Adam Maltese
Adam Maltese is a professor of science education at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN. Adam researches how individuals develop and maintain interest in STEM as well as identifying the gains students make from participating in maker programming. He directs the Make Innovate Learn Lab and the Uplands Maker Mobile at IU’s School of Education. Recently he helped to start the Indiana Maker Educator Network and developed a Making for Learning class for university students.
Casey Shea
Casey Shea is the Curriculum Coordinator for Maker Education at the Sonoma County Office of Education and teaches in the Sonoma StateUniversity Maker Certificate program and the North Coast School of Education Credential Program. Casey worked with Dale Dougherty of Makermedia to start the first Project Make class in 2011, with the goal of providing an opportunity for students to access emerging tools and technologies. Casey believes that maker education, using both high and low-tech tools and materials, offers a powerful invitation to engage students in all curricular areas. His goals are to help educators increase making opportunities for students and to document connections between making, core content areas and literacy development
Erin Riley
Erin Riley is the Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Jackson Director of the Engineering and Design Lab at Greenwich Academy, where she teaches classes and facilitates projects with faculty at the intersection of art, design and engineering. Additionally she teaches a studio course in Creative Technologies at Columbia Teacher’s College in the Department of Art and Art Education. During the summer, Erin works with middle school-aged students on integrated art and science projects at REACHPrep, an educational access organization for underserved students. Working in a hands-on studio/lab environment for 20 years, and teaching in a variety of schools, has allowed Erin to mentor educators from a wide range of experiences and perspectives. Erin has developed a language for working with teachers in both STEM and the humanities to craft personal and unique integrated projects that meet both classroom learning objectives and school-wide curricular threads for engineering and design. Erin is among the first cohort of Senior FabLearn Fellows at Stanford University where she writes on the topic of maker education and curriculum design, and creates tools and resources for educators. She holds an MFA from Maryland Institute College of Art.
IdaMae Craddock
A 15 year veteran of Albemarle County, IdaMae Craddock, M.Ed is the librarian at Burley Middle School. Ms. Craddock has conducted seminars at the White House, the Bay Area MakerFaire, and South Carolina Association of School Libraries. Winner of the Magna Award from the National Association of School Boards, her publishing credits include Library High-Tech, School LIbrary Journal, and Knowledge Quest. The focus of her research is Maker Education and the role of school libraries in the community. Her program has been profiled by School Library Journal, Library Media Connection, NPR, and Edutopia. She has a precocious daughter, an understanding husband, and a lazy dog named Peacha.
Anna Van Dordrecht
Anna Van Dordrecht is the Curriculum Coordinator for Science at the Sonoma County Office of Education. Her work focuses on NGSS, STEAM, and 21st Century Learning. Anna is involved in the implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards at both the state and local level. She also works on how to integrate disciplines in the context of STEAM and pair maker education and other 21st Century learning tools with content to make their use in the classroom sustainable. Prior to working at the county level, Anna taught high school earth science and biology for ten years.
Bárbara Yarza
Bárbara is an industrial designer and educator from Mexicali, México. She teaches at Universidad Autónoma de Baja California subjects related to creativity, design and innovation. She is also the creative director of El Garage Project Hub, where she develops strategies to implement STEM programs for K-12 education and designs learning experiences to create a positive social impact in collaboration with public, private and academic sectors.
Joel Bruns
Joel Bruns is the Innovation Specialist at Westfield High School. He runs a student makerspace called the Idea Farm, you can learn more about it at www.cagefreeideas.com. Joel also hosts the Indiana Maker Educator Meetup which you can find on Meetup. Joel is the host of the new podcast about makerspaces, the maker movement and all things making called Maker Riot which you can find wherever you get your podcasts.
T J Kim
TJ is an Associate Professor of Industrial Design at Purdue University, also a founder of Wonder Makerspace. Wonder Makerspace is a design tech lab for communities and schools, offering the technology-based maker tools to be Accessible, Adaptable, and Approachable for the creators of the future. Before joining Academia, he has developed more than 300 product solutions for market and holds more than 70 US patents.
Jeff Solin
Jeff Solin is a Computer Science / Making teacher and FIRST Robotics coach at Lane Tech College Prep High School in Chicago, IL. Jeff is a co-founder and leadership team member of the Chicago chapter of the Computer Science Teachers Association, the largest CSTA chapter in the country. He is also one of the original team members that brought the Exploring Computer Science curriculum to Chicago Public Schools. Jeff is also heavily involved in bringing the Maker Movement into schools. He turned an old cafeteria at Lane Tech into a fully-equipped 4000 sqft makerspace, the LT Maker Lab. Jeff designed and built the space, wrote the curriculum for the course and currently teaches over 160 students in the space each day. He received his BS in Computer Science from Ohio State University followed by his M.Ed. in Educational Leadership. Above all things CS, Jeff loves to spend time with his wife Sarah and their two kids Sunshine (15) and Milo (11).
Leslie Preddy
Leslie Preddy is a school librarian; Instructional Leadership Editor for School Library Connections magazine; author in book, journal, and social media; national and online speaker and consultant; recipient of AASL’s (American Association of School Librarians) Collaborative School Library Media, AASL’s School Library Program of the Year, and ALA’s (American Library Association) Sara Jaffarian awards; Perry Township Schools Teacher of the Year and 2010 Finalist for Indiana State Teacher of the Year; Past President of AASL and AISLE (Indiana).