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Ryan C. Heitz

Head of School
Ideaventions Academy for Mathematics & Science, Virginia

Ryan is Co-Founder and Head of School for Ideaventions Academy, a fully-accredited, independent school for gifted to profoundly gifted students offering grades 1st –12th, where passionate teachers support intellectually-curious students with an interest in math and science to pursue their interests as part of a lively community ​and through active and engaging experiences. Ryan’s science and technology career has spanned a range of fields, including environmental science, computer programming and Geographical Information Systems. A Northern Virginia native, Ryan’s interest in science bloomed at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. Later, as an undergraduate at the University of Virginia, Ryan’s environmental science research took him to the eastern shores of Virginia where he tested sediment flows to explore sea level rise. He was interested in a career in teaching, but decided to pursue science first. His graduate research in environmental science led him to Brazil where he built electronic systems from scratch. With the help of a NASA grant, Ryan ran an array of environmental tests with equipment that he built. He pried open Palm pilots, pieced together atmospheric sensors and designed protective housing units. The “Maker” in Ryan was fully born. After graduate school, Ryan worked and managed GIS projects for more than a decade. He decided he wanted to start ideaventions® with his wife, Juliana, after teaching hands-on science with his son, Daniel, and other homeschooled students. He saw an opportunity to create a place where students had the freedom to really explore science, like he had in high school. “I wanted to create an environment where children could experiment and try different things,” he says. To this day, he still gets incredibly excited about the challenge and thrill of experimental design. “One of my favorite things in the world is designing an experiment,” he says.

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