John Kowalski was born in Chicago and grew up in Michigan. He attended the University of Notre Dame, receiving a B.S. in biology in 1968 and a Ph.D. in biology in 1972. John has served as vice-president and president of the Virginia Association of Science Teachers(VAST) , president of the Blue Ridge Association of Science Teachers and as a committee member of the Virginia Junior Academy of Sciences. He is currently serving as co-director of the Western Virginia Regional Science Fair and is a PREP fellow at Virginia Tech. John received the "Outstanding Biology Teacher of the Year" award from the Virginia Association of Science Teachers in 1996, was chosen as a "Tandy Technology Scholar" in 1997, and received the Virginia "Outstanding Biology Teacher Award" from the National Association of Biology Teachers in 2003. Dr. Kowalski became the director of RVGS in June, 2009.