J. Arthur Woodward, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Psychology, UCLA

Our Cognitive and Quantitative Psychologist

Our Co-founder and director, and chair of the Psychology Department for the decade of the 90's … If you want to know anything about how cognitive psychology can be applied to create great educational software — ask Art! Art not only loves kids, he can't help acting like a kid, and has always contributed to the lighthearted and creative atmosphere needed to make our software. And if you ever hear a weird "sound effect" or a hilarious voice in our games, it probably came from Art.
 

Shaw-Jing Chao, Ph.D.
Assistant Research Professor
Department of Psychology UCLA

Our Developmental Psychologist

Our other Cofounder and director, Jing is our expert on cognitive development of young children. One day somewhere around 1995, Jing thought it might be fun to try making a CD-ROM for children. And BOOM, there it was! She is a devoted author and the creative force behind our math content ever since... Jing loves children, and has a knack for figuring out how they learn and can have fun at the same time.
 
 

Jill Gilkerson, Ph.D. (almost)
Graduate Student Department of Linguistics UCLA

Our Linguist

Jill is our Psychologist, who has turned into a Linguist. Jill creates the cute things our characters say. In addition to words, Jill also loves working with children, and has spent countless hours in front of the computer with them, helping all of us figure out what makes kids smile… and then laugh.

Lalita K. Suzuki, Ph.D.
Assistant Research Professor
Department of Psychology UCLA

Our Social Development Psychologist

Lalita is our other developmental psychologist whose main area of research focuses upon the effects of culture on the emerging social interaction styles of young children. She also specializes in early language arts and is fluent in both English and Japanese. Lalita spends hours and hours dreaming up game ideas and creating complicated flow diagrams that are transformed into our games by the software engineers.

Ferry Permadi, M.S.

Our Lead Programmer

Ferry is the lead software engineer on our team. It seems all he has to do is touch his keyboard, and somehow something beautiful appears. We are all in awe of Ferry's incredible programming abilities and his devotion to creating the great software you see on this site.

Kenji Mori

Our Rocket Scientist

We were lucky to get Kenji to defect from the rocket science industry to the children's software industry. He's our other software engineer and hardware specialist, whose devotion and (yikes!) 20 hour days have helped us produce our amazing products.

Ramon Colinayo

Our Art Director and 3D Graphic Artist

Ramon Colinayo is an electrical engineer who woke up one morning and realized "I'm an artist!" Ramon is the magic touch behind the beautiful graphics and 3-D animation you see in our software... And Ramon creates our web sites and makes it easy and fun for you to visit us.

Marc Acurso

Our 3D Artist and Set Designer

Marc is our U.S. Marine turned graphic artist. Marc specializes in 3D backgrounds and models. He has a special talent for creating realistic 3D models of complicated things that kids love - such as old pirate ships, steam engines, biplanes, ghost towns, gold mines, and the like. Marc also helps animate all the models and characters, creating cute interactions among the characters that keep kids smiling.
 

Cammie Zhang, M.F.A.

Our Art Teacher, Graphic Artist, and Graphic Designer

Cammie is our wonderful art teacher. On weekends she teaches 3 to 7 year olds at the US Art Education Center in Los Angeles — Cammie's little students create such beautiful and colorful pictures, it's hard to believe they are so young. Cammie is the major contributor to the content of our visual arts games and activities, and most of the 2D art in our games comes from Cammie. In Mainland China, Cammie was the senior editor for a major newspaper and was responsible for the layout and graphic design - so her years of experience in graphic design influences almost every artistic thing we do.

Szu-Hsien Lee, Ph.D. (almost)
Graduate Student Department of Music UCLA

Our Musician — Composer and Performer

Szu-Hsien is our musician. She creates original compositions and arrangements of children's songs for our games and activities. Szu-Hsien sometimes visits Cammie's classroom at the US Art Education Center absorbing the energy and style of the little children while they are busy drawing their pictures. Her music is then developed, influenced, and "live tested" with young children playing all around her. Szu-Hsien specializes in contemporary and classical music composition, some of which has been enjoyed in live performances in this country and Taiwan.

Mrs. Beverly Tackett

Our Kindergarten Teacher

Mrs. Tackett is a kindergarten teacher at Mar Vista Elementary School in Los Angeles. It is hard to describe in words the kind of magic effect Mrs. Tackett has had on generations of kindergarten children. And the effect is lasting —during any visit to her classroom one child after another from the older grades just leans in her doorway to say with a smile, "Hi Mrs. Tackett...!" All of our educational software has been shaped by Mrs. Tackett's wisdom and practical experience, and no idea becomes final until it has been thoroughly "classroom-tested" by Mrs. Tackett's kindergartners.