Staff Bios

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.

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 enjoys hunting 4+ leaf clovers, watching every Star Trek series ever with his family, failing to keep up with his assigned reading, eating the delicious food his wife makes, collecting interesting and beautiful pens along with gorgeous purple ink, and generally embodying xkcd 1806.

Originally from Michigan, Jacob came to Wisconsin to pursue graduate studies at UW-Madison's Information School. With a background in various library, archive, and museum settings, Jacob seeks to improve access to and the preservation of the human story. When they are not cataloging records or studying archival theory, Jacob can be found watching old movies, tinkering away with a drum machine, creating jazz guitar arrangements, or hanging out with pals. 

A Wisconsin native, Alyssa is a rising junior double majoring in Communication Arts and Spanish at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. On-campus, Alyssa is also a part of the Alpha Kappa Chapter of Kappa Delta Chi Sorority Inc. On her time off, Alyssa likes to spend her time hiking, running, reading, and trying out new coffee shops around the Madison area.

Ryan Druhot is from central New Jersey (central Jersey’s existence is debated, but it's definitely real) and is moving to Madison to study Zoology at UW-Madison. He enjoys sports, specifically football, hockey, and basketball. Ryan also loves music, his favorites being rap, R&B, or trap music. He also played the saxophone for 7 years and loved it. 

Originally from India, Ishita Dhoot is a junior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison double majoring in Computer Science and Data Science. She loves to perform contemporary dances after having learned Bharatanatyam professionally for 6 years. Her professional interests lie in AI and all things data. When she’s not coding, Ishita plays badminton on a club team at UW-Madison and performs with Rang De, a Bollywood fusion dance team on campus.