Boston Metrowest
Max Larson | sound coordinator
Max Larson is a Framingham-based musician and advocate for music education and appreciation. He is the manager of Centre Music House, a community music school and store in Framingham. Since 2012, Max has hosted a monthly Open Mic series which provides local musicians and patrons a space to perform and enjoy music for free. In addition to serving as sound coordinator at the SPMF, Max is also the music coordinator for the Framingham Earth Day Festival and the FramBark Fundraiser. A guitarist and singer with a soft spot for classic rock, he can be seen performing at open mics in and around the MetroWest area.
Vinay Mannam | coordinator
Prior to joining Framingham State, Professor Vinay Mannam did his Undergrad in Agricultural Engineering from Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University, Bapatla, India, and his Ph. D. in Food Science and Technology from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. At Tennessee, he was responsible for designing and developing a patented seed hydration analyzing system.
Currently, Vinay is a tenured faculty in the department of chemistry and food science, teaching responsibility to food science majors at Framingham State University. He is still evolving as a teacher, fine-tuning the balancing act of faculty to be a coach, expert, and guide to students interested in a field he is passionate about. His research interests during his faculty tenure include optimizing food process conditions to produce high-quality and nutritional food products. In addition, he studies and models shelf-life conditions that accelerate food degradation and nutritional loss, emphasizing minimizing food loss and waste among perishable food products.
Along with teaching and research, Vinay is active in food science education, extension, and outreach roles through the professional community of the Institute of Food Technologists.
Brad Dinerman | photographer
Brad Dinerman is the founder and president of Fieldbrook Solutions LLC, an IT, MIS and security consulting organization based in Ashland, and is a published author and contributor to various online communities who has given user group and conference presentations on topics ranging from spam and security solutions to Quantum Mechanics and now to birding and photography. He is also an author who has published numerous articles in international physics journals in his earlier scientific career, after having earned a Ph.D. in physics from Boston College. Upon rediscovering an interest in birds and photography in 2010 thanks to his young son, Brad set up his site, The Fieldbrook Reserve (www.thefieldbrookreserve.com), as a medium to display his photos which others will hopefully enjoy. For a number of years, when not hiding behind the camera, Brad volunteered at the Mass Audubon Blue Hills Trailside Museum where he handled non-releasable raptors and other birds and wildlife, and brought them to the public for educational purposes.