Featured Speakers

Emmanuel Schanzer spent several years as a program manager and developer before becoming a public high school teacher and middle school academic coach in Boston. He is the Director of National CSPdWeek and the founder and co-director of Bootstrap, which he first designed as a curriculum for his own students. He has long been involved in connecting educators and technology, connecting parties at the Computer Science Teachers Association, Google, Microsoft, Facebook and at universities across the country. He holds degrees in computer science and curriculum development, and completed his doctoral studies at Harvard with a research focus on using programming to teach algebra.

Jake is the Executive Director of the Computer Science Teachers Association, the world’s leading association for K-12 computer science teachers.

He is a former high school computer science teacher, department chair, and professional development provider with the Chicago Public Schools. As a teacher, he focused on increasing access to computing for underrepresented groups and more than doubled female enrollment in introductory computer science classes.

Prior to joining CSTA he was Director of State Government Affairs for Code.org, where he worked with educators and policymakers to advocate for policies that expand access to high-quality computer science education with state departments of education and governor’s offices across the country. In his work at Code.org, he helped to build a nationwide network of more than 40 regional partners that worked with over 100 school districts in the U.S. to implement comprehensive computer science programs and provide professional learning for teachers.

Nisreen Cain is the Senior Vice President of Engineering at Babel Street, the world’s data-to-knowledge platform, a real-time search web application with advanced analytics delivering enhanced geographical and multilingual features. At Babel Street, Nisreen builds collaborative initiatives to develop and maintain existing tools and help innovation to further the capabilities of Babel Street’s mission.

Nisreen began her career in academia, moving from theoretical research in computer science into a more applied approach where she focused on building large data analytical applications. During her time at the National Strategic Planning & Analysis Research Center, Nisreen led diverse teams to conceptualize, build, and deliver large-data web-based analytics centered around advancing Mississippi’s educational systems and workforce. These high-value applications integrated data from several state agencies to facilitate fact-driven decisions on local and state levels. Two such contributions are the MS Lifetracks initiative (www.lifetracks.ms.gov), and MS Works (www.mississippiworks.org).

When not solving software engineering problems, Nisreen finds joy in serving her community. In addition to founding local- and state-wide environmental and volunteer non-profits in Mississippi to facilitate change and drive environmental initiatives, she also served as a committee member at the Environmental Collaborative Office at Mississippi State University (2008-2012), where she championed campus green programs and chaired sustainability educational events. In 2013, Nisreen was awarded the US Presidential Award for Community Service for her activism and service in the community.

As a published researcher, Nisreen has several peer-reviewed publications in the areas of high performance computing, computer security, algorithms, and user experience.

Lien Diaz is the Director of Educational Innovation and Leadership of the Constellations Center for Equity in Computing at Georgia Tech. Her primary role includes building teaching and leadership capacity to expand access to computing education across the state of Georgia and around the nation. Her work elevates the importance of increasing engagement with female students, economically disadvantaged students, and students of color into rigorous high school computing courses and streamlining opportunities into post-secondary computing, STEM, and the Tech workforce. In its first year, the Constellations Center has doubled the number of schools in Atlanta Public Schools (APS) offering Advanced Placement computer science courses and more than tripled the number of students enrolled in them. She is currently a Co-Principal Investigator (PI) for the Hybrid Instruction for Equity in Computing project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and focused on building teacher efficacy via hybrid instruction. Prior to her appointment at the Constellations Center, she spent 11 years at College Board in the AP Program and was a co-PI for two NSF funded projects: Using Computational Thinking to Model a New Course and the Collaborative Research – Broadening Participation in CS: AP CS Principles Phase II projects. She is one of the primary architects of the AP Computer Science Principles Curriculum Framework and a leading national expert in educational diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Ruthe Farmer is a national advocate for gender equity and diversity in technology, and has focused her efforts on diversity in technology and engineering since 2001. At CSforALL, she serves as Chief Evangelist, working to invite new stakeholders to the CSforALL table - and make the table bigger. Prior to joining CSforALL, Ruthe served as Senior Policy Advisor for Tech Inclusion at the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy focusing on President Obama’s call to action for Computer Science for All, led strategy and K-12 programs at the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT), and implemented national tech and engineering programs at Girl Scouts of the USA. She has launched multiple national inclusion programs including Aspirations in Computing, TECHNOLOchicas, the AspireIT outreach program, Lego Robotics for Girl Scouts, Intel Design & Discovery and more. She served as 2012 Chair of CSEDWeek, was named a White House Champion of Change for Technology Inclusion in 2013, received the Anita Borg Institute Award for Social Impact in 2014, and the UK Alumni Award for Social Impact in 2015.

Ruthe holds a BA from Lewis & Clark College and an MBA in Social Entrepreneurship from the University of Oxford.

Ron is a nationally recognized educator and computer science equity advocate. He began his career at IBM before leveraging his background in web development to become a teacher in NYC public schools. There Ron provided culturally relevant classroom experiences in entrepreneurial, design, and computational thinking to students.

Ron currently serves as Senior Director of Computer Science Education Implementation and Policy for the NYCDOE. His team provides strategic planning, professional learning, and guidance on culture building to school and district leaders.

Ron’s personal focus is racial equity, student empowerment, and developing the entrepreneurial mindset in young people. Ron believes that thoughtful educational experiences are key to creating a foundation for our students to disrupt and change tomorrow.