Sylvia Martinez: Opening Keynote: Making the Future, the Future of Making

Sylvia Martinez is a former aerospace engineer and co-author of the book, Invent to Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom, called “the bible of the classroom maker movement.” Sylvia speaks to and works with schools around the world and is president of Constructing Modern Knowledge Press, creating books and professional development advocating using modern technology for learning. Sylvia is also the principal advisor to the NSF-funded FabLearn Fellows program at Columbia University. Prior to that, Sylvia ran the educational non-profit Generation YES, designed and programmed educational software and video games, and designed GPS navigation and high frequency receiver systems.

Gary Stager: Closing Keynote, "Summer Camp Computing"

Since 1982, Dr. Gary Stager has helped schools around the world embrace computational technology as an intellectual laboratory, vehicle for self-expression, and window onto a world of possibilities for amplifying the potential of each student in preparation for an uncertain future. He is the co-author of Invent To Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom and the founder of the Constructing Modern Knowledge summer institute. It has been thirty years since he led professional development in the first schools where every child had a personal laptop computer and Gary has been teaching online since the late 1980s. Learn more about Gary at http://cmkfutures.com/gary

Garet Libbey: Panelist, "Health and Wellness in a Blended Maker Environment"

Garet Libbey is the Associate Head of Hawken School, where she leads programming for over 1450 students from toddlers through 12th grade across 4 campuses in greater Cleveland. Across her 23 years in education, Garet has been a middle school teacher, a lower school and a middle school director, a professional development administrator, and an alumni development leader. She has served in both private and public schools and in urban, suburban, and rural settings. In her current role at Hawken, she oversees major initiatives, including enhancing curriculum; attracting and developing talent; and ensuring greater diversity, equity, inclusion and justice across the student, faculty, staff, and parent communities. She believes that faculty and staff have the greatest impact on school culture and on the experience of students--and that the health and wellness of faculty and staff are central to their ability to thrive in a changing environment. Most recently, in addition to her day-to-day responsibilities, Garet has been co-leading the planning for Hawken’s reopening in the fall, with a particular focus on preparing faculty and staff to balance performance and health in the face of uncertainty.

Dr. Hayley Watson: Panelist, "Health and Wellness in a Blended Maker Environment"

Dr Hayley Watson is a Clinical Psychologist specializing in children and adolescents with a PhD in bullying interventions, and has been creating and delivering youth and school-based programs globally for the past 15 years. She is the founder of Open Parachute - a video-based high school mental health curriculum program using documentary stories of teenagers sharing their experiences of overcoming struggle as a platform for reducing stigma and building resilience in students, that is being delivered in schools across the US, Canada, and Australia.

Nancy Kang: Panelist, "Health and Wellness in a Blended Maker Environment"

Colleen Larionoff: Panelist, "Empathy in the Design Process: The Key to Virtual Making "

Colleen Larionoff is the Innovation Coordinator and FLL Robotics Coach at Dwight-Englewood School. She oversees the makerspace and related activities such as STEM-related clubs, maker events, science fair research, and Girls Who Code. She recently coordinated an effort to have students help make PPE for essential workers. Colleen also works with faculty to integrate technology, design thinking, and maker education into various curricular areas, and has run workshops on equity and empathy in STEAM/STEM education. She is also a Girl Scout Leader. Colleen holds a B.S. in Neuroscience and Behavior from Columbia University and completed Master Making in the Classroom at MIT.

Liz Gallo: Panelist, "Empathy in the Design Process: The Key to Virtual Making.

Liz has taught technology and engineering education for over a decade in all types of schools around the world; focusing on helping students learn how to solve problems and understand the human made world. Since the beginning of her career, Liz has taught STEM project based learning and design thinking. Now, through her company, WhyMaker, she is on a mission to help teachers teach students in meaningful and authentic ways. Liz would love the opportunity to speak with any school who is interested in enhancing their students STEM experience.

Sachi DeCou: Panelist, "Empathy in the Design Process: The Key to Virtual Making.

Sachi DeCou has spent the last fifteen years working in community arts, design and technology for social impact, both in the U.S. and internationally. Inspired by a passion to further apply her work to larger systemic challenges she received a masters degree in Design Strategy from California College of the Arts in 2012. She is passionate about education and the use of co-creation and design process tools to imagine and build desirable futures for all. She is currently the Design & Technology Lead at Marin Academy where she brings hands-on opportunities in prototyping, designing, building and creating to the community, and collaborates in the development of the Transdisciplinary Leadership Program.

