AIxEd[Connect]2026 Program
Get in touch with us at hello@aixed.org
AIxEd2026
SPEAKERS
Become a part of the conversation that is
shaping the state of AI in Education
Usama Fayyad
AI Transformation Leader,
Northeastern University
Usama Fayyad is the Chairman and Founder of Open Insights, a consultancy based in Silicon Valley and Seattle that he launched in 2008. He is the SVP of AI & Data Strategy, Senior Advisor to the President, and Inaugural Director of the Institute for Experiential AI at Northeastern University. Previously, he served as Chief Data Officer and Group Managing Director at Barclays in London, Chief Data Officer and EVP at Yahoo!, and co-founded multiple companies in data mining, AI, and digital innovation. Over his career, Fayyad has been recognized as a pioneer in big data, AI-driven business transformation, and large-scale analytics, with impact spanning technology, healthcare, finance, and telecommunications.
Can Erbil
Professor of the Practice of Economics, Boston College
Dr. Can Erbil is a distinguished applied economist, professor, and consultant with 30+ years of expertise in economic modeling, international trade, and development economics. As a Professor of the Practice at Boston College, he integrates AI and EdTech into courses on the global economy, economic policy, and inequality.
As Principal Investigator for multiple grants, including Exploring AI in Teaching and Learning Economics and Virtual Reality in Economics Education, Dr. Erbil pioneers AR, VR, and XR applications in digital learning and AI-driven economic modeling. He is also a Research Fellow at the Economic Research Forum and Director of the EcoMod Modeling School, training policymakers worldwide.
Gabriela Torres
Co-founder, Sundai Club
Gabriela works at the intersection of Human-AI interaction, behavioral design, and education. They co-founded Sundai Club and Aethos in the MIT ecosystem to foster AI prototyping, start-up acceleration, and AI safety research, and are expanding these communities in Latin America through Sundai Latam. Her research spans digital privacy and financial infrastructure, including co-authoring Enhancing the Privacy of a Digital Pound with the Bank of England at the MIT Media Lab and contributing to projects on digital economies in the Global South.
Before focusing on AI, Gabriela worked in corporate finance and digital transformation and founded a non-profit EdTech initiative for teenagers in Peru.
LEADERSHIP SUMMIT
Kjersten Moody
Chief Executive Officer for North America
Elai
Kjersten Moody is a dynamic board member and results-oriented C-suite leader with over 25 years of experience driving business transformation and growth through AI, data, and technological innovation. She has consistently delivered a 10x or greater ROI for data and AI solutions across three Fortune 100 companies, spanning the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa. An expert in corporate governance and change management, Kjersten has managed annual budgets exceeding $100M and has upskilled global teams of over 1,000 professionals in modern data, AI, and public cloud technologies. Beyond her corporate leadership, she serves as a strategic technology and AI advisor for state and national governments in both the US and UK.
Kellie Fitzgerald
Senior Director of Admissions Operations
NYU
Kellie is a seasoned Higher Education Administration professional at New York University with over 15 years of experience in Undergraduate Admissions Operations. Recently promoted to Senior Director after a decade-long tenure as Director of Operations, she oversees the implementation and management of critical enterprise systems, including Technolutions Slate, Ivy.ai, PeopleSoft Campus Solutions, and Perceptive Content. As the chief data liaison for the Common Application and the Data Steward for all undergraduate admissions asset definitions in Collibra, Kellie ensures data integrity and technical excellence across the department. She leads a diverse team of 25 full-time and union employees, alongside 15 student staff, while providing essential endpoint system administration and technical support. Kellie holds a BA in Organizational Management from NYU SPS and an MA in Higher Education Student Administration from NYU Steinhardt.
Cansu Canca
Head of Responsible AI
Northeastern University
Cansu Canca is a philosopher and the Founder+Director of AI Ethics Lab, one of the first initiatives focusing exclusively on advising practitioners and conducting multidisciplinary research on AI ethics. She is also the Director of Responsible AI Practice at the Institute for Experiential AI and a Research Associate Professor in Philosophy at Northeastern University. With her team of computer scientists and philosophers, she provides hands-on, research based consulting in integrating ethics into AI innovation and implementing responsible AI strategy for organizations.
A two-time TEDx speaker, Cansu has given over 100 talks on AI ethics, including keynotes at Harvard Business School, the U.S. Department of Justice, her TEDxCambridge talk How to Solve AI’s Ethical Puzzles, and several others. She was listed among the “30 Influential Women Advancing AI in Boston” and the “100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics”, nominated for the VentureBeat’s “Women in AI” award, and recognized with Mozilla's Rise25 "Change Agent" award.
Noe Ortega
Commissioner of Higher Education, Massachusetts
Noe Ortega, Ph.D., was sworn in as Massachusetts Commissioner of Higher Education on November 1, 2022. He has led the Department of Higher Education (DHE) through a time of historic investment by the state legislature and Healey-Driscoll Administration in affordability and access for all learners in the Commonwealth. Dr. Ortega is dedicated to closing equity gaps through the Board of Higher Education’s four strategic priorities: Student Success and Affordability, Economic Mobility, Public Good, and Innovation.
Sabrina Mansur
Director
Massachusetts AI Hub
As director of Massachusetts Artificial Intelligence (AI) Hub, Sabrina Mansur leads the statewide effort to develop and implement a responsible, cutting-edge AI ecosystem in Massachusetts. Mansur is responsible for implementing the recommendations and vision for AI in Massachusetts that were laid out in the December report issued by Governor Maura Healey's 2024 Artificial Intelligence Strategic Task Force.
Mansur has built her career at the intersection of advanced technology and real-world application, bringing over 20 years of leadership experience in the development and commercialization of AI and robotics in both the public and private sectors.
Mansur previously held senior roles at Draper Laboratory, Motional, Torc Robotics, and Lockheed Martin.
David McCool
President & CEO
Muzzy Lane
David McCool is the President & CEO of Muzzy Lane. Muzzy Lane helps universities create assessments for the AI era. Our roleplay assessments let students apply knowledge in realistic scenarios, measuring what they can do, not just what they know. Learners receive instant, personalized feedback, while our Production Assistant makes it easy to build custom assessments aligned with your courses and objectives. With Muzzy Lane, authentic learning and assessment are no longer out of reach: they're practical, scalable, and available across your curriculum.
Ola Ozernov-Palchik
Research Faculty and Scientist, BU & MIT
Ola Ozernov-Palchik is an educational scientist turned cognitive neuroscientist who works outside of traditional disciplinary silos to study how children learn. By synthesizing neuroimaging, artificial intelligence, and educational research, she works to advance educational efficacy and strengthen foundational theory, with a particular expertise in the development of literacy.
Dr. Ozernov-Palchik is deeply passionate about moving research into practice. Her work is characterized by a commitment to translational and open science, effective communication, and a rigorous focus on implementation. By bridging the gap between the laboratory and the classroom, she ensures that neuroscientific insights are accessible and actionable for educators and policymakers alike.
Rachel Schechter
EdTech Research Leader
LXD Research
Dr. Rachel Schechter is the Founder of LXD Research, an independent research firm that evaluates educational programs with ESSA-aligned methods. She leads a team of Ph.D. researchers, instructional designers, learning scientists, and former teachers. LXD Research is a frequent collaborator with ISTE to support evidence-informed procurement. They have conducted dozens of studies with over 50 educational institutions in the last five years to measure the impact of specific tools to support academic achievement. Dr. Schechter draws on her experience as Vice President of Learning Sciences at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Director of Research at Lexia. She holds a Ph.D. in Child Development from Tufts University and a Master’s in Education from Harvard University. LXD Research has led over 15 approved studies on Evidence for ESSA.
Kaitlin Dumont
Consulting Director, Higher Education, Huron Consulting
Kaitlin’s expertise lies at the intersection of higher education and workforce learning. Over the course of her career, she has partnered with an ecosystem of stakeholders ranging from university leaders to corporate learning executives to state government officials as a strategist and trusted advisor. In addition to specific engagements, she is adept at operating in complex, ambiguous environments and helping diverse constituents align around shared strategy and impact. She has been featured in several publications, including Inside Higher Ed and Education Technology Insights, as well as a speaker and member of the host committee at StartEd’s EdTech Week in New York City.
Lately, her work has centered on how artificial intelligence is reshaping decision-making, student experiences, and the future of higher education, informed by ongoing EdTech research and her role on Huron’s Education & Research AI Council.
Xiao-Li Meng
Founding Editor-in-Chief
Harvard Data Science Review
Xiao-Li Meng is the Whipple V. N. Jones Professor of Statistics at Harvard University and Founding Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Data Science Review. He specializes in statistical computation, Bayesian inference, and methods for complex and high-dimensional data. Meng has published extensively, delivered hundreds of research presentations worldwide, and has held leadership roles including Chair of Harvard’s Department of Statistics and Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Ruth Steyn
Associate Director
LabXchange
Ruth Steyn is a seasoned digital learning strategist and consultant with over a decade of experience shaping the landscape of higher education and continuing professional development. With a deep-rooted background in Learning Design, Ruth is driven by a career-long curiosity for creating digital experiences that are as meaningful as they are measurable.
Throughout her career, Ruth has specialized in the design and development of high-impact online executive education. She has collaborated with some of the world’s most prestigious institutions—including Harvard, Cambridge, Yale, and The London School of Economics—as well as leading global brands to deliver premier open online courses.
Anne DeMallie
Director of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Jessica Booker
Digital Learning Coach Foxborough Public Schools
Elizabeth Kerrigan
Technology Integration & Curriculum Sudbury Public Schools
Rachel Miller
Supervisor of Advanced Academic Performance & Educator Development Springfield Public Schools
Lisa Sacchetti
Founder & CEO
The Renaissance Network
Lisa founded The Renaissance Network in 1996 with the mission of building world-class teams and quickly developed a focus on the growing Education and Technology vertical. An inspirational and dedicated CEO, she has made this vision a reality by creating and leading a diverse and talented team at TRN with a mandate to deliver unrivaled service characterized by a commitment to excellence. Lisa and her team are passionate about helping companies find top executives and assemble goal-driven teams that change the shape of Education worldwide.
Under Lisa’s leadership TRN has been recognized repeatedly by Forbes as one of America’s best executive recruiting firms, and Lisa herself has been recognized by the Boston Business Journal and American Small Business Awards. As a mentor for the StartEd Network, Lisa lends her expertise to help education innovators improve education and workforce learning by guiding them in securing finance and expanding their customer base. A Certified Personnel Consultant, she has served as President and Treasurer of the Massachusetts Association of Personnel Services.
Phillip Miller
CEO
Skillwell
Phillip Miller is CEO of Skillwell, a pioneer in immersive and adaptive simulations for higher education and corporate learning. A 20+ year edtech leader, he previously led Open LMS, overseeing three acquisitions that created the world’s largest Moodle provider. He’s also advised early-stage learning tech companies on product strategy, fundraising, and go-to-market growth.
James Lane
CEO
University Instructors
Dr. James F. Lane is the Chief Executive Officer of University Instructors LLC (UI), where he leads a national organization dedicated to expanding access to high-quality instruction and strengthening educator pipelines for K–12 school systems across the United States. A nationally recognized education leader, Dr. Lane brings a rare blend of experience across classroom teaching, district and state leadership, federal policy, and the nonprofit and private sectors.
Dr. Lane began his career as a classroom teacher and band director before moving into school and district leadership roles. He later served as superintendent in Middlesex, Goochland, and Chesterfield County Public Schools in Virginia, earning recognition for strong instructional leadership and innovative use of technology to support student learning. In 2017, he was named Virginia Superintendent of the Year.
​Across every role, Dr. Lane has been guided by a consistent throughline: a commitment to ensuring that every classroom is led by a well-prepared, well-supported educator and that every student has access to rigorous, meaningful learning opportunities. This focus on excellence—whether in leading teams, shaping policy, or collaborating as a professional musician—continues to define his work on behalf of students and schools nationwide.
David Raney
CEO
Nuventive
David Raney has provided strategic and operational leadership for Nuventive since its inception in 2000. He has been involved in business creation since completing formal medical training. After completing his fellowship, Dr. Raney founded two innovative programs at the Children’s Hospital of Denver. Dr. Raney joined the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in 1993, where numerous new programs/business units were created under his leadership.
Dr. Raney left academic medicine in 1999 to become an entrepreneur. In addition to serving as CEO of Nuventive, he led the growth of a medical software line and a human services software and consulting company.
Dr. Raney holds an MD degree from Vanderbilt University and a BA in psychology from the University of California, Davis.
Wendy Colby
Higher Education Executive,
Boston University
Senior higher education executive with global experience leading mission-driven institutions and organizations through growth, transformation, and innovation. Proven success aligning strategy, academic quality, and financial performance while building strong leadership teams and stakeholder trust. Deep expertise in online and hybrid education, organizational change, and enterprise sustainability.
Wendy Colby is a transformational higher education and global education executive with 25+ years of experience leading strategy, academic innovation, and program development to expand access and create transformative learning opportunities for students worldwide. She has worked across public and private universities, edtech ventures, global campuses, workforce learning, and K–12 organizations, consistently delivering mission-driven impact, sustainable growth, and enterprise-wide innovation.
A visionary leader and collaborator, Wendy combines strategic insight, general management expertise, and entrepreneurial agility to drive academic excellence, operational effectiveness, and meaningful outcomes for learners.
Shauna Conway
Strategic Growth & Innovation
Founder
Shauna Conway is the founder of Human Edge™, an interdisciplinary collaboration model that brings together universities, industry, and the public sector to explore applied, human-centered AI. A seasoned technology executive with over 20 years of experience as a CIO and CISO, Shauna specializes in translating complex technological shifts into structured environments that prioritize ethical judgment and real-world results. Her work has led to high-impact initiatives like the Human Impact Studio, which unites students and civic leaders across New England to solve problems using enterprise tools and real-world data. In addition to her work with institutions, she serves as a strategic advisor to CEOs and CIOs, helping them turn AI and data investments into practical, enterprise-ready execution.
Dan Be Kim
Research Assistant, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Dan Be Kim is a researcher at the Harvard Human Flourishing Program and a graduate student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, with interests in AI, youth engagement, and wellbeing.
Leadership Summit
Leadership Summit
[UPskilling LAB]
Rayna Freedman
Educator & Instructional Technology Specialist
Jordan/Jackson Elementary School
Dr. Rayna Freedman is a 5th grade teacher at the Jordan/Jackson Elementary School in Mansfield, MA. She has taught grades 3-5. Rayna has a B.S. in Education from the University of Vermont and a M.Ed in Educational Technology from Lesley University. She received her doctorate through Northeastern in teaching, learning, leading, and curriculum. Rayna is currently exploring how AI can support both educator and student life, creating meaningful experiences for students. She has been using AI in her classroom this year in the content areas, to support student research, and providing feedback to students as some examples. Rayna has presented for ISTE, Ed Tech Teacher, MassCUE, Vietnam Technology Conference, CUE Nevada, NYSCATE, Tech and Learning, Medfield Digital Learning Day, FETC, BPLC, and BLC. She is a consultant for Ed Tech Teacher and serves on the DESE AI task force. She believes in student agency and the power of building relationships and community.
Mike Mendelson
Chief Technology Officer
sideby.ai
Mike Mendelson brings deep experience at the intersection of teaching, learning design, and applied AI in education. He began his career as a high school math and technology educator, then served in district roles supporting personalized, competency-based learning systems. At NVIDIA, he was an Education Product Manager who led Deep Learning Fundamentals, a global program reaching over 250,000 learners through Coursera and edX. Mike is co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of sideby, where he leads human-centered AI learning infrastructure that reduces friction, supports sensemaking, and strengthens professional judgment for educators at scale across diverse educational contexts worldwide and leadership systems.
Asher Scott
Applied AI & Responsible Deployment in Public Schools, K–12 Systems Leader
New York City–based educator and improvement lead working at the intersection of AI and K–12 school systems. With 15+ years of teaching experience across the U.S., Australia, and Finland, I bring deep grounding in adult learning theory, coaching, and continuous improvement. My focus is reducing administrative burden while protecting educator judgment, student trust, and privacy. I design and build AI tools alongside district leaders and school teams, currently supporting a network of 100+ NYC public schools with an emphasis on deployments that hold up in real operating conditions.
Kishore Aradhya
Head of Data Engineering & Architecture
Northeastern University
With over twenty-five years as a senior technology executive, Kishore Aradhya has developed and scaled technology organizations across startups and Fortune 500 companies, holding leadership roles at Stanley Black & Decker, Bose, Adobe, edX/MIT, Staples, and Monster Search. He champions data-driven decision making, delivering enterprise data insights to executive teams. Currently, he leads Data & AI initiatives at Frontdoor Inc., a $2B+ home warranty technology company, and previously served as Senior Director of Advanced Analytics and Data at Stanley Black & Decker, advancing GenAI, LLM technologies, and data insights for executive leadership. Kishore excels in building production-ready enterprise data platforms for analytics, machine learning, and BI, architecting scalable SaaS cloud services, customer and analytics data platforms, data engineering, search, mobile, and e commerce solutions. He also led an NLP and computer vision research initiative, driving innovations for Adobe Document product features.
Kippy Smith
Senior VP of Learning
sideby.ai
Kippy Smith is an education leader, founder of Small Wins Dashboard, and SVP of Learning at sideby. For many years, she’s partnered with school systems across the country to create the conditions needed for innovation and school transformation, including the School Retool project with Stanford d.school. Kippy started her career in education as a wilderness instructor for Outward Bound, where she first learned that people are capable of doing just about anything in the right conditions.
David Petty
Education Program Manager
App Inventor Foundation
Carrie James
Managing Director
Center for Digital Thriving at Harvard Graduate School of Education
Alex Laraia
Co-founder
Crafting Tomorrow
Alex Laraia is a co-founder of Crafting Tomorrow, an initiative focused on expanding access to AI education through practical, hands-on learning experiences. . As a student leader at The Generator at Babson College, he contributes to initiatives that explore how emerging technologies can be applied to real-world challenges across education, business, and innovation. At Crafting Tomorrow, Alex has played a key role in developing AI-driven workflows that allow educators to rapidly prototype interactive learning tools without technical experience. The organization’s work has helped educators transition from abstract ideas to tangible classroom resources, emphasizing speed, accessibility, and iteration.
Alongside his work, Alex is currently conducting research on the digital capital argument, exploring how disparities in access to digital skills shape opportunity. His research focuses on whether structured, applied learning around digital competencies, particularly AI literacy, can help reduce and ultimately dissimulate this gap.
He believes the most impactful use of AI in education comes from empowering educators to take ownership of the tools themselves, and his work is focused on making that shift both possible and scalable.
Cole Collins
Co-founder
Crafting Tomorrow
Cole Collins is a co-founder of Crafting Tomorrow, an initiative focused on expanding access to AI education through practical, hands-on learning experiences. As a student leader at The Generator at Babson College, he works at the intersection of entrepreneurship, education, and emerging technology, helping design programs that bring real-world innovation into academic settings.
