Get in touch with us at hello@aixed.org
AIxED[Connect]2026
Get in touch with us at hello@aixed.org
AIxEd2026
SPEAKERS
Become a part of the conversation that is
shaping the state of AI in Education
Usama Fayyad
AI Transformