2020 Keynote Speakers
Sarah Flora
Sarah is the Program Director of Radiology’s 3D Lab at Geisinger, a 14+ hospital system spanning across Pennsylvania and New Jersey. In her role, Sarah leads an elite group of MRI and CT technologists in the processing of on-screen medical reconstructions. Additionally, she segments, designs, and 3D prints patient-specific medical models to aid in pre-surgical planning, patient and learner education, surgical simulation, and surgical aid tools. Sarah has a Bachelor’s Degree in Medical Imaging and is currently enrolled in Pennsylvania State University’s Master of Engineering program in Additive Manufacturing and Design. She is also an active member of the American Society of Radiologic Technologists (ASRT), the American Society of Mechanical Engineering’s (ASME) 3D printing medical workgroup, and the Radiologic Society of North America’s (RSNA) 3D Printing Special Interest Group (SIG).
Brian McLean
Brian is the Director of Rapid Prototype at LAIKA. He was awarded a Scientific and Engineering Oscar® plaque in 2016 for pioneering the use of 3D printers in stop-motion animated characters. In 2017, he received an Academy Award® nomination for Best Visual Effects for his contributions to Kubo and the Two Strings. In 2009, Brian won an Annie Award for Special Achievement in Animation for his work on Coraline and, following the release of ParaNorman, was named by "Variety" as one of 2012's "Animation Elite.” Prior to LAIKA, Brian worked as a traditionally trained sculptor and model maker for print and TV ads.
Jordan Miller
Jordan, Assistant Professor of Bioengineering and Founder, Advanced Manufacturing Research Institute (AMRI), Houston at Rice University, received his bachelor’s degree in Biology from MIT in 2003, and PhD in Bioengineering from Rice University in 2008. His primary research interests combine synthetic chemistry, 3D printing, microfabrication, and molecular imaging to direct cultured human cells to form more complex organizations of living vessels and tissues for research in regenerative medicine. Jordan’s research on “Multivascular networks and functional intravascular topologies within biocompatible hydrogels” was recently published as the May 3, 2019 cover story in Science magazine.
Gary Stager
Gary is a recognized pioneer in 1:1 computing, online learning, and computer science for all students. He has taught learners from preschool through the doctoral level and spent 35 years helping teachers around the world embrace technology as way of amplifying the potential of each student.
Gary is a journalist, teacher educator, consultant, professor, software developer, publisher, school administrator, and co-author of Invent To Learn – Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom. An elementary teacher by training, he has taught students from preschool through doctoral studies. In 1990, Dr. Stager led professional development in the world’s first laptop schools and played a major role in the early days of online education. Gary is the founder of the Constructing Modern Knowledge summer institute for educators.
When Jean Piaget wanted to better understand how children learn mathematics, he hired Seymour Papert. When Dr. Papert wanted to create a high-tech alternative learning environment for incarcerated at-risk teens, he hired Gary Stager. This work was the basis for Gary’s doctoral dissertation and documented Papert’s most-recent institutional research project.
Melodie Yashar
Melodie is a design architect, researcher and co-founder of Space Exploration Architecture (SEArch+), a group building upon a 10-year portfolio of academic space research and practice developing human-supporting concepts for space exploration. In 2015 SEArch+ was awarded the top prize in NASA’s Centennial Challenge for a 3D-Printed Habitat for the proposal "Mars Ice House."
2018 Keynote Speakers
Larry Rosenstock
Larry is CEO and founding principal of High Tech High, a network of thirteen K-12 public charter schools in California focused on project-based learning, and is President of the High Tech High Graduate School of Education. He holds a JD from Boston University Law School, an M.Ed from Cambridge College, a BA from Brandeis University, and a Doctor of Letters, Honoris Causa from Cambridge College. Larry and his work have been featured on Oprah, Lehrer, Newsweek, and Forbes. He is an Ashoka Fellow, and a winner of the Ford Foundation Innovations in State and Local Government Award, and the McGraw Prize in Education.
George Hart
George is an interdisciplinary sculptor, mathematician, computer scientist, and educator. A former research professor at Stony Brook University, George is a pioneer in using computer technology and 3D printing in the design and fabrication of sculpture. Examples of his artwork can be seen M.I.T., U.C. Berkeley, Duke University, Princeton University, and Stony Brook University. He has developed original education materials to incorporate 3D printing into the high school math curriculum, and has helped many teachers bring this work into their own classrooms. George is a co-founder of North America's only Museum of Mathematics. As chief of content, he set the "Math is Cool!" tone of the museum, and spent five years designing their original exhibits and workshop activities.
Jessica Rosenkrantz and Jesse Louis-Rosenberg
Jessica is co-founder/creative director of Nervous System An artist, designer, and programmer, Jessica graduated from MIT with degrees in biology and architecture, and studied architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She is a Lecturer at MIT teaching design.
Jesse is co-founder/chief science officer of Nervous System. He is an artist, computer programmer, and maker who is interested in how simulation techniques can be used in design and in the creation of new kinds of fabrication machines. He studied math at MIT and previously worked at Gehry Technologies in building modeling and design automation.
Nervous System is a generative design studio in Massachusetts that works at the intersection of science, art, and technology. Writing computer programs based on processes and patterns found in nature, the studio creates unique and affordable art, jewelry, and housewares. Nervous System has pioneered the application of new technologies in design, including generative systems, 3D printing, and webGL, and regularly releases online design applications that enable customers to co-create products in an effort to make design more accessible. Their designs have been featured in WIRED, the New York Times, Forbes, and elsewhere, and their work is a part of the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art, the Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
2017 Keynote Speakers
Dale Dougherty, CEO of Maker Media, who kicked off the event with the introductory Informal Education keynote sharing about his role in founding the Maker Movement and the opportunities he sees at hand for the future of education, including strategies educators can use to deeply engage and transform the experience of students.
Skylar Tibbits, founder and co-director of MIT’s Self-Assembly Lab, who delivered the conference Higher Ed Keynote speech, wowing audience with the progress of his research lab into programming structure, behavior, and information into materials themselves, promising a future in which medical devices, furniture, buildings, and manufacturing facilities might be produced as emergent structures coded into smart materials.
Sallye Coyle of ShopBot and Duke’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute delivered the closing keynote—focusing on K-12 education, delving into the 21st century reinvention of “shop class”, and the importance of encouraging students and teachers alike to work with tools that deepen engagement and enhance creativity. Coyle’s extensive experience in STEAM education and her role in outfitting and constructing in-school and community makerspaces world-over provided attendees with a valuable look at the ingenuity that comes from experimentation and discovery made possible by access to and training with digital fabrication tools.