Through Crafting Tomorrow, Cole has helped lead the development of AI-powered workshops and tools that enable educators and students to move from idea to execution in minutes. The organization has worked directly with schools and institutions to introduce accessible AI workflows, with a focus on interactive, project-based learning and rapid prototyping. Cole’s work centers on a simple idea: AI should not replace thinking, but expand it. He is particularly interested in how AI can unlock creativity, close gaps in access to education, and empower individuals to pursue their ideas with fewer barriers. His sessions focus on giving educators not just tools, but a repeatable framework they can apply immediately in their classrooms.
Rania Ben Amor
Senior Lecturer
USC
Rania Ben Amor is a Senior Lecturer in French at the University of Southern California (USC).She earned an MA from Paris-Sorbonne University, an MA from Boston College and taught across three continents. Her research focuses on designing innovative pedagogical tools that leverage emerging technologies to improve learning outcomes and expand opportunities for effective pedagogy.
Kristi Girdharry
Director and Tutor, Babson College
Kristi Girdharry is the Director of the Writing Center and an Associate Teaching Professor in the Arts and Humanities division of Babson College, where she teaches courses on writing, tutoring, and social media. Her work brings together teaching, research, and community engagement, with a particular focus on how writing and literacy practices shape inclusion, access, and belonging. In addition to her research, Kristi co-edits the Best of the Journals in Rhetoric and Composition Series, helping bring key trends and conversations in Writing Studies to a broader teaching community. Her most recent work explores the role of artificial intelligence in the writing classroom, examining how emerging technologies are reshaping writing pedagogy and student learning.
[Expert Sessions]
Rachel Slama
Associate Director, Future of Learning Lab
Cornell Bowers
As the Associate Director of the Future of Learning Lab at Cornell University, Rachel Slama leads strategic partnerships, research initiatives, and global collaborations at the vital intersection of education, technology, and workforce development. She supports an interdisciplinary team of faculty, postdocs, and students in building, deploying, and evaluating the cutting-edge technologies that are actively redefining how the world learns and works.
Beyond her leadership at Cornell, Rachel serves as a co-investigator on the National Tutoring Observatory. This groundbreaking initiative focuses on constructing the world’s largest open-access dataset on tutoring to drive the development of responsible, AI-powered learning tools at scale.Throughout her work she remains dedicated to bridging the gap between academic research and real-world application, ensuring that the future of AI in education is both innovative and equitable.
Pelin Bicen
Professor of Marketing
Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs and Quantitative Graduate Programs
Suffolk University
Pelin Bicen is a professor of marketing at Suffolk University specializing in global marketing strategy, analytics, innovation management, and supply chain management. Her research has been published in leading journals and presented internationally. Recently, Pelin has focused on the role of artificial intelligence in shaping work, skills, and education, integrating AI-driven approaches into business curricula to prepare students for the global marketplace.
Wendy Colby
Higher Education Executive,
Boston University
Senior higher education executive with global experience leading mission-driven institutions and organizations through growth, transformation, and innovation. Proven success aligning strategy, academic quality, and financial performance while building strong leadership teams and stakeholder trust. Deep expertise in online and hybrid education, organizational change, and enterprise sustainability.
Wendy Colby is a transformational higher education and global education executive with 25+ years of experience leading strategy, academic innovation, and program development to expand access and create transformative learning opportunities for students worldwide. She has worked across public and private universities, edtech ventures, global campuses, workforce learning, and K–12 organizations, consistently delivering mission-driven impact, sustainable growth, and enterprise-wide innovation.
A visionary leader and collaborator, Wendy combines strategic insight, general management expertise, and entrepreneurial agility to drive academic excellence, operational effectiveness, and meaningful outcomes for learners.
Erik Noyes
Entrepreneurship Professor, Director of The Generator Interdisciplinary AI Lab
Babson College
Dr. Erik Noyes is Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Director of The Generator Interdisciplinary AI Lab at Babson College, where he is the Michael London ’92 and Stephen H. Kramer ’92 Term Chair in Entrepreneurship.
Rated one of the Top 50 Business Professors in the U.S. by Poets & Quants, and awarded Babson's College-wide Award for Teaching Excellence, Noyes advises, researches, and teaches about innovation and entrepreneurship in the AI-age.
At Babson, he created the courses 'AI Pioneers: Creating the Future of Business', and 'Entrepreneurial Opportunities in AI'. His ideas about innovation, AI, and entrepreneurship have been featured in the Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Entrepreneur Media, and The Financial Times.
Dan Serig
Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Education, Northeastern University
Serig is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Graduate School of Education at Northeastern University in the doctoral concentration in higher education administration. He comes to the position after concluding his work as Vice President for Academic Affairs at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Research interests include AI in education, curriculum design, assessment, international education, and artistic research. Since 2002, Serig has been part of dozens of arts programming evaluations throughout the nation. Published works are in several art and design education journals. He served as the Research Review section editor of Teaching Artist Journal for three years and served as an editorial board member of the journals Visual Inquiry: Teaching and Learning in Art and Art for Life. Serig presents nationally and internationally.
