Meet the RICHES Team
Connie L. Lester, Ph.D., RICHES Program Director, Associate Professor, Editor Florida Historical Quarterly
Connie L. Lester became Director of Regional Initiative for Collecting the History, Experiences & Stories (RICHES) of Florida in 2010, the year the program launched. RICHES is a public facing, interdisciplinary project of the Department of History that engages with scholars, students, and communities to present the history of Florida in digital archiving and exhibit formats and develop digital tools for historians. The program established three sites: RICHES https://riches.cah.ucf.edu, the project information and site, RICHES Mosaic Interface https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu, the interactive Omeka-based archival site, and https://bendingtowardjustice.cah.ucf.edu, the interactive digital exhibit site. Lester’s work as RICHES program director intersects with her position as editor of the Florida Historical Quarterly (2005-present) and her teaching and research on the American South and economic and agricultural history. She is the author of Up from the Mudsills of Hell: The Farmers’ Alliance, Populism, and Progressive Agriculture in Tennessee, 1870-1915 and associate editor of the Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture. She is a Fellow of the Agricultural History Society and the recipient of the Society’s 2026 James C. Giesen Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Read a letter from the Director by clicking here.
Geoffrey V. Cravero, Digital Archivist
An alumna of UCF, Geoffrey has earned a B.A. in History and an M.A. in History with a background in Public History. He also has experience creating and editing metadata for RICHES as a Graduate Research Assistant; Orange County Regional History Center as a Graduate Collections Management Intern; Winter Park Health Foundation’s Service Learning Project as a Graduate Research Assistant; and as a producer and contributor on a series of podcasts for the UCF History Department. He joined RICHES in its infancy in January of 2011 through a graduate public history course. After graduating, he was hired as the project’s metadata editor and eventually advanced to the role of digital archivist. His responsibilities include conducting history harvests, community outreach, conducting and transcribing oral histories, training and mentoring students and volunteers, creating metadata, managing the archive, conducting workshops, training sessions, and presentations, assisting with grant writing, conference presentations, and collaborating with partner institutions and projects.
Kirk M. Lundblade, Ph.D., Applications Programmer
Dr. Lundblade earned his PhD from UCF’s Texts & Technology PhD program; he also has a masters in Technical Communication from Auburn University and a bachelor’s degree in Electrical & Computer Engineering from Baylor University. His research focuses on the study of digital cultures, particularly those centered around digital historical games. As part of the RICHES team, he focuses on maintaining and developing the RICHES team’s suite of digital projects, exhibits, and tools while also taking an active hand in RICHES’ many research endeavors. You can view Dr. Lundblade’s CV work and materials on his personal site here.
R. Paul Wiegand Ph.D, Assistant Research Professor, IST
R. Paul Wiegand holds a research faculty position at the Institute for Simulation & Training at UCF. Dr. Wiegand’s research interests involve the application of coadaptive methods to general machine learning applications, as well as multiagent learning. For RICHES MI, he is interested in leveraging ideas from machine learning to make interest discovery mechanisms, such as the “Connections” feature, more intelligent and adaptive for users of the repository.
RICHES Team Members, Volunteers and Students
Matthew Austin, Student Assistant
Sofie Barrett, Student Assistant
Marissa Bellenger, Student Assistant
Levi Berry, Student Assistant
Griffin Bixler, Student Assistant
Benjamin Bowles, Community Volunteer
Sarah Boye, Student Assistant
Alyssa Broome-Webster, RICHES Office Assistant
Gabriel Burket, Student Assistant
Maria Cabail, Student Assistant
Frederic Caeyers, Student Assistant
Ryan Callahan, Student Assistant
Kayla Campana, RICHES Office Assistant
Lauren Campbell, RICHES Office Assistant
Tyler Campbell, RICHES Office Assistant
Alyssa Caples, Student Assistant
Aaron Carbone, Student Assistant
Laura Cepero, Metadata Editor/Digital Archivist
Priscilla Cesar, Student Assistant
Nitant Choksi, Computer Science
Michael Cole, Student Assistant
Lehman Connolly, Student Assistant
Geoffrey Cravero, Metadata Editor/Digital Archivist
Danielle Crosby, Student Assistant
Karen Daniels, Community Volunteer
Hiram Davila, Student Assistant
Larry Davis, Ph.D., Vice-President of Adaptive Assessment Services
Diana Dizon, RICHES Office Assistant
Porsha Dossie, Student Assistant
Bethany Dickens, RICHES Office Assistant
Elliana Dix, Student Assistant
Kylee Encarnacion, Student Assistant
Drew Fedorka, Program Specialist
Julio Firpo, Student Assistant
Aaron Fried, Student Assistant
Janine Galindo, Student Assistant
