Team Squad

Anne Dominique is the President of Massalia Potential where she continues her lifelong passion for science learning and communication. Following her doctoral work in Non-Equilibrium Statistical Physics at UMass Amherst, Anne Dominique pursued post-doctoral work at ESPCI in Paris. She then entered the professional world with stints in international patenting as well as actuarial science. Feeling the limitations of an office job, she decided to create Massalia Potential as a facilitator for real change in teaching science and math. While her scientific interests have shifted towards that of physics education research and the persistent difficulties in math and science, she believes in actionable solutions through direct intervention within the current, rigid structures of education. She is now working towards making amazing and engaging science and math education accessible to all students with special attention paid to those who have felt excluded, including disadvantaged students and young women. 

After obtaining his doctorate in black hole theoretical physics Benjamin taught Physics and Math for three years at the upper and lower secondary levels at an international private school in the south of France. He continued his journey at Aix-Marseille University where he taught in the Department of Physics and engaged in education research at L’Institut National Supérieure du Professorat et de l’Éducation (INSPÉ). After years of sharing his love of physics in the classroom, his interests shifted towards understanding the process of learning and how his students might build a foundation for lifelong scientific appreciation. During his time teaching, he noticed surprising similarities in the conceptual struggles that students of all ages and at all levels face, and this has motivated his current research on finding practical ways to overcome these obstacles. He is an expert in active pedagogy that incorporates affectivity into the learning of science and math through emotional connection. 

Niko is the Vice President of Massalia Potential and a Professor in the Department of Physics at Aix-Marseille University. He has published a wide range of scientific research from Laser Physics and Spectroscopy to Structural Virology and Biology and more recently the Physics and Chemistry of organic molecular films. Niko has extensive teaching experience at all levels of post-secondary education and his methodology stresses an interdisciplinary approach for making connections across different sciences to encourage broader thinking and deeper reasoning. His style is beloved by his students and he has had the esteemed privilege of managing several of them throughout their doctoral studies.

Aurélie obtained a PhD in Physical Oceanography after her Bachelor’s in Engineering and Applied Mathematics. During her doctoral work she also taught Mechanics and Mathematics to college students. She then spent 7 years as a teacher-researcher in Southampton, UK, where she supervised Masters and PhD students in the fields of Physical Oceanography and Meteorology. When she returned to France, she had the opportunity to use her international experiences to teach in both French and in English, to students with very different academic levels and learning abilities, in engineering and in private international schools. Currently, and for the past 3 years, Aurélie has been teaching in a Centre de Formation des Apprentis (CFA). The students in this program have left the traditional education system often due to a need for alternative education adapted to their specific learning capabilities. Through her experiences in many types of schools, at levels ranging from 6th grade to doctorate, Aurélie has acquired teaching skills that enable her to adapt to all kinds of students, and above all, give them the tools to pursue self-directed and self-motivated learning.

Dr. Ett obtained her doctorate degree in Urban Education at the University of Southern California and is a teacher at a juvenile detention center for the North Carolina Department of Safety. Discovering early that her passion lay in working with marginalized and disenfranchised students, she is approaching four decades of exemplary service in secondary education in the urban and juvenile education systems in North Carolina and California. She was fortunate to be on the “ground floor” of incorporating the Social-Emotional component into the teaching setting. She knows how to connect with her students to build a foundation for the best teaching and learning experiences, always keeping in mind that the SEL factor must be addressed and considered in every component of a child’s development and education. She has developed teaching methods and curriculum based on recognizing the potential of each student in order to give him/her agency and help build the confidence and autonomy necessary for a successful future. 

Dr. Ett has been rewarded with accolades including the “Who’s Who of High School Teachers, Teacher of the Year twice in her Principal’s Administrative Unit in Los Angeles County Office of Education, and as a presenter at national conferences such as the At-Risk Youth National Forum and JCCASAC Juvenile Court as well as the Community and Alternative School Administrators of California.