Luke Hobson
Assistant Director of Instructional Design
MIT
Luke Hobson, EdD is a leader in pedagogical innovation, currently serving as the Assistant Director of Instructional Design at MIT xPRO and a Lecturer at the University of Miami’s School of Education and Human Development. With a career dedicated to bridging the gap between academic theory and practical application, he has become a definitive voice for modern educators and learning designers. He is the author of the essential industry guide, What I Wish I Knew Before Becoming an Instructional Designer, and the host of the Dr. Luke Hobson Podcast and YouTube channel. Recognized as a top learning influencer and e-learning expert, Luke’s research has been featured in Inside Higher Ed and cited by OpenAI’s ChatGPT for Education initiative. His work in digital transformation and learning science is further recognized by the Division of Continuing Education at Harvard University, cementing his reputation as a forward-thinking strategist in the evolving landscape of higher education and professional development.
Asher Scott
Applied AI & Responsible Deployment in Public Schools, K–12 Systems Leader
New York City–based educator and improvement lead working at the intersection of AI and K–12 school systems. With 15+ years of teaching experience across the U.S., Australia, and Finland, I bring deep grounding in adult learning theory, coaching, and continuous improvement. My focus is reducing administrative burden while protecting educator judgment, student trust, and privacy. I design and build AI tools alongside district leaders and school teams, currently supporting a network of 100+ NYC public schools with an emphasis on deployments that hold up in real operating conditions.
Rachel Schechter
Founder
LXD Research
Dr. Rachel Schechter founded Learning Experience Design (LXD) Research at Charles River Media Group, acting as Principal Investigator and Chief Research Advisor to companies large and small. Rachel helps guide the use of data and evaluation to support product improvements, build evidence of efficacy, and strengthen customer implementations.
Rachel has led research teams evaluating multimedia educational programming for learners of all ages since 2007, led the research team at Lexia for eight years, and most recently was the Vice President of Learning Sciences at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Her research often examines motivation, feedback, and learning in blended learning environments, and she has published several research articles evaluating formal and informal educational programming. Rachel holds a doctorate in Child Development from Tufts University and a Master’s of Arts in Education from Harvard University.
Kippy Smith
Co-Director, LEARN Lab
Northeastern University
Kippy Smith is an education leader, founder of Small Wins Dashboard, and SVP of Learning at sideby. For many years, she’s partnered with school systems across the country to create the conditions needed for innovation and school transformation, including the School Retool project with Stanford d.school. Kippy started her career in education as a wilderness instructor for Outward Bound, where she first learned that people are capable of doing just about anything in the right conditions.
Peter Shea
Assistant Dean of AI Integration
Middlesex Community College
Peter Shea is a learning professional with extensive experience as a designer, instructor, editor, writer, and professional development manager. He is an advocate for highly immersive learning experiences and for using learning analytics to inform learning design. He has spent several years as director of professional development at the community college level and created the first open educational inclusive pedagogy resource collection for the community colleges of Massachusetts. In addition, he served as a teaching assistant for a course on Adult Learning at Harvard Extension School.
Gamze Yilmaz
Associate Professor of Communication
UMass Boston
Gamze Yilmaz (PhD, The University of Texas at Austin) is an Associate Professor of Communication at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Her research focuses on cognitive and behavioral processes in language use on social media and the impact of pedagogical innovations on student learning experiences. She has participated in the Teaching and Learning Studio at Stanford’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design and is certified by IDEO U as a design thinking practitioner. These experiences have deeply influenced her pedagogical approach. She has successfully implemented flipped classroom techniques and design thinking methods in communication courses, fostering student-centered learning environments. Dr. Yilmaz's passion for pedagogical innovation and student learning naturally extends to AI-enhanced pedagogy. Driven by a “cautious curiosity” about the role of AI in higher education, she launched the AI for Higher Ed Project (aiforhighered.com). Dr. Yilmaz emphasizes the importance of ongoing experimentation and critical reflection on teaching practices as AI technologies rapidly evolve.
David McCool
President & CEO
Muzzy Lane
Dave McCool is the President & CEO of Muzzy Lane. We provide a range of simulation solutions for education and training, utilizing a roleplay format enhanced by AI to provide high quality, flexible, and cost-effective learning and assessment simulations. Our solutions include authoring tools, assessments, and full course solutions including credentialing. Our innovative Production Assistant speeds content development and allows any of our solutions to be customized based on your needs
Tiffany Kim
Associate Clinical Professor
Bouvé College of Health Sciences, NEU
Tiffany Kim, Ph.D. is an Associate Clinical Professor in the School of Nursing at Northeastern University’s Bouvé College of Health Sciences whose work is grounded in social justice and a commitment to health equity, especially for vulnerable populations. She also serves as the Bouvé AI Faculty Fellow, supporting AI-enhanced teaching and learning across the college. She developed AI SimBot, a GPT-based virtual simulation tool that helps nursing students strengthen patient communication skills through on-demand practice.