Sebastian Garcia, Student Assistant
Ella Gibson, Intern Statistics Modules
Kathryn Girvan, Student Assistant
Ava Goyeneche, Student Assistant
Fon Gordon, Ph.D., Associate Professor
Sarah Green, Student Assistant
Quintella Greene, Student Assistant
Sean Grubbs, Student Assistant
Connie Harper, Senior Programmer
Kendra Hazen, Intern Education Modules
Nikki Hearn, Student Assistant
Brian Johnson, Student Assistant
Chidanand Kanhai, Student Assistant
Brooke Kaye, Student Assistant
Karen Kelly, Student Assistant
Anna Kephart, Student Assistant
Joshua King, Student Assistant
Tiffany Kilpatrick, RICHES Office Assistant
Elizabeth Klements, Student Assistant
Wesna Lalanne, Undergraduate Programmer for the Entity Extraction Seed Grant
John Lancaster, Student Assistant
Connie L. Lester, Ph.D., Program Director, Associate Professor
Samantha Levy, Student Assistant
Avery Lohman, Student Assistant
Zachery Luke, Student Assistant
Kirk Lundblade, Senior Programmer
Daniela Lynum, Student Assistant
Katherine Marra, Metadata Editor
Bryan McDonough, Student Assistant
Jamie Desena McFarland, Program Specialist
Ethan Mitchum, Student Assistant
Katarina Monroe, RICHES Office Assistant
Samantha Moore, Student Assistant
Jared Muha, Student Assistant
Harper Norris, Student Assistant
Brett Nystrom, Student Assistant
Jessica Oldham, Program Coordinator
Rhiannon O’Neil, Student Assistant
Caryss O’Neill, Student Assistant
Andrew Orleman, Student Assistant
Samuel Ortiz, Student Assistant
Abigail Padfield, Student Assistant
Eli Patterson, Senior Programmer
Nathan Pelz, Student Assistant
Kim Marie Fischer Peters, Community Volunteer
Eric Peterson, Student Assistant
Clay Philips, Student Assistant
Eric Plempel, Student Assistant
Eamon Quinn, Student Assistant
Sara Raffel, Student Assistant
Ramonita Ramirez, Student Assistant
Autumn Reisz, Student Assistant
Kelsey Resh, Student Assistant
Pauline Rivera, Student Assistant
Tiffany Rivera, Program Coordinator
Adam Rock, Student Assistant
Alexis Rodriguez, Student Assistant
Sharon Rodriguez, Student Assistant
Laurel Ross, Community Volunteer
Wyatt Russell, Student Assistant
Sabrina Sawney, Student Assistant
Sarah Schneider, Student Assistant
Noah Schramm, Student Assistant
Rebecca Schwandt, Student Assistant
Dhanashree Dilip Shinde, Computer Science
David Sierra, Student Programmer
Elio Singer, Student Assistant
Austin Smith, Student Assistant
Robert Smith, Student Assistant
Paul Snow, Student Assistant
Mel Stanfill, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
James Stoddard, Student Assistant
Cole Taylor, Student Assistant
Alejandra Montes De Oca Teijelo, Student Assistant
Eric Thompson, Student Assistant
Gonzalo Vaca, Ph.D. Candidate, Programmer for the Connections Seed Grant
R. Paul Wiegand, Ph.D., Assistant Research Professor, IST
Rachel Williams, Student Assistant
Ashley Wilt, RICHES Office Assistant
Joanne Wojtyto, Community Volunteer
AMH 3370, Fall 2018
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Angela McHugh
Eric Plempel
Ryan Woemer
Kamron Woodbury
AMH 3370, Fall 2019
Neidy Blasini Reyes
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Christopher Boyer
Ryan Bluie
Alexander Castro
Thomas Clements
Corbin Cooper
Connor Farley
Kyle Harrison
Niamh Harrop
Case Holsen
Ryan Humm
Kelly Kay
Elyssa Koblasz
Kristian Malooley
Madison Mitchell
Riley Murphy
Brandon Rogers
William Rose
Connor Smallwood
Justin Southwick
Drew Thornton
AMH 3370, Fall 2020
Robert Cribb
Daniel Gabriel
Paola Geary
Joshua Henderson
Brandon Kirk
Jonathan Koeck
Kendra Medina
Paul Bradley
Dalton Rosenfield
Adrian Ruano
Ethan Scimeca
Colton Wedge
AMH 3370, Fall 2021
Penelope Chow
Ethan Delgado
Jose Flores Robles
Ryan Hamil
Matthew Hammond
Philip Iserino
Sara Kanopka
Zackery Kubik
Christopher Langer
Gally Louis Jeune
Muskan Malkari
Ricardo Marquez
Logan Muehleman
Brandon Nemeth
Zoe Palmer
Simon Pfeifer
William Phipps
Dillon Simmons
Hydeia Williams
AMH 3370, Fall 2022
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Logan Curtis
Edward Guadalupe
Joe Kabourek
Cameron McGarth
Sarim Memon
Jorn Oosting
Mark Reigle
Daniel Rodriguez
Nicholas Rossetti
Joshua Smiley
Christopher Smith
Catherine Springer
Ethan Temple
Vihan Yalamanchili
AMH 3370, Fall 2023
Gage Beehler
Liesl Brunner
Dominick Burrell
Emerson Canete
Charlotte Chufo
Michael Cole
Zachery Duffield
Avery Lohman
Kevin Moreno Mendez
Jansen Newbold
Nathan Pelz
Brandon Roemer
Elizabeth Schropp
Colin Vaccaro
James Warren
AMH 3370, Fall 2024
Stephanie Alvarez
Divya Anne
Kenden Blye
Theodore Crouch
Carlos Dieguez
Caleb Feuerbach
Nathan Gregg
Jose Gutierrez-Galatas
Josh Heithaus
Jan Hiemstra
Skylar Johnston
Paul Julian
Tyler Kline
Thomas Manoly
Tyler Rimes
Regis Simasek
Summer Snow
Rachel Stillword
Cary Tendrich
Devon Willett
Jay Wilson
AMH 3370, Fall 2025
Liam Ambrose
Giovanna Bertolucci
Gabriel Burchett
Grant Casillas
John Donaldson
Kylee Dunn
Matthew Fedewa
Ariel Galvan
Ava Goyeneche
Kushal Gulati
Chidanand Kanhai
Sarah Konat
Matthew Kuhfuss
Jensen Lait
Sean Larsen
James Lopez
Jack Love
Edniel Marrero
Luis Medina
Angelo Mejas
Jaim Molina-Osorio
Evan Nelson
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Jackson Waters
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