Dr. Penny Noyce is a Harvard and Stanford educated physician, educator, author, and publisher of science books for young readers. She brings her expertise in community health, literacy, and STEM education to 4Leaf. 

Penny co-led the Noyce Foundation, which funded projects aimed to improve science education nationwide, especially by supporting afterschool science. For nine years, Penny chaired the STEM Next Opportunity Fund board as the organization expanded its work across fifty states and reached 3 million children through its Million Girls Moonshot.

Penny has served on the boards of many non-profits, including the the AAAS Public Outreach Committee, the Concord Consortium, the Consortium for Mathematics and Its Applications, Gulf of Maine Research Institute, the Libra Foundation of Maine, Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy, and TERC.

Three of her numerous books for young readers have won Outstanding Science Tradebook awards from the National Science Teachers’ Association and the Children’s Book Council.

Dr. Gil Noam is an associate professor at Harvard Medical School focusing on prevention and resilience and leads the Institute for the Study of Resilience in Youth (ISRY) at McLean Hospital. He served as the director of the Risk and Prevention Program and is the founder of the RALLY Prevention Program, a Boston-based intervention that bridges social and academic support in school, afterschool, and community settings. Through HMS/MGH, Dr. Noam trains child and adolescent psychiatry fellows in youth development and developmental psychopathology.

He has published over 200 papers, articles, and books in the areas of child and adolescent development as well as risk and resiliency in clinical, school, and afterschool settings. He is cofounder and Chair of the Global Extended Learning and Youth Development Association (GELYDA), and has also served as the editor-in-chief of the journal New Directions for Youth Development: Theory, Practice and Research with a strong focus on out-of-school time.

Dr. Noam is trained as a clinical and developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst in both Europe and the United States.

Cynthia Platt brings her expertise as an editor, writer, and educator to her work at 4Leaf Learning. She spent more than twenty years as an editor at publishing companies such as Candlewick Press and the former trade division at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, where she specialized in STEM nonfiction for children, including the Scientists in the Field series for middle grade youth. In addition, she has taught both high school and college literature and writing and is the author of numerous board books, picture books and novels for young readers. 

She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English literature and language from Harvard College, and an Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Lesley University, where she is now on faculty as well. At 4Leaf Learning, her interest in STEM learning drives her work on curriculum for middle school youth.

Ariel Rivers is a former elementary school teacher, and brings a strong foundation in teaching and a deep commitment to educational equity to her work at 4Leaf Learning. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education from Spelman College and a Master of Arts in Teaching, Learning, Policy, and Leadership from the University of Maryland. Her graduate research focused on restorative practices in schools, exploring their potential to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline by fostering more inclusive, supportive learning environments. Ariel remains especially passionate about strategies that address student behavior through connection rather than exclusion.

Ariel is driven by a desire to create engaging, justice-centered learning opportunities that honor every student's potential.