Lance Eaton
Senior Associate Director
Northeastern University
Lance Eaton, Ph.D. is Senior Associate Director of AI in Teaching and Learning at Northeastern University. He is an educator, writer, speaker, and consultant whose work focuses on reimagining teaching and learning in the 21st century through the lenses of agency, equity, possibility, and technology.
Julio Stanly Flores
Studio Arts Professor
Bunker Hill Community College
Julio Stanly Flores is a Studio Arts Professor in the Visual and Media Arts Department at Bunker Hill Community College with more than 12 years of experience in higher education. A dedicated educator and practicing artist, Flores has also served for more than nine years as a visiting critic at the Rhode Island School of Design.
Steve Covello
Senior Instructional Designer
University of New Hampshire
Steve Covello is a Senior Instructional Designer at the University of New Hampshire College of Professional Studies, where he designs fully online learning experiences for adult undergraduates, graduate students, staff, faculty, and external corporate partners. Covello also researches, tests, and implements communication and AI technologies to strengthen online instruction and support effective, engaging learning environments.
Ruth Slotnick
Director of Assessment
Bridgewater State University
Ruth Slotnick, Ph.D., is Director of Assessment at Bridgewater State University. Working closely with faculty, program chairs, and academic leadership, she advances evidence-informed reflection and reporting while integrating AI-enhanced qualitative analysis into assessment practice. With a strong focus on generative AI and higher education accreditation, Dr. Slotnick also contributes to national conversations and field-building efforts through initiatives such as the GenAI Assessment National Pulse Survey and the IU GenAI Community of Practice.
Allan Glass
Associate Professor of Management
Gerrish School of Business, Endicott College
Allan Glass, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Management in the Gerrish School of Business at Endicott College, where he teaches business analytics, advanced Excel, and related management courses, drawing on more than 20 years of executive leadership experience in business development, operations, and information technology across corporate, startup, and nonprofit sectors. His work is especially focused on artificial intelligence, organizational change, and business strategy. He is also an award-winning educator, with honors including the Joel A. Kobert Award for Distinguished Teaching and multiple nominations for teaching excellence.
Ola Ozernov-Palchik
Research Faculty and Scientist, BU & MIT
Ola Ozernov-Palchik is an educational scientist turned cognitive neuroscientist who works outside of traditional disciplinary silos to study how children learn. By synthesizing neuroimaging, artificial intelligence, and educational research, she works to advance educational efficacy and strengthen foundational theory, with a particular expertise in the development of literacy.
Dr. Ozernov-Palchik is deeply passionate about moving research into practice. Her work is characterized by a commitment to translational and open science, effective communication, and a rigorous focus on implementation. By bridging the gap between the laboratory and the classroom, she ensures that neuroscientific insights are accessible and actionable for educators and policymakers alike.
Meg Riordan
Chief Learning Officer, The Possible Zone
Meg Riordan, Ph.D., is the Chief Learning Officer at The Possible Zone. She designs and scales career-connected learning, competency-based pathways, and human-centered innovation. Her work bridges research and practice to expand economic mobility and enhance durable skills, supporting young people in shaping their futures. Meg authored "Going to Scale with New School Designs: Reinventing High School," as well as numerous journal articles and blog posts.
Chris Unger
Co-Director, LEARN Lab
Northeastern University
Dr. Unger has more than 30 years of experience providing technical assistance and conducting research and evaluation in schools, districts, and state education departments in the U.S. and South America. Previously, he led a number of school, district, and state improvement efforts while at Brown University and directed several university, district, and school improvement and research initiatives while at Project Zero of the Harvard Graduate School of Education. His current work includes supporting our doctoral students to be change agents in education, networking for the creation and proliferation of learner-centered learning communities, and finding ways to create new possibilities for learning within and outside the current ecosystem of education.
Kathleen Corriveau
Associate Dean / Director of Social Learning Lab, Boston University
Dr. Kathleen Corriveau is the associate dean for faculty affairs and a professor at BU Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. She also directs the Social Learning Laboratory at BU Wheelock. Her research focuses on social-cognitive development of trust in early childhood, bridging ideas from developmental and social psychology and applying them to educational settings. Previously, she served as the associate dean for research.
Dedicated to enhancing school readiness for all children, Dr. Corriveau is a former National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow, and is the current recipient of a National Science Foundation CAREER award exploring the role of adult explanations in STEM learning, as well as a $10 million grant from the Templeton Foundation to form the Developing Belief Network, an international network of researchers interested in the cross-cultural development of religious cognition.
Ying Xu
Assistant Professor
Harvard Graduate School of Education
Akesha Horton
Director of Academic Engagement and Learning, Indiana University Bloomington
Dr. Akesha Horton is the Director of Curriculum and Instruction for the Luddy School at Indiana University. She earned her doctorate degree in Curriculum, Teaching, and Educational Policy from Michigan State University’s College of Education, a Masters in Instructional Systems Technology from Indiana University’s School of Education and a Masters in Library Science from the Luddy School of Informatics, Computer Science and Engineering in Indianapolis. She also holds a bachelors degree in Mathematics from IU Northwest. Dr. Horton is an alumni of the Fulbright-mtvU Scholar program. In this role, she worked with Australian based hip-hop artists to develop and implement educational programs that served underrepresented youth. While in Australia, she became a Google Certified educator and helped launch the first completely online program in Indigenous Education at Macquarie University. She has served on the board of national educational organizations in the United States, as well as a volunteer in the non-profit sector. These collective experiences led to her research interests which explores the intersections between learning, technology, and culture for youth and young adults.
Yousuf Marvi
Math Teacher and ELD Coach
Sierra Vista Middle School in the Irvine Unified School District
Yousuf Nasir Marvi is a National Board Certified educator with a decade of experience spanning elementary, middle, and high school classrooms. Currently serving as a Middle School Math and ELD Teacher, he effectively combines his background in data analysis and technology with a deep passion for finding innovative ways to reach every student.
This commitment to innovation is exemplified by his work over the last four years, during which he has actively leveraged multi-modal AI platforms to support and enhance literacy and language production across disciplines for his students. These same tools have since been scaled and are now accessible to all 36,000+ students in his district. Extending this work to his teaching praxis, he is currently collaborating with other teachers to explore how AI-driven teacher workflows can create a more multi-dimensional and holistic teaching practice, with the enduring aim to reach every student.
He is an active member of his district’s AI Steering Committee, AI Literacy Standards Committee, and the AI Pioneers Group. His professional development trainings include Developing Authentic Student Assessments, Formative Feedback, Supporting EL Students, and Developing Teacher Workflows with Gemini Gems.
Anne Fensie
Director of Center for Teaching and Learning, University of Maine, Presque Isle
Dr. Anne Fensie is the Director of the Center for Teaching & Learning at the University of Maine at Presque Isle, where she works with faculty to explore responsible and effective uses of generative AI in their practice — particularly in asynchronous online learning. Her research broadly focuses on applying the science of adult learning to instructional design in distance education, and she brings that lens directly to her AI-related work. She is the author of the book chapter "How to Use AI to Help, Not Hinder, Learning," which offers undergraduate students practical, ethical strategies for engaging with generative AI chatbots in their studies. She has also facilitated a series of webinars on AI for learning through the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT). An active member of AECT, ICICLE, IMBES, and ISLS, she has presented internationally on the science of adult learning, learning engineering, instructional design, and distance education, and has published peer-reviewed work across these areas.
Sarah Ines Halabi
Masters of Education Candidate and Research Intern, HGSE & LXD Research
Sara Halabi is a master’s candidate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a research intern at LXD Research, where she analyzes research studies, evaluates product claims, and contributes to evidence reports on AI-enabled educational tools. With a background in elementary education, she taught in public schools in Texas and Georgia for three years, grounding her understanding of how instructional and technology decisions impact classrooms. Her current work focuses on how evidence is produced, interpreted, and used by schools, with particular attention to gaps between vendor claims and demonstrated impact. Drawing on both classroom experience and research practice, Sara is interested in how power and access to knowledge shape decision-making in education. She is committed to advancing more transparent, rigorous, and educator-centered approaches to evaluating innovation in schools.
Justin Cerenzia
Buckley Executive Director, Chair for Teaching & Learning, Episcopal Academy
Justin Cerenzia is the Buckley Executive Director of the Center for Teaching & Learning at The Episcopal Academy, a PK–12 independent school in Newtown Square, PA. A classroom history teacher with two decades of experience, Justin leads a "Lab & Lighthouse" model via EA’s CTL—investigating internally and sharing practice outward with schools across sectors. His work sits at the intersection of cognitive science, the scholarship of teaching and learning, and AI integration in education. Under his leadership, the CTL has grown from a handful of professional development sessions to a nationally recognized program, with faculty AI literacy as a signature area of focus. Justin serves on the Middle States Association's Responsible AI for Learning team and on Initial View's Dialogue Council, and consults with schools on evidence-informed instructional design and responsible AI implementation
Brent Conway
Assistant Superintendent
Pentucket Regional School District
Pentucket Regional School District (W. Newbury, MA)
Bio: Dr. Brent Conway is an educational leader with over 25 years of experience in the field. He has been a classroom teacher, a special education leader, a building administrator and is currently the Assistant Superintendent for the Pentucket Regional School District in West Newbury, MA. Dr. Conway is also the incoming Superintendent for the Berlin-Boylston School District for the 26-27 school year. As a Principal, Brent led Lincoln Elementary School in Melrose, MA to achieve a National Blue Ribbon School designation in 2015 for closing achievement gaps. As the Assistant Superintendent in Pentucket, he leads efforts in the district, and across the country to implement evidence-based literacy instruction by leveraging the systems approach to translate research to practice in schools. In addition to being a national leader and keynote speaker for literacy, he has built opportunities for advanced coursework for high school students in science, engineering and math pathways.
