António de Ridder has been a member of the faculty of the South Carolina Governor’s School for Science and Math since 2015.  His main teaching and research interests are Western European languages, short prose fiction, the Francophone world, and non-automotive transportation infrastructure.  He is an avid bike commuter fluent in five languages and the Chairman of the City of Hartsville’s Parks Committee.  A dual citizen of the United States and Belgium, Dr. de Ridder was inspired to start the Bike to the Future project by enjoying advanced cycling infrastructure abroad.  In 2022, he led four students on a research tour of the Netherlands and Belgium, gaining insights from traveling via a dozen different modes of transit and interviewing cycling advocates, city planners, entrepreneurs, and former elected officials.

In 2017 Kathryn Vignone became an instructor in GSSM’s virtual engineering program, Accelerate; she taught future engineers, from across the state, about the complexities of science, technology, and engineering in action. In 2019, she also began teaching in the residential program. As a member of the English department she teaches writing and art history.  In addition, she has served as a research advisor for students using ethnographic research practices to examine the role of robotics in our future economic systems as well as directing independent research in the area of visual studies. Since 2019, she has co-led BTTF with Dr. António de Ridder. The work addresses problems at the intersection of sustainability, livability, and transportation systems with a focus on bike-ped infrastructure.

She has a broad range of teaching, research, and project management experience - in person and virtual - focused on the ethical, social, and political issues in designing and developing new technologies in society at large and in communities specifically. Her expertise in organizing and facilitating deliberative dialogues for community planning, engineering design, and institutional and programmatic programs stems from her time at Arizona State University's Consortium for Science Policy & Outcomes.

Her other areas of teaching and research interest include: social and ethical issues associated with new and emerging technologies, the role of sustainability in urban and rural communities, the political economy of science and technology with a focus on energy and the environment, material deliberation and design methods as public engagement, public understanding of and engagement with emerging technologies, and visual ethnography. In 2021 her work in visual studies, art, and science and technology studies was published in the Routledge Handbook of Art, Science, and Technology Studies edited by Rogers, H. S., Halpern, M. K., Hannah, D., & de Ridder-Vignone, K. (Eds.).

Her goal is to apply these skills and knowledges in spaces and with institutions and partners pursuing innovative strategies of outreach, engagement, and community development associated with science and technology to advance education and quality of life for communities.