Judges

Tooba Ali is a Product Manager for the Corporate Development team at IBM with a passion for user-centric design, racial equity and software development management. She has experience leading diverse, cross - functional, agile teams on high profile engagements, from conceptual design to shipping worldwide. In her free time, she loves to create content on Pinterest, volunteer to teach kids, and backpack in Southeast Asia.

Maddy is a Visual Designer at IBM CIO. As a designer, she works on visual design, user experience, and motion projects that aim to make work better for IBMers. Before IBM, she worked at a digital marketing agency and has experience in branding, web design, and social media marketing. She loves that projects that let her experiment and is currently exploring how designers can work better on cross-functional teams.

Jonah Brucker-Cohen, Ph.D. is an artist, writer, and Associate Professor at Lehman College / CUNY. His work has been exhibited at venues such as SFMOMA, Canadian Museum of Contemporary Art, MOMA, ICA London, Whitney Museum of American Art, Palais du Tokyo, Tate Modern, Ars Electronica, Transmediale, and more. His writing has appeared in publications such as WIRED and Make and his Scrapyard Challenge workshops have been held in over 15 countries on 5 continents.

Michael is a Senior Product Manager at Range Financial, which aims to bring wealth management tools to the masses using technology and AI. He has worked in product in many industries including trucking, insurance, and project management. Before doing product, he was a trader on wall street and data scientist. He lives in Williamsburg.

Valerie Casasanto is the Outreach Lead for NASA’s ICESat-2 (Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2) mission at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. She designs and implements a myriad of programs to help educate and engage young people, especially girls and underrepresented students in ICESat-2’s science. She integrates the arts into her programs to inspire and engage audiences in NASA Earth Science.

Winnie Cheung is a Senior Director of Digital Consumer Insights at Nickelodeon (ViacomCBS) working to deliver impactful insights on kids and families. Working on Nick Jr. and Noggin, Winnie focuses on research with the preschool audience, which involves spending a lot of time with kids three to five years old to understand what keeps them engaged, learning and at times, burst out in giggles. Winnie’s research and insights has contributed to the development Nick Jr. and Noggin games, interactive experiences, short form videos and emerging technology.

Joe Chung is a creative technologist and educator who is interested in technologies that help people learn and connect with each other better. A graduate of MFA Design and Technology at Parsons School of Design and MA Instructional Technology and Media at Teachers College, Columbia University, Joe has experimented with VR/AR, sensors and visualizations to help learners bridge the gap between information and knowledge. Joe is also a trained educator, specializing in secondary school mathematics and computer education.

Walter has worked inside and outside the NYC DoE to impact student's learning experience and equity in the classroom. Currently he works with Pear Deck and supports educators throughout the Northeast as they engage their students in their lessons and use their students understanding and voice to inform instruction. His cites his passion for his work and lessons learned as a student in NYC's Public Schools as the source of his success.

Vinny has over 20 years of experience as developer, technical team lead, and technical consultant. He has an enduring passion for technology from nerding out over cool command line tricks to debating the impact of the blockchain. He has worked on naval radar systems, fantasy baseball games, and just about everything in between. He lives in Kew Gardens, Queens with his family and spends his free time cooking or gaming.

Saul lectures at the Lifelong Learning programs of Tufts, Rutgers, and RIT since retiring in 2020. Previously he held senior technology, business, and strategy roles at Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies, uReach Technologies and Spirent Communications. After a career in computer and communications systems he created the Demystify Technology series to bridge the gap between media hype and reality, covering topics such as AI, driverless cars, private space exploration and CRISPR gene editing.

Amelia graduated from Queens College in May 2018 with a Bachelors of Arts Degree in Economics with a minor in Accounting. On her days off she likes to explore New York City and search for amazing food spots.

Mai Fujiwara is the Owner and Executive Producer of Wildcat NYC, a creative consultancy and production company that produces campaigns, commercials and branded content in the worlds of art, technology, music, fashion, and film. She is also a board member of EIM Haiti, an adult education institution in Port-au-Prince, where she leads the Cultural Exchange Program.

Seth Giammanco is a Principal at Minds On Design Lab, a strategic design studio with digital expertise. We’re passionate about elevating small and mighty teams in the social sector. We connect people to your work through beautifully designed branding, web, and print. For more than 20 years, he has led the creation of digital solutions combining product management, web/mobile interface design, and hands-on technology skills. Seth publishes regularly on the Mightier blog (http://mod-lab.com/blog).

With 9+ years of experience in content marketing and editing, I help SaaS brands create messaging that sticks. I have a proven track record of managing agency relationships and freelancers and producing content from start to finish. I'm passionate about building community and helping the next generation of leaders in tech through engaging and relevant content.

Deren Guler is a technologist, designer, and educator who’s work focuses on designing accessible technology solutions and tools. She is the founder of the brand Teknikio, a line of creative electronic parts and kits for future inventors. She is also Adjunct Faculty in the Design and Technology department at Parsons School for Design and leads workshops around designing for the future around the world.
 

Jessica Hochman, PhD, has 20 years of experience working as a teacher, professor, researcher, and consultant. She is one half of We Need 2 Talk, an educational partnership that facilitates critical conversations about race. Jessica also works for the Equity and Disproportionality Lab at Temple University. She has taught workshops and courses, and facilitated professional development programming in addition to publishing articles and book chapters on technology, literacy, and identity.

Olivia Ing is an entrepreneur, a designer and a creative strategist whose work spans at the intersection of technology and creativity. She is currently the founder of Playspaces, a platform aimed to cultivate the next generation of creators through hands-on collaborative learning experiences.

Danny Jimenez, a Library Technical Assistant III at The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, is also an ARL Kaleidoscope Scholar of the 2024 cohort. He was a panelist at the New York Public Library Panel From Barrios, to Boroughs, to Branches: Tracing Latino* Heritage, Culture and Identity in NYC. He was also a panelist at DreamCon 2024 for the Cartoon Crazy Panel. He passionately advocates for global literacy.

Sarah Judd is the Curriculum Manager for Open Learning at AI4ALL. Sarah has been a Computer Science teacher in classrooms ranging from 2nd-10th grade, a curriculum developer at Google CS First and Girls Who Code, and volunteered in after-school programs including Bootstrap and FIRST robotics. They have also worked as a web engineer, and holds a BS in Computer Science from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.