Driving the Evolution of a Flexible and Inclusive Learning Environment

Cristina Amon, Ph.D

University of Toronto

Cristina Amon is Alumni Distinguished Professor and Dean Emerita at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering. Under her leadership, Canada’s #1 ranked engineering school has become a global hub for inter-disciplinary research and education known for its strategic Faculty-wide initiatives, cross-Faculty centres and institutes, and innovative undergraduate and graduate programming.

Prior to joining U of T in 2006, she was the Raymond J. Lane Distinguished Professor and Director of the Institute for Complex Engineered at Carnegie Mellon University. She has pioneered the field of Computational Fluid Dynamics and the development of multidisciplinary multi-scale hierarchical modelling, concurrent design and optimization methodologies for thermo-fluid transport phenomena, with applications to thermal management of electronics and electric vehicles, renewable energy and biomedical devices.

Professor Amon was appointed to the Order of Canada and inducted into the Canadian Academy of Engineering, Hispanic Engineer Hall of Fame, Royal Society of Canada, Spanish Royal Academy and US National Academy of Engineering. She is a fellow of all major professional societies in her field and has contributed over 400 refereed articles to the education and research literature.

Among her many accolades, she received the ASEE Westinghouse Medal, ASEE Ralph Coats Roe Award, ASME Heat Transfer Memorial Award, ASME InterPACK Achievement Award, EIC Sir John Kennedy Medal, and CSME Robert W. Angus Medal. She was recognized as one of Canada’s Most Influential Women in 2012, received the Engineers Canada Award for the Support of Women, was named one of the YWCA’s Women of Distinction, and received the highest honor for Engineers in Canada (2020 Engineers Canada Gold Medal) and Ontario (2015 PEO Gold Medal) for outstanding engineering public service, technical excellence and professional leadership.

Cristina Amon is the founding chair of the Global Engineering Deans Council and has served on numerous editorial and technical conference roles, advisory and review boards in North America and abroad. She received her Mechanical Engineering degree from Simon Bolivar University in Venezuela, and her M.S. and Sc.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Maria Anguiano

Arizona State University

Maria Anguiano is the executive vice president of the Arizona State University Learning Enterprise – a premier lifelong learning global education brand. The ASU Learning Enterprise serves learners of all ages and backgrounds to inspire curiosity, wonder and hope, in alignment with ASU’s charter and goals of advancing excellence in education, broadening access, and having a meaningful societal impact in a rapidly evolving, technology-fueled world. 

As a first-generation college graduate, Anguiano has dedicated her career to improving access to education for all learners. Prior to joining ASU, Anguiano served as the chief financial officer for the ed-tech startup Minerva Project where she expanded access to the highest quality yet affordable education to students through an integrated, technology-enhanced curriculum focused on helping them succeed in a rapidly-changing, complex global environment. As the vice-chancellor of planning & budget and chief financial officer at the University of California-Riverside, she led an $800+ million portfolio overseeing campus-wide strategic planning, financial planning and analysis; institutional research; and capital asset strategies. 

Maria has held a senior advisory role at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and finance roles at Barclays Capital and Deloitte.

Anguiano is an appointed member of the Board of Regents for the University of California system. She is also a member of several other boards including the James Irvine Foundation, KIPP Foundation, and the Campaign for College Opportunity – organizations that advance access to opportunities to education and economic mobility for people from all backgrounds. 

Anguiano holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BA from Claremont McKenna College. She grew up in National City and currently resides in San Diego, California.

Leonisa Ardizzone, Ph.D.

Vassar College

Leonisa Ardizzone earned her BA from Ithaca College in Biology, her EdM in science education from Western Washington University, her doctorate in International Educational Development with a specialization in Peace Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and her Master of Divinity with a specialization in interreligious engagement from Union Theological Seminary.

David Attipoe, Ph.D.

Immersion Africa (iiAfrica)

David Attipoe, a Ghanaian permanent resident in South Africa, holds a PhD in Applied Mathematics from the University of Cape Town. He graduated from the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) in Senegal with an MSc in Mathematics (with distinction) with a focus on finance modelling. Before his masters, he studied bio-mathematics (Botany, Zoology and Mathematics) at the University of Ghana. He was the Program Lead of the AIMS ESMT Industry Immersion Program. Under his leadership, the program has scaled to 4 African Countries from South Africa. In 2021, in partnership with Academics Without Borders (AWB Canada) and Strathmore University, he successfully launched the IIP Program in Kenya which leveraged the Engageli platform for teaching. In January 2022, David has been appointed the Managing Director of the non-profit organisation Industry Immersion Africa (iiAfrica) that seeks to foster the employability of young STEM graduates in Africa. David is currently working with his team to scale the IIP program to 2 more African countries in 2022. David was recently selected as one of the 40 African German young business leaders (AGYLE). The African German Young Leaders Programme (AGYLE) brings together “40 under 40” young leaders from Germany and Africa in a long-term business network for the development and promotion of innovative ideas and business models between Africa and Europe. He is passionate about STEM education as a form of economic transformation for Africa.

