Lang Chen
Lang Chen, Ph.D., is a research scholar at Stanford University. His research focuses on understanding the development of human brain networks that support memory and learning to establish representations of knowledge. Combining both computational modeling and neuroimaging approaches, he currently works on projects that investigate typical and atypical development of math, language and social concepts in children. His work has been published in peer-reviewed journals including Nature Human Behaviours, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, and Journal of Neuroscience.
Alan Daly
Alan J. Daly, Ph.D. is Chair and Professor of the Department of Education Studies at the University of California, San Diego. He is also the founding Executive Editor of the new Sage Journal Educational Neuroscience. Alan’s research and teaching are influenced by his 16 years of public school experience in a variety of instructional and leadership roles. His research primarily focuses on the role of leadership, educational policy, and organization structures and the relationship between those elements on the educational attainment of traditionally marginalized student populations. Alan draws on his theoretical and methodological expertise in social network theory and analysis in his work and has multiple publications and a book on the topic published by Harvard Press entitled, Social Network Theory and Educational Change. He has a second co-authored book with Springer entitled, Using Research Evidence in Schools, and another with the American Educational Research Association entitled, Thinking and Acting Systemically: Improving School Districts Under Pressure.
Carol Dweck
Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., is one of the world’s leading researchers in the field of motivation and is the Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford. Her research focuses on why people succeed and how to foster their success. More specifically, her work has highlighted the critical role of mindsets in business, sports, and education, and for self-regulation and persistence on difficult tasks in general. In addition, she has shown how praise for ability or talent can undermine motivation and learning.
She has also held professorships at Columbia and Harvard Universities, has lectured to business, sports, and education groups all over the world, has won numerous awards, and has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her work has been prominently featured in such publications as The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and she has appeared on “Today,” “Good Morning America,” “20/20,” and NPR’s “Morning Edition.” Her recent book “Mindset” (published by Random House) has been widely acclaimed and is being translated into 17 languages.
Brenda Hall
Brenda Hall serves as the Director of the North County Professional Development Federation in San Diego. This consortium includes California State University San Marcos, Palomar College, the San Diego County Office of Education, 25 north San Diego and South Rivrside county school districts and 1 charter organization. Previously, Brenda served as an AVID Coordinator for the County Office of Education supporting schools in the north San Diego county. Prior to that she worked as Curriculum Coordinator in the Vista Unified School District. She began her career as an English and AVID teacher in Carlsbad and has worked for the last 27 years as an educator. Brenda is a graduate of the University of San Diego and has earned a Master’s in Educational Leadership. She is the 2015 recipient of the Fran Aleshire Leadership Award for her leadership in the region.
Jacob Klein
Jacob Klein is the CEO and co-founder of Motion Math, creators of award-winning, innovative math games that help elementary students master the most challenging concepts. A game designer, educator, media producer, and frequent conference speaker on learning games, Jacob earned a B.S. in Symbolic Systems and a Master’s in Learning, Design, and Technology from Stanford and won a Loeb Award for a seven-part Lehrer NewsHour series he co-produced and edited. As an educator, Jacob tutored students in math and writing, and taught at a KIPP charter school.
Chris Walsh
Chris Fitzgerald Walsh is an experienced K-12 educator, media producer, and entrepreneur. Since his days as a middle school teacher, Chris has leveraged digital tools to bring large scale innovations to teaching and learning. Most recently, Chris was the CEO of Zaption, an innovator in interactive video for learning; the company was acquired by Workday in 2016. Chris has held leadership positions with numerous national education organizations including New Tech Network (NTN), Edutopia, WestEd, and the KIPP Foundation. He also co-founded the Google Teacher Academy, and he is the creator and executive producer of the Infinite Thinking Machine. Chris earned his M.A. in “Learning, Design, and Technology” from Stanford, and a B.A. and M.Ed. from UCLA.