Keynote Speakers
Professor Pierre Dillenbourg (EPFL Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Switzerland)
A former teacher in elementary school, Pierre Dillenbourg graduated in educational science (University of Mons, Belgium). He started his research on learning technologies in 1984. In 1986, he has been on of the first in the world to apply machine learning to develop a self-improving teaching system. He obtained a PhD in computer science from the University of Lancaster (UK), in the domain of artificial intelligence applications for education. He has been assistant professor at the University of Geneva. He joined EPFL in 2002. He has been the director of Center for Research and Support on Learning and its Technologies, then academic director of Center for Digital Education, which implements the MOOC strategy of EPFL (over w million registrations). He is full professor in learning technologies in the School of Computer & Communication Sciences, where he is the head of the CHILI Lab: "Computer-Human Interaction for Learning & Instruction ». He is the director of the leading house DUAL-T, which develops technologies for dual vocational education systems (carpenters, florists,...). With EPFL colleagues, he launched in 2017 the Swiss EdTech Collider, an incubator with 80 start-ups in learning technologies. He (co-)-founded 5 start-ups, does consulting missions in the corporate world and joined the board of several companies or institutions. In 2018, he co-founded LEARN, the EPFL Center of Learning Sciences that brings together the local initiatives in educational innovation. He is a fellow of the International Society for Learning Sciences. He currently is the Associate Vice-President for Education at EPFL.
Professor Catherine D'Ignazio (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA)
Catherine D'Ignazio is an Assistant Professor of Urban Science and Planning at MIT. She is also Director of the Data + Feminism Lab which uses data and computational methods to work towards gender and racial equity, particularly as they relate to space and place. D'Ignazio is a scholar, artist/designer and hacker mama who focuses on feminist technology, data literacy and civic engagement. With Rahul Bhargava, she built the platform Databasic.io, a suite of tools and activities to introduce newcomers to data science. Her 2020 book from MIT Press, Data Feminism, co-authored with Lauren F. Klein, charts a course for more ethical and empowering data science practices. Her research at the intersection of technology, design & social justice has been published in Science & Engineering Ethics, the Journal of Community Informatics, and the proceedings of Human Factors in Computing Systems (ACM SIGCHI) and Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (ACM CSCW). Her art and design projects have won awards and been exhibited at the Venice Biennial and the ICA Boston.
Professor Lorri J. Santamaría (California Lutheran University, USA)
Lorri J. Santamaría is the Center for Teaching and Learning’s Inaugural Director of Faculty Development and Inclusive Excellence at California Lutheran University. She graduated from The University of Arizona with a BA in Bilingual Elementary School Education (1994), then received a MA (1997), and PhD in Bilingual (Spanish/English) Special Education Rehabilitation and School Psychology (2000) from The University of Arizona with an emphasis in Multicultural Multilingual Education. Lorri attained certification in Educational Administration (2002) in the state of California. Over the last 20+ years, Dr. Santamaría has held a wide variety of diversity, equity, and inclusion related positions in public education ranging from bilingual classroom teacher to bilingual special day class teacher to DEI district administrator in Arizona and California, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership promoting social, justice, & equity; and Professor of Multicultural Multilingual Education. In 2012, Lorri was appointed to the Faculty of Education at the University of Auckland in New Zealand where she was Associate Professor Educational Leadership promoting Diversity and Head of School for Learning, Development, and Professional Practice. In 2017 she became the Director and Principal Investigator for the Mixteco/ Indígena Community Organizing Project (MICOP) in Oxnard, CA where she worked alongside, with, for, and on behalf of migrant Indigenous community members studying Indigenous healing modalities to address stress, anxiety, and depression. Her 60+ peer-reviewed publications, international research rewards, and record of empirical research proceed her current appointment at Cal Lutheran where she shares years of experience in leadership, teaching, research, and service in higher education to inform faculty development initiatives in service to a new generation of culturally, linguistically, gender, and ability diverse faculty and students in a Liberal Arts university in Southern California.