Ben Parris
Encyclopedia
Benjamin Jason Parris is an American
author
, educator, and museum
planner best known as the creator of Wade of Aquitaine. As an educator and technology consultant, he has won national awards. In their August 19, 2005 edition, Long Island Business News
placed Ben Parris in the Top Ten of their Who's Who in Technology list.
; did coursework in English from Columbia University
in the 1980s; received his B.S. in Accounting from Brooklyn College
in 1983; graduated from the U.S. Treasury Department's Advanced Business Communications program in 1985; and received his M.S. in Computer Science from Brooklyn College in 1987, passing his CPA exam in the same year.
to tackle physics
and calculus
and went on to become a tax expert and technology consultant in preparation for a career in museum administration.
Along the way, he accomplished several pioneering innovations. At the United States Department of Treasury, he co-created with Juan Rivera the first procedures and public contact training program for Taxpayer Service Division in 1985, originating in Brooklyn District. This was used as the national model after 1987. Also in 1985 at Treasury, he implemented the pilot program for the nation’s first semi-automated telephone information system known as TeleTax. It is fully automated at this time. In 1990, he wrote the first in-house financial statement software for Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
.
In his program for disadvantaged students at Alverta B. Gray Schultz Middle School in Hempstead, New York, he devised a method for scaling classic school science experiments up to real-world engineering
budgets and materials. This technique was widely disseminated and became standard practice in several of Long Island's leading schools.
Parris has been an educator for NASA
in the Solar System Ambassador
Program since its inception in 2002, and was periodically engaged by NASA TV
to help train its management and consulting scientists and engineers in media exposure.
, and the multiverse
. His work is influenced by Edgar Rice Burroughs
, Stephen R. Donaldson
, John E. Stith
, Orson Scott Card
, Arthur C. Clarke
, Nancy Kress
, Ursula K. Le Guin
, Anne McCaffrey
, and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
, science
, education
and business
as well as humor. The most cited of his short works is "The Other Mr. Nedzi." In addition to a Wade of Aquitaine sequel
, he is currently working on a book about fundraising
called The Nonprofit Breadwinner.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, educator, and museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
planner best known as the creator of Wade of Aquitaine. As an educator and technology consultant, he has won national awards. In their August 19, 2005 edition, Long Island Business News
Long Island Business News
The Long Island Business News is a weekly business journal based in Ronkonkoma, New York and owned by Dolan Media Company of Minneapolis...
placed Ben Parris in the Top Ten of their Who's Who in Technology list.
Education
Ben Parris graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in BrooklynBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
; did coursework in English from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in the 1980s; received his B.S. in Accounting from Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York, United States.Established in 1930 by the New York City Board of Higher Education, the College had its beginnings as the Downtown Brooklyn branches of Hunter College and the City College of New...
in 1983; graduated from the U.S. Treasury Department's Advanced Business Communications program in 1985; and received his M.S. in Computer Science from Brooklyn College in 1987, passing his CPA exam in the same year.
Biography
Early on, Ben Parris battled severe dyscalculiaDyscalculia
Dyscalculia is a specific learning disability involving innate difficulty in learning or comprehending simple arithmetic. It is akin to dyslexia and includes difficulty in understanding numbers, learning how to manipulate numbers, learning maths facts, and a number of other related symptoms...
to tackle physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
and calculus
Calculus
Calculus is a branch of mathematics focused on limits, functions, derivatives, integrals, and infinite series. This subject constitutes a major part of modern mathematics education. It has two major branches, differential calculus and integral calculus, which are related by the fundamental theorem...
and went on to become a tax expert and technology consultant in preparation for a career in museum administration.
Along the way, he accomplished several pioneering innovations. At the United States Department of Treasury, he co-created with Juan Rivera the first procedures and public contact training program for Taxpayer Service Division in 1985, originating in Brooklyn District. This was used as the national model after 1987. Also in 1985 at Treasury, he implemented the pilot program for the nation’s first semi-automated telephone information system known as TeleTax. It is fully automated at this time. In 1990, he wrote the first in-house financial statement software for Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited , commonly referred to as Deloitte, is one of the Big Four accountancy firms along with PricewaterhouseCoopers , Ernst & Young, and KPMG....
.
In his program for disadvantaged students at Alverta B. Gray Schultz Middle School in Hempstead, New York, he devised a method for scaling classic school science experiments up to real-world engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
budgets and materials. This technique was widely disseminated and became standard practice in several of Long Island's leading schools.
Parris has been an educator for NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
in the Solar System Ambassador
Solar System Ambassador
The Solar System Ambassadors Program is a public outreach program of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Nearly 500 volunteers in all 50 states as well as Washington DC and Puerto Rico share information about exploration missions and recent discoveries to their local communities.The program is an...
Program since its inception in 2002, and was periodically engaged by NASA TV
NASA TV
NASA TV is the television service of the United States government agency NASA. NASA TV is broadcast by satellite with a simulcast over the Internet. Local cable television systems across the U.S. and amateur television repeaters may carry NASA TV at their discretion, as NASA-created content is...
to help train its management and consulting scientists and engineers in media exposure.
Author
Ben Parris creates science fiction and fantasy heroes with his own afflictions discovering even greater strengths emerging to compensate for their original limitations. Themes include astral projectionAstral projection
Astral projection is an interpretation of out-of-body experience that assumes the existence of an "astral body" separate from the physical body and capable of traveling outside it...
, and the multiverse
Multiverse
The multiverse is the hypothetical set of multiple possible universes that together comprise all of reality.Multiverse may also refer to:-In fiction:* Multiverse , the fictional multiverse used by DC Comics...
. His work is influenced by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.-Biography:...
, Stephen R. Donaldson
Stephen R. Donaldson
Stephen Reeder Donaldson is an American fantasy, science fiction and mystery novelist, most famous for his Thomas Covenant series...
, John E. Stith
John E. Stith
John E. Stith is an American science fiction author, known for the scientific rigor he brings to adventure and mystery stories....
, Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card is an American author, critic, public speaker, essayist, columnist, and political activist. He writes in several genres, but is primarily known for his science fiction. His novel Ender's Game and its sequel Speaker for the Dead both won Hugo and Nebula Awards, making Card the...
, Arthur C. Clarke
Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...
, Nancy Kress
Nancy Kress
Nancy Kress is an American science fiction writer. She began writing in 1976 but has achieved her greatest notice since the publication of her Hugo and Nebula-winning 1991 novella "Beggars in Spain" which was later expanded into a novel with the same title...
, Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula Kroeber Le Guin is an American author. She has written novels, poetry, children's books, essays, and short stories, notably in fantasy and science fiction...
, Anne McCaffrey
Anne McCaffrey
Anne Inez McCaffrey was an American-born Irish writer, best known for her Dragonriders of Pern series. Over the course of her 46 year career she won a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award...
, and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Non-fiction
A one-time columnist for Scholastic Administrator, a publication of Scholastic Corporation, Parris has published a variety of articles and award-winning short stories on musicMusic
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
, science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
, education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
and business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
as well as humor. The most cited of his short works is "The Other Mr. Nedzi." In addition to a Wade of Aquitaine sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
, he is currently working on a book about fundraising
Fundraising
Fundraising or fund raising is the process of soliciting and gathering voluntary contributions as money or other resources, by requesting donations from individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies...
called The Nonprofit Breadwinner.