About Nerdvana

Jayson Peters is the East Valley Tribune’s web content producer, editing and managing content while leading the paper’s social media interactions and designing various pages and graphics. He founded Nerdvana in August 2007 while working as a copy editor and page designer to increase the paper’s pop culture offerings. He has also contributed articles to Wired magazine’s popular GeekDad blog about parenting and pop culture. He currently teaches Online Media at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in downtown Phoenix. Read Jayson’s posts >>

Chris “KeL” Adams is a web editor at the East Valley Tribune who also covers local events and reviews movies. An avid gamer and comic book fan, Chris joined Nerdvana shortly after its creation, and his contributions have resulted in the blog appearing in Technorati’s “Top 100 Comics” blog list on more than one occasion. Read Chris’ posts >>

Scott Kirchhofer is a visual information specialist and Nerdvana co-founder who led the East Valley Tribune’s graphics team for nearly 10 years and provided materials used in a Pulitzer Prize-winning project. He is now senior graphic designer at Achen-Gardner Engineering in Chandler. Read Scott’s posts >>

Emily Whitmore is a lead page designer for the Ahwatukee Foothills News, where she also contributes articles about local businesses and helps manage the publication’s online presence. She loves science fiction and fantasy (Star Wars), geeky comedy (Monty Python to MST3K) and zombie horror. Sorry, guys — she’s married. Read Emily’s posts >>

Lee Whiteside, an occasional contributor to Nerdvana, has been writing about science fiction and fantasy in various forms online since before the WWW existed. His website, sftv.org, keeps track of genre TV shows. He also is quite involved with organized fandom, having chaired CopperCons (16 & 23), LepreCons (28 & upcoming 36), The 2006 Nebula Awards, and the first North American Discworld Convention. And he runs the official Connie Willis Website at ConnieWillis.net. Read Lee’s posts >>

Hayley Ringle is a general assignment reporter for the East Valley Tribune with an eye for fashion and a love for good music and movies. Read Hayley’s posts >>

Awards and honors