About Us

President

Joe Mazzone, a Rhode Island College graduate, is a dedicated educator focused on improving career and technical education and Rhode Island’s workforce development. His focus is on developing students for success in the career areas of Engineering and Information Technology. Joe dedicates much of his time to computer science education and supports the CS4RI initiative, the Computer Science Teachers Association of Rhode Island, and serves as Technovation RI’s Regional Ambassador. He was also a member of the RI computer science standards advisory team, who developed CS standards for the state.

Joe enjoys empowering students to succeed. He has mentored many student organizations such as SkillsUSA, FIRST robotics, Technovation, TSA, and Women in Technology groups. Joe currently works at his high school alma mater, Davies Career and Technical High School. Davies is a state-operated LEA governed by an independent, business-led Board of Trustees. It is located in Lincoln, Rhode Island and serves students from primarily six sending districts, three urban and three suburban. Joe looks forward to contributing to the continual improvement of Davies, the school that inspired him to become an educator.

Vice President

Michael Deslauriers graduated from Rhode Island College in 1996 with a BA in Secondary Education Mathematics. He received his Master’s in Arts in Teaching Mathematics from Providence College in 2000. Michael saw the need for students to learn Computer Science earlier than most people so he started an AP Computer Science A course at Smithfield High School in September 2010. After a couple of years of all boy classes, he started an Exploring Computer Science Semester Course to get female students interested in this field. In the fall of 2016 he started teaching an AP Computer Science Principles Course to get even more students interested. Michael also helped establish the CSTA Rhode Island Chapter. He runs several after school clubs such as Girls Who Code and an App Inventor Club.  In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his wife and 2 children. He enjoys fishing, sailing, volleyball, biking, hiking and golf.

Treasurer

Holly Eaves graduated from the University of Connecticut in 1989 with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering. After working for five years at IBM in Poughkeepsie, Holly moved to RI. While in RI, she and her husband raised two daughters who have both since entered engineering fields. After many years operating small businesses and serving on many community organizations, Holly obtained a Masters in Education at the University of Rhode Island in 2010 and joined the East Greenwich School District as a mathematics teacher, eventually getting the opportunity to offer AP CS courses at EGHS. Thanks to copious opportunities for free professional development through CS4RI, Holly has been developing and offering CS since 2015. In a mission to increase diversity in CS, Holly has always encouraged students to experiment with some of the opportunities for women. Holly has mentored: four Technovation teams since 2017 with two teams making it to the regional semi-finals; Girls Go CyberStart teams since 2018; five Cyberpatriot teams since 2018 with one all-female team and a CS Club that explores many different facets of CS. She really loves advancing CS in the school district and beyond. Although teaching is embedded in all aspects of her life, Holly tries to create balance by breathing salt air, yoga, meditation, and fitness.

Secretary

Patricia Piros (Pati) graduated from Johnson & Wales University with a BA in Management along with receiving her Master’s in Arts in Teaching in Special Education and Business from Johnson & Wales  She has also received her Computer Science Endorsement. Before making the transition to the education field, Pati worked at AT Cross where she developed her passion for teaching and learning. Pati is the Information Technology Program Teacher at East Providence High School's Career & Technical Center. In addition, she is the Head Coach for the girls cross country team, AV Advisor, SkillsUSA Advisor and a coach for the school's CyberPatriot teams. She loves teaching APCSP, Cyber Security, Computer Science Essentials and Intro to Computing and Data Science, just to name a few. For the past four years, Pati has been committed to supporting teachers and colleagues throughout RI to continuously improve and implement their CS programs as part of the CS4RI initiative as a Lead Trainer in CS. With connections to the corporate world, her passion is to empower students to acquire skills and opportunities that allow them to grow as individuals and to enter the workforce. She has collaborated with industry partners to place students in internships in both cybersecurity and IT within the RI business community. Pati focuses on building a collaborative environment where students can analyze and problem solve. She is a strong proponent of CS in her school and loves to see her students develop the same passion for CS that she has. In her spare time she enjoys spending time with her family, friends, and doing outdoor activities, which includes walking her dog Bucky.