Keith Devlin (workshop host) is co-founder and Executive Director of Stanford University’s H-STAR institute, a co-founder of the Stanford Media X Research network, as well as a Senior Researcher at CSLI. He is a World Economic Forum Fellow, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society.

His current research is focused on the use of different media to teach and communicate mathematics to diverse audiences. In this connection, he is a co-founder and President of an educational technology company, BrainQuake, that creates mathematics learning video games. He also works on the design of information/reasoning systems for intelligence analysis.

Other research interests include: theory of information, models of reasoning, applications of mathematical techniques in the study of communication, and mathematical cognition. He has written 32 books and over 80 published research articles. Recipient of the Pythagoras Prize, the Peano Prize, the Carl Sagan Award, and the Joint Policy Board for Mathematics Communications Award. In 2003, he was recognized by the California State Assembly for his “innovative work and longtime service in the field of mathematics and its relation to logic and linguistics.” He is an advisor on issues of mathematics learning and assessment using video games for GlassLab and ETS. He is “the Math Guy” on National Public Radio.

Devlin has been a keynote speaker and project advisor to Future Learning Lab in Europe for several years, and is now collaborating on several conference plans as well as a general skills development in uses and constructions of MOOCs. He will return to our conference in Europe on that issue, spring 2016, and also for our Fall meet-up in Silicon Valley, slated for November, 2016.

Michael Shanks (workshop host) as since 2011 been CoDirector of The Revs Program at Stanford – connecting the past, present, and future of the automobile – a project in the archaeology of the contemporary past. He was Visiting Professor of Archaeology at Durham University (UK) in 2010, and Visiting Professor of Humanities, Humanities Institute of Ireland, University College Dublin, 2010 – 2013.  In the period 2004 – 2009 Mike was CoDirector of Stanford Humanities Lab – with colleagues Jeffrey Schnapp and Henry Lowood.

Other positions include:
1998 – 2005 Professor by Courtesy, Department of Cultural and Social Anthropology, Stanford University. The appointment was terminated by the department in 2005. The reason given was “bureaucratic hygiene” (really!), though I didn’t cost them anything. I suspect it was more to do with my interdisciplinary interest in cyborg culture.

1998 – present Professor of Classics, Stanford University. Where he became founding faculty for Stanford Archaeology Center New interdisciplinary moves into (digital) media with my Metamedia Lab.

1996 – 1998 Reader in Archaeology, Head of Department, University of Wales Lampeter.
1993 – 1996 Lecturer in Archaeology, University of Wales Lampeter. A lot of teaching and building new programs and initiatives, in a glorious rural setting.
1992 – 1993 Teaching Fellow, University of Wales Lampeter. A university the size of a high school and a main street in the town where I got to know every storekeeper. Great vision and hope. Where we got to love labrador retrievers (Abbey came with us to Stanford).
1991 – 1992 Research Fellow, Centre d’Archéologie Classique, Paris 1 (Sorbonne), Maison des Sciences de l’Homme. 

Eilif Trondsen is Director at Strategic Business Insights (SBI)—a spin-out from SRI International (formerly Stanford Research Institute)—in Menlo Park, California (located at the heart of Silicon Valley). He received his PhD in economics from University of California, Santa Barbara and was hired as an economist at SRI International in 1979. His focus area has been issues of innovation, entrepreneurship, learning and technology. In his many years at SRI and SBI he has lead or contributed to a variety of projects for U.S. and foreign clients in the private and public sectors.

Eilif has held the position of Research Director of the Business Intelligence Program, the director of the Learning on Demand program, and has also led SBI’s research initiative around 3D immersive technologies. In his tenure at SRI and SBI, he has given numerous presentations and authored many publications on various eCommerce, eLearning, innovation and virtual-worlds topics. Eilif is the Chair of Silicon Vikings Special Interest Group (SIG) on Entrepreneurship and Learning, and for a number of years was the Co-Chair of SVForum’s SIG on Digital Media. Much of his current work focuses on building innovation bridges between the Nordic region and Silicon Valley, working with entrepreneurial ecosystems and guiding entrepreneurs, companies and policy makers.

Donna Kidwell is President of Webstudent International, a software company located in Norway and the US. A key member of the Future Learning Lab team, Donna has visited our conferences in Norway and Europe, sharing our interest in North-South issues and through that building working relations with universities in the Global South.

Professor Kidwell received her doctorate at the Ecole de Management in Grenoble, France, and her Master’s in Science and Technology Commercialization at The University of Texas at Austin. She led the development of The Innovation Readiness Series™, an online course developed to help global innovators.

Her research interests include innovation and commercialization. She has worked globally to encourage economic development through science and innovations. She is the driver behind several successful MOOCs at UT, Austin.

Prior to her work with UT Austin, Donna was a software consultant, and developed custom database applications and eLearning environments for companies such as Exxon, Agilent, and Keller Williams Realty International.

Paco Nathan is Director, Learning Group @ O’Reilly Media. Known as a “player/coach” data scientist, he has led innovative Data teams building large-scale apps for several years. As a recognized expert in distributed systems, machine learning, and Enterprise data workflows, Paco is also an advisor for Amplify Partners. He has 30+ years technology industry experience ranging from Bell Labs to early-stage start-ups. Newsletter and “official” web site: http://liber118.com/pxn/

Paco will be our lunch speaker on January 15th. and we´re lucky to have him. Paco was with us at the University of Agder – Standford University – EdCast conference Future Learning 2020 in 2015. He will be joining us also in Kristiansand, in June 2018. 

Oddgeir Tveiten, PhD (workshop host) is professor of media studies at the University of Agder (Southern Norway), World Learning Summit chair, and co-founder of Future Learning Lab (together with Frank Reichert, now UiA president). His research centers on various aspects of communication, technology and social change. His teaching centers on various aspects of globalization, cultural studies and political communication. Tveiten has for about 10 years also been adjunct professor of journalism studies at the NLA University College (Bergen and Kristiansand, Norway). He has taught journalism and media studies at Uganda Christian University in Mukono, Uganda, as well as at the University of Ethiopia, in Addis Ababa. A Fulbright scholar and recipient of several academic distinctions, Tveiten works and lives in Southern Norway, with frequent visits to Silicon Valley where he runs workshops in collaboration with colleagues at Stanford University aimed at Nordic peers, PhD-students and entrepreneurs in the EdTech sector. Tveiten has been a visiting researcher at Stanford University (2008-2009, 2014-2015) and at the University of Iceland (1998-1999). 

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