Brandi Cannon: Panelist, "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Remote Maker Education"

Brandi’s background in botanical sciences and STEAM has led her around the country and she uses her personal and professional experiences as an African American to drive critical thinking in classrooms with a focus on underrepresented narratives in science. She works both with her school, as the Middle School Curriculum Coordinator, and with multiple non-profits, as the Diversity and Equity Coordinator for the United States Quidditch and DEI consultant for the International Quidditch Association, on DEI initiatives that serve the young adult community on and off the field, both in sports and in the science lab. Through her passion for diversity she creates initiatives that focus on educational and inclusive practices which allow for all students and players to feel safe, communicate their needs effectively, and create spaces for marginalized groups. On Instagram

Jimmy Juste: Panelist, "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Remote Maker Education"

Jimmy has been privileged to be a part of Montessori spaces for the last nine years and is grateful for all its gifts, while also looking to disrupt and innerve the biases embedded in its culture through consulting for DEI and creative thinking. He has served as Director of Equity and Inclusion at the Inly School in Scituate, MA since 2015, where he fostered a passion for facilitating authentic and audacious conversation. His years as a performance artist, actor background vocalist, and writer give him insight into what it means to take on the vantage point of others in service of getting free! On LinkedIn, On Instagram

Yerko Sepulveda: Panelist, "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Remote Maker Education"

Mr. Sepulveda is an experienced teacher-trainer, educational consultant and administrator. He is the former director of Teaching & Learning at the Technological University of Chile, where he developed programs for over 10.000 students of a marginalized background, improving achievement and graduation rates. Mr. Sepulveda holds an M.A. in Applied Linguistics and an M.Ed. in Bilingual Education and Diversity Studies, and is a Ph.D. candidate in Spanish Linguistics and Intercultural Competence. Also, he is a coach for the professional development online course Thinking and Learning in the Maker-Centered Classroom at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. His research interests include international mindedness, 21st-century teaching frameworks, participatory creativity, maker-centered learning, critical pedagogy, and intercultural competence. Yerko has presented his work in Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Spain, England, and the United States. On Twitter

Anna Delia: Workshop, "Setting Up for Home Making"

Anna Delia is the Director of the Innovation Lab, Hawken School’s PS-8 Grade Makerspace, Woodshop, and Science Lab located just outside Cleveland Ohio. She works with all teachers and students to create making experiences. Anna has formerly been a 7th Grade Science Teacher and Middle School Administrator at Hawken, and a 9 -12 Grade Science Teacher at Ensworth High School in Nashville, Tennessee. She holds degrees in Biology and Japanese from The Ohio State University and a Masters in Education from Vanderbilt University. Anna loves everything about Japan, where she grew up, and making student visions a reality. Currently, her favorite machine in the Innovation lab is the router, which she recently used to round off edges of giant wooden dice for a group of students making wooden toys and games. You can learn more about Anna’s work in the Innovation Lab on Instagram @HawkenFabPlay and at https://fablab.hawken.edu/home.

Christine Braun: Workshop, "Photoshop Animation"

Christine Braun a Design Engineer and shop manager at the Nueva school, creating hands on build projects for students including a Soapbox race for Eighth grade and Escape rooms for Seventh grade. She has coached First Tech Challenge robotics for seven years including having a team at the World Championship. Most recently, she participated on Disney's Shop Class and an MIT Excite award winner.

Godwyn Morris: Workshop, Amazingly Easy Hands-on STEM Activities in a Virtual Environment

Workshop will be led by Godwyn Morris, Director of Dazzling Discoveries STEM Education Center in NYC. Godwyn developed these techniques from 20 years in STEM education. Her mission is to empower kids through hands-on creative experience. She is the inventor of DazzLinks Cardboard Building Kits and founder of Skill Mill NYC Maker Space and Dazzling Discoveries STEM Education Center

JD Pirtle: Workshop, "Remote Virtual Reality"

JD is an artist, educator, and creative technologist. He is currently the founder and principal of Depth and Light, an education, technology, and design consultancy based in Chicago. Before founding Depth and Light, JD served as Director of Innovation at Catherine Cook School in Chicago where he founded the IDEA (Innovation, Design, Engineering, and Art) Program and Lab. Prior to Catherine Cook, JD was a research associate in advanced visualization, virtual reality, and multichannel audio at the Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Joan Horvath: Workshop, "OpenSCAD "

Joan Horvath is a co-founder of Nonscriptum LLC (www.nonscriptum.com), 3D printing and maker tech consultants. She and her partner, Rich Cameron, have written 7 books for the Apress imprint of Springer-Nature, and a variety of courses for LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda.com). Joan is a recovering rocket scientist and MIT alum.


John Dixon: Workshop, "Kids Are the Experts: How to create agency and ownership in a distance learning model"

John Dixon is an educator at the International School of Billund in Denmark. He previously taught at schools in New York City and Chicago. Black Lives Matter.

Jonathan Bijur: Workshop, "Advanced cardboard construction with reDiscover's Tinkering Tool Kit "

Jonathan Bijur is the Executive Director of reDiscover Center, an independent kids' makerspace in Los Angeles. reDiscover Center develops children's creativity using real tools and sustainable materials. Jonathan's work is informed by his experiences at Yale, MIT, in museum education, and working with diverse youth from across Los Angeles.

Kim Fogarty: Workshop, "Novel Engineering"

Kim is a Makerspace Educator at a Boston area independent school. She specializes in design thinking, digital fabrication, coding and robotics. She has a combined 22 years of experience as a classroom teacher, science and technology specialist and now, makerspace educator.

Nathan Aldredge: Workshop, "Circuit Playground Express Basics"

Nathan is a graduate of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, with a BFA in Designed Objects. He specializes in Product Design, Digital Fabrication, Design Thinking and Entrepreneurship. Currently he is the Makerspace coordinator for the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools.