Communication and Public Relations. After having lived in Illinois her whole life, she and her future husband moved to Boise, Idaho for a period of six years. Jessica really missed lightening bugs, so she packed up her whole family and moved back to the Midwest. Jessica is currently pursuing a MA in Library and Information Studies at UW Madison while working at Internet Scout. She spends her spare time attempting to make recipes featured on The Great British Baking Show, retrieving Cheetos out of her daughter's nose, and exploring various "swing-'n-slides" around Madison. 

  • Molly Blake
    mblake@scout.wisc.edu
    Content Writer

    Hailing from historic Ripon, Wisconsin Molly attended college in Iowa and then headed north to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Here, she spent several years teaching in a variety of settings, most recently as an adult educator. Molly was eventually lured back to her home state by the opportunity to pursue graduate studies. She completed an M.A. in Educational Policy Studies in 2017 and wrote a thesis examining the history of adult education and print culture at the Wisconsin State Prison. She is currently working on her Master's in Library and Information Sciences. When not writing or studying, Molly enjoys listening to new music, visiting the Chazen Art Museum, pursuing local bookstores, and exploring new places by foot. 

  • Molly McBride Castro
    mmcbride@scout.wisc.edu
    Digital Archives Assistant

    Molly's interest in artifact collection began at the age of six, when she found her first baseball card in her grandfather's attic in Seattle. Still an avid collector of baseball cards and other bits and bobs, she spends her time at Scout collecting and preserving born-digital educational material. She earned her BA at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA - her degree is in "interdisciplinary studies," but she really studied art history and printmaking - and just completed her MA in Library and Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In addition to working at Scout, Molly enjoys hiking, road trips, reading, and just discovered how awesome pond hockey is.

  • Rachel Flynn
    rhanson@scout.wisc.edu
    Internet Cataloger

    Rachel grew up in Fargo, North Dakota and moved to Minneapolis to pursue an undergraduate degree in art history and Spanish studies at the University of Minnesota. Upon graduation, she worked at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the University of Minnesota coordinating events and academic programming. Rachel recently relocated to Madison in order to pursue her MA in Library and Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. When not cataloging at Scout or studying for school, she can be found sewing or knitting her handmade wardrobe, reading, doing crossword puzzles, and making plans for her future sheep farm.

  • Michelle Hagenbaugh
    mhagenbaugh@scout.wisc.edu
    Internet Cataloger

    Michelle grew up in Richland Center, Wisconsin and moved to Madison to finish her undergraduate degree in History and European Studies.  After volunteering at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum for a few years, she decided to pursue a career in archives.  Michelle is now a graduate student at UW-Madison in Library and Information Studies and also works on manuscript collections at the Wisconsin State Historical Society. In her free time she enjoys hanging out with her two dogs, playing the board game Firefly, and reading too many Stephen King novels.

  • Gaochang (Kirk) Li
    gli@scout.wisc.edu
    Web Developer

    Coming from Shandong, China, Kirk came to Madison to pursue a degree in computer science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is enthusiastic about web development, both front end and back end.  When not working, Kirk enjoys traveling, watching horror movies, trying all kinds of food, and petting cats. Even though he never skied before, he quickly fell in love with this sport after coming to Madison. 

  • Jinmei (Kessey) Wang
    jwang@scout.wisc.edu
    Administrative Assistant

    Jinmei grew up in a beautiful coastal city named Qingdao, China. She came to the US about three years ago, studied at a community college in Seattle, and received her associate degree in 2017. She then transferred to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Jinmei is currently a junior student, who’s pursuing a bachelor of science degree in biology. After receiving her bachelor degree, Jinmei plans to continue pursuing a doctor of medicine degree in the graduate school. In addition to her work at Scout and student at university, she enjoys playing badminton, fencing, swimming, watching TV shows and playing computer games with her friends.

  • Debra Shapiro
    Contributing Editor, The Scout Report

    Debra Shapiro was an Internet Cataloger at Internet Scout from 1998 to 2000, and is now an instructor at UW-Madison's School of Library and Information Studies, where she teaches in the areas of organization of information, online searching, and web design. Prior to coming to Scout, Deb was a photo archivist, and her undergraduate degree is in art history, so she contributes reviews of art, museum, and pictorial web sites to The Scout Report. That undergraduate degree in art history prepared Deb for about 15 years of restaurant work, which gave her a long-lasting love of cooking and recipe development, that you can read about on her blog, Deb's Lunch.