Nicholas Ponticello is an educator and writer in Los Angeles, California. He graduated from University of California, Berkeley with degrees in mathematics and astrophysics and later earned his masters in education from the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Ponticello is interested in exploring the intersection of science, sustainability, mental health, and education, and hopes to encourage more systems thinking and sustainability-themed curricula at the secondary school level. Mr. Ponticello is also a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators. In 2020, he was awarded the Sue Alexander Grant for his work on a YA novel provisionally titled WHAT IF I DID? What If I Did? is based on his experience coping with debilitating OCD and his struggle to overcome it through years of cognitive behavioral therapy. Mr. Ponticello completed the six-week intensive outpatient clinic at UCLA and went on to become an advocate for the International OCD Foundation. He has written for the IOCDF blog and has spoken on a panel about relationships and OCD at the annual IOCDF Conference. Mr. Ponticello grew up in Northern California and began his career as the operations manager at KOMENAR Publishing in Oakland, CA. He is a longtime runner, and has coached champion cross-country and track & field teams at the high school level. Mr. Ponticello is also the author of Do Not Resuscitate, a fictional biography that considers transhumanism and the intersection of technology and sustainability. He has studied writing under Kim Krizan (Before Sunrise, Zombie Tales 2061) and Bruce Miller (Handmaid’s Tale, ER). Do Not Resuscitate won a Reader Views Reviewers Choice Award, an INDIEFAB Book of the Year Award, and a CIPA EVVY Award. His second novel, The Maiden Voyage of the Destiny Unknown, also won a Reader Views Reviewers Choice Award and was listed as one of 100 Notable Books from the Shelf Unbound Best Indie Book Competition.
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