Dan Avida

Engageli

Dan Avida is the Co-Founder and CEO of Engageli. Before founding the company, Dan worked in technology as an executive and/or board member for more than three decades. Throughout his career, he has scaled several companies from a small founding team to over $100M in revenues and valuations of over $1B. As co-founder of Decru, he led the company from its inception through its acquisition. He also served as Chairman and CEO of EFI, where he oversaw the development of its flagship product from the earliest days and achieved market capitalization of over $3B. Most recently, he acted as General Partner at Opus Capital, where he led early-stage investments in several companies, including SolarEdge, Inc. (NASDAQ: SEDG).

Dan has a B.Sc. in Computer Engineering, summa cum laude, from Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology.

Nick Barniville

ESMT Berlin

Nick founded the EdTech Lab at ESMT in 2018 while Associate Dean for Degree Programs at ESMT, the European School of Management and Technology in Berlin. He moved full-time into the EdTech role in 2021, having been responsible for the management and development of the school’s on-campus degree programs, internationalization and partnership activities since 2010. He was the 2021 Chair of FOME, the Future of Management Education Alliance, a group of 12 universities committed to excellence and collaboration in online and blended learning. Nick is also the co-founder and academic director of the Industry Immersion Program in Africa, delivered in partnership with the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences and Academics without Borders.

Before moving to ESMT Berlin in 2010, Nick spent five years at INSEAD in France and Singapore, lastly as Director of Communications, and four years at the UCD Smurfit School in Dublin, his hometown. Before moving into the world of business education, he worked in various commercial roles in the construction and travel in Germany, in infrastructure finance in Sydney, in governmental trade promotion in New York, and in payments software in London. He holds an MSc in Development Economics from SOAS, the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, and a BA from Dublin City University. He is also a qualified executive coach.

Aviv Censor, Ph.D.

Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

Dr. Aviv Censor teaches math, science, and engineering students at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. His math courses on the Technion Youtube channel have become popular video textbooks widely used by university and college students across Israel. 

Academic math courses like Calculus and Algebra provide a great opportunity to develop skills like creativity, critical thinking, and complex problem-solving. In recent years Dr. Censor has been experimenting in developing methods and activities, tailored for very large classes, which facilitate such learning outcomes. Examples include variations of flipped classrooms, peer-review sessions, and virtual escape rooms based on math clues and riddles. 

Ian Dunn

Coventry University

As Provost for Coventry University Group, Ian is Chief Academic Officer and takes responsibility for driving the highest standards of academic excellence and supporting the leadership of the Education & Student Experience, Research and Enterprise & Innovation pillars of the corporate strategy. 

Ian has worked at Coventry University since 1992, beginning as an academic in the Engineering Faculty, and has subsequently taken many roles in Engineering and Computing before being appointed Pro-Vice-Chancellor in 2010, Deputy Vice-Chancellor in 2013, and Provost in 2018.

Ian led the development of Coventry University College in 2011 and was involved in the subsequent developments to create campuses in Scarborough and Dagenham. He led the creation of Coventry University Online in 2017 to create a suite of fully online degrees available in partnership with FutureLearn.

Ian is highly engaged with the higher education sector both nationally and internationally. He is a member of the QAA Advisory Committee for Degree Awarding Powers in the UK and a member of the European University Association steering committee for learning and teaching. In 2016 Ian was voted “Inspiring Leader of the Year” at the Guardian Higher Education Awards. He is highly engaged in his local communities, working with schools, the justice system, and charities.

Sarah Grant, Ph.D

Imperial Business School

Dr. Sarah Grant is the Associate Director and Head of Operations for Imperial Business Schools’ Edtech Lab. She is responsible for overseeing and managing the effective, efficient and smooth running of the entire portfolio of online and blended programmes, providing strategic oversight and direction for all new projects and building expertise to ensure the School is at the forefront of innovation in technology-enhanced education.

Sarah is recognised for her contributions to furthering online education and has delivered keynote speeches and presentations on the future of online education. She is a key member of The Future of Management Education Alliance, a highly respected consortium of top Business School’s working collaboratively to create new models of online management education. Sarah also teaches a global blended programme for the EFMD, aimed at teaching faculty how to teach online.

Sarah earned a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Otago (New Zealand), before taking on a role as a research scholar in the Department of Philosophy at Boston University

Don Huesman, Ph.D.

Wharton School

Don Huesman is the Managing Director of Wharton Online at the Wharton School. Previously, Dr. Huesman held positions at Wharton as Managing Director of the Innovation Group, supervising technology support for the School’s academic departments and faculty and overseeing the use of technology in Executive Education. Dr. Huesman has been a lecturer in Wharton’s graduate and undergraduate programs, teaching courses in IT and Decision Sciences. 

Dr. Huesman has taught the strategic use of information systems in a variety of executive education programs, including Wharton’s Advanced Management Program, the International Forum and the American Institute.

Whitney Kilgore, Ph.D.

iDesign

Dr. Kilgore is a noted leader in the field of instructional design. She is responsible for the creation and refinement of high-quality online degree programs around the world that emphasize increased learner engagement and humanized teaching practices.

Carlos Delgado Kloos, Ph.D.

Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

Carlos Delgado Kloos received the Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from the Technische Universität München and in Telecommunications Engineering from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. He is Full Professor of Telematics Engineering at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, where he is the Director of the GAST research group, Director of the UNESCO Chair on “Scalable Digital Education for All”, and Vice President for Strategy and Digital Education. He is also the Coordinator of the eMadrid research network on Educational Technology in the Region of Madrid. He is Senior Member of IEEE. He has been the Manager of ICT research projects at the Spanish Ministry and has carried out research stays at several universities such as Harvard, MIT, Munich, and Passau.

His main research interests are in Educational Technology. He has been involved in a large number of projects with European, bilateral, national, and regional funding. He has published around 500 articles in national and international conferences and journals and has further written a book and co-edited over a dozen. He has coordinated several MOOCs (on edX and MiríadaX).

Daphne Koller, Ph.D.

Engageli

Daphne Koller is a Co-Founder and Board Member of Engageli. She also serves as an Adjunct Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University, where she was a member of the faculty team for 18 years. She is a MacArthur Fellowship recipient and a member of both the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2012, Daphne was selected as one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People. She co-founded Coursera, one of the world’s largest online education platforms, and Insitro, a machine learning-enabled drug discovery company. She is also the author of over 200 publications. Koller has a BSc and MSc from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a Ph.D. from Stanford University.

Talia Kolodny

Engageli

Talia Kolodny is the Director of Partnerships, EMEA at Engageli. She brings over 10 years of experience working with leading edtech organizations to promote equity and access to education on a global scale. Before joining Engageli, she was Head of Partner Learning and Development at Coursera, where she established and managed an engaged community of practice for top universities worldwide, while also advising product teams on learning science and best practices for pedagogy-enhanced product development. Talia also led a global educator community for Khan Academy and led national programming initiatives for the Ministry of Education and Digital Israel. Based in Israel, Talia has a life-long passion for education and social impact.

She has a MA in Political Science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. 

Tawnya Means, Ph.D.

Gies College of Business, University of Illinois

Andreina Parisi-Amon, Ph.D.

Engageli

Andreina Parisi-Amon is the VP of Learning & Teaching at Engageli. She brings over 15 years of experience across academia and industry-driving innovation in education. Before joining Engageli, she spent three years in K-12 applied learning development, and five years creating and leading Coursera’s Teaching & Learning team. She has extensive experience in research, curriculum development, teaching, and building partnerships with university and industry leaders. Andreina has a Ph.D. from Stanford University and a BSc from Duke University.

Alexandra M. Pickett

State University New York

Alexandra M. Pickett leads the SUNY Online Teaching unit, and is the former director of Open SUNY Online Teaching, the director of Open SUNY Center for Online Teaching Excellence, and the associate director of the SUNY Learning Network (SLN), the asynchronous learning network for the State University of New York under the offices of the Provost and Advanced Learning and Information Services.

Caroline Prévost

EDHEC Business School

Caroline is currently the director of international online programmes at EDHEC Business School. She was previously director of the Executive Education Programmes at EDHEC-Risk Institute, which has become the premier academic centre for industry-relevant financial research on retirement investing and sustainable investing.
She is used to managing innovative projects in the areas of media, communication and both higher and executive education.

Tyler Zimmerman

Engageli

Tyler is a former university educator and joined Engageli in 2020.  As a member of the Global Success Team, Tyler's primary goal is to support faculty and student users. He lives in Portland, Oregon.