Friday Speakers

Jennifer Abrams, M.Ed. is an international communications consultant. She trains educators, hospital staff, and others on successful teaching practices, new employee support, supervision and evaluation, generational savvy, having hard conversations, and effective collaboration skills. Jennifer ...

Gabriel Adauto, B.S., earned his degree in computer science from Stanford, He developed his engineering expertise in enterprise software development, providing stable, scalable, and user-friendly infrastructure for many large institutions worldwide. Recognized for his high coding standards, Gabriel ...

Pam Allyn, M.Ed., is the executive director and founder of LitWorld, a global organization advocating for children's rights as readers, writers, and learners, and of LitLife, a national organization dedicated to school improvement. She is the author of the acclaimed and award-winning What To Read ...

Jeremy Bailenson, Ph.D., is founding director of Stanford University's Virtual Human Interaction Lab and an associate professor in the Department of Communication at Stanford. Bailenson's main area of interest is the phenomenon of digital human representation, especially in the context of ...

Matt Berman, M.A.T., was a recipient of the NEH Teacher-Scholar Award, and has been an elementary school teacher for more than 30 years, with certification in gifted education, and degrees in education and philosophy for children. A nationally recognized expert in children's literature, Matt has ...

Suzanne Barchers, Ed.D., began writing for the education market after fifteen years as a teacher. She has written two college textbooks and more than 20 readers theatre and teacher resource books. Her children's books include 72 math, social studies, and phonics readers for Teacher Created ...

Paulo Blikstein, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at Stanford University School of Education and (by courtesy) Computer Science Department, where he directs the Transformative Learning Technologies Lab. Blikstein's research focus on how new technologies can deeply transform the learning of science, ...

Jo Boaler, M.A., Ph.D., is a professor of mathematics education at Stanford University. Former roles have included being the Marie Curie Professor of Mathematics Education at the University of Sussex, England, a mathematics teacher in London comprehensive schools and a researcher at King's College, ...

David Bolinsky, B.S., is the founding partner and medical director of XVIVO Scientific Animation, a premier shop for concept-to-screen science visualization, specializing in creating cinematic-quality digital animations of current topics on the edge of medical and scientific discovery for ...

Peter Bowers, M.Ed., taught elementary school for ten years and is the founder of the WordWorks Literacy Centre in Ontario, Canada. WordWorks supports a unique, interactive approach to building literacy skills that develops reading, comprehension, vocabulary, and spelling abilities by teaching ...

John Seely Brown, Ph.D., is the independent co-chairman of the Deloitte Center for Edge Innovation, visiting scholar and advisor to the provost (USC), and researcher in the fields of digital youth culture, digital media, and new forms of communication and learning. He formerly served as the ...

Robert Calfee, Ph.D., is a cognitive psychologist with research interests in the effect of schooling on the intellectual potential of individuals and groups. His interests have evolved over the past three decades from a focus on assessment of beginning literacy skills to a concern with the broader ...

Norman Doidge, M.D., is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst on faculty of the University of Toronto Department of Psychiatry and Research Faculty at the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University. His book, The Brain That ...

Drs. Brock and Fernette Eide, M.D., have an international referral practice specializing in Neurolearning. They are authors of The Dyslexic Advantage (Hudson Street Press, 2011), The Mislabeled Child (Hyperion, 2007) and the award-winning Eide Neurolearning Blog. They lecture widely to parent, ...

Dr. Fred Estes has taught learners from preK through post-grad levels for the last 25 years. He currently teaches science at the Nueva School. Fred regularly presents at state and national conferences, writes for professional journals, and consults with schools, families, and policy organizations ...

Ronald Fortune, MBA, Ph.D., is currently the CEO of Education.com -- the fastest growing web site in the parenting and educational sectors. Education.com provides parents and teachers of school-aged children with access to parenting information and resources. He also serves as a senior advisor to ...

David Foster is the executive director of the Silicon Valley Mathematics Initiative (SVMI) comprised of 45 member districts in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. Besides the intensive work in California, SVMI consults across the country, including New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, Ohio, ...

James Paul Gee, M.A., Ph.D., is the Mary Lou Fulton Presidential Professor of Literacy Studies at Arizona State University. He is a member of the National Academy of Education. His book, Sociolinguistics and Literacies (fourth edition 2011), was one of the founding documents in the formation of the ...

Professor Miraca Gross, M.Ed., Ph.D., is director of University of New South Wales's Gifted Education Research, Resource, and Information Centre (GERRIC). Her research focuses on issues of equity for gifted students, ability grouping, acceleration, socio-affective development, and the highly ...

Bruce G. Hammond is executive director of the Independent Curriculum Group, an organization of schools dedicated to supporting school-based, teacher-generated curricula. He previously worked for nearly twenty years as a college counselor in independent schools. He also served as managing editor ...

Shelley Haven has worked for the past 25 years helping individuals with physical, sensory, cognitive, and learning challenges to unlock their potential with technology. She has a degree in mechanical engineering and is certified both as an Assistive Technology Professional (ATP) and a ...

Georgia Heard, M.F.A., received her degree in writing from Columbia University. She is a founding member of the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project in New York City. Currently, she visits schools and speaks at conferences in the United States, Canada, and around the world inspiring ...

Marco Iacoboni, MD, PhD, is a neurologist and neuroscientist originally from Italy. Today he is professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and director of the Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Laboratory of the Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain ...

Dale Jacknow, M.D., is a Developmental - Behavioral Pediatrician in private practice in the Bay Area. She brings over 20 years of experience to her practice working with children who have a diverse range of neurodevelopmental issues, including autistic spectrum disorders, genetic disorders, ...

Wendy Ju, M.S., Ph.D., is an assistant professor at the California College of the Arts, and a lecturer and researcher at Stanford University. She is focused on creating innovative curricula in interactive technologies. Wendy is currently working on a design textbook about fundamental practices in ...

Sandra Kaplan, Ed.D., has been a teacher and administrator of gifted programs in an urban school district in California. Currently, she is Clinical Professor in Learning and Instruction at the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education. She has written articles and books ...

David Kelley, M.S., founder of IDEO, a worldwide leader in the user-centered design of products, services, and environments, is also a professor of mechanical engineering and head of the Institute of Design (d.school) at Stanford University. David has successfully added Design Thinking to ...

George Kembel, M.S., entrepreneur and investor turned educator, is the executive director and co-founder of the d.school, an innovation leadership institute at Stanford University. Passionate about nurturing the creative potential of others, George spends his time working with students, teachers, ...

Salman Khan, MS, MBA, is an online educator and founder of Khan Academy, a not-for-profit intended to promote free education through the internet. He has produced over 2000 popular video clips elucidating a wide spectrum of concepts in mathematics and the sciences in his home studio. His official ...

Neeru Khosla, M.Ed., is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of CK-12 Foundation, a non-profit organization, which aims to reduce the cost of textbook materials for the K-12 market both in the US and worldwide. Mrs. Khosla currently serves as a member on several advisory boards, including ...

Nina Kim Schultz, M.S., is the engineering manager of Google's Education Research team. She works on Google's education projects, and is interested in K through continuing ed teaching and learning, especially ways to broaden the field of STEM and CS and increase the creation and creative use of ...

Jacob Klein, M.S., is the cofounder of Motion Math. A media producer, educator, and software developer, Jacob completed the Learning, Design, and Technology Master's program at the Stanford School of Education. Jacob won a Loeb (business journalism's highest award) for a seven-part Lehrer NewsHour ...

Jann Leppien, Ph.D., is an associate professor at the University of Great Falls in Great Falls, Montana, where she teaches courses in curriculum and instruction, gifted education, assessment and learning, educational research, and methods in social sciences. Additionally, she teaches curriculum and ...

Matt Levinson, MA, is the Assistant Head of School for the Upper Division at Marin Country Day School. He is the author of From Fear to Facebook: One School's Journey, which was nominated for a Book of the Year Award by Foreword Reviews. Matt has been published by The New York Times, The San ...

David Levy, Ph.D., holds degrees from Stanford University in computer science and a Diploma in calligraphy and bookbinding from the Roehampton Institute in London. For fifteen years, he was a member of the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, where his research focused on the nature of documents ...

Beth Littrell, M.Ed., is an associate editor of The Gifted Education Communicator, the journal for gifted education from the California Association for the Gifted. Beth has been teaching gifted children for twenty-five of her thirty years in public education, and currently serves as the ...

Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton, Ph.D., is an associate professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and co-director of Berkeley's Relationships and Social Cognition Laboratory. Early experiences living in Mexico, the U.S., Ivory Coast, and Thailand cemented a professional interest in ...

Jan Morrison, M.A., is a recognized leader in STEM education, providing vital support to national and state STEM initiatives, most recently serving as the Senior STEM advisor to The White House and the U.S. Department of Education in developing their sweeping Race to the Top and Innovate to Educate ...

Pendred (Penny) Noyce is a physician, educator, and writer. She grew up in Silicon Valley, California, and attended Harvard University and Stanford University School of Medicine. She did her residency in internal medicine at the University of Minnesota, then moved to the Boston area to marry her ...

Dean Ornish, M.D., is the founder and president of the non-profit Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, California. He is Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Ornish received his medical training in internal medicine from the Baylor ...

Ruth Parker, M.Ed., Ph.D., is a former mathematics teacher of grades 1 through 9. As CEO of the Mathematics Education Collaborative (MEC), Parker co-developed a model for engaging communities and developing leaders in order to advance the teaching and learning of mathematics. The model has been ...

Linda Pfiffner, Ph.D., is professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco and is a licensed clinical psychologist. She is also director of the Hyperactivity, Attention, and Learning Problems (HALP) Clinic at the Children's Center at Langley Porter. She received her B.A. from ...

Denise Pope, Ph.D., is a senior lecturer at the Stanford University School of Education. For the past eleven years, she has specialized in student engagement, curriculum studies, qualitative research methods, and service learning. She is co-founder of Challenge Success, a research and intervention ...

John J Ratey, MD, is associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and has a private practice in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He has lectured and published many articles on the topic of aggression, autism, ADHD, and other issues in neuropsychiatry. Dr Ratey has most recently ...

Dr. Prasad Ram, Ph.D., is the founder and CEO of Ednovo, a start-up education technology non-profit. Ednovo is developing Gooru, a free web-based education solution that began as a 20% effort while he was at Google and was piloted in India in 25 classrooms with 1,000 students. Gooru allows teachers ...

Larry Rosenstock, M.A., is the CEO and founding principal of High Tech High, a network of innovative and high-achieving charter schools emphasizing student projects, real-world problem-solving assignments, and internships with local businesses and community organizations. Launched 10 years ago as a ...

Richard Rusczyk, B.S.E., is the founder of the Art of Problem Solving (AoPS). AoPS hosts the world's largest online community for outstanding middle and high school math students, and its online school reaches thousands of students each year. Richard has authored or co-authored 7 of Art of ...

Katie Salen, M.F.A., is professor of design and technology at Parsons The New School for Design and executive director of the Institute of Play, a non-profit focused on games and learning. Katie led the team that founded Quest to Learn, a new 6th-12th grade public school in New York City, where she ...

Kim Saxe, M.S., is the director of the Innovation Lab at Nueva and a lecturer at the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (d.school) at Stanford University since 2007. She is a longtime educator and a design thinking/engineering pioneer. Kim was instrumental in both the design of Nueva's Innovation ...

Robert Sapolsky, Ph.D, is the John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn Professor of Biological Sciences and Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences at Stanford University. Sapolsky, a leading neuroendocrinologist, has focused his research on issues of stress and neuron degeneration, as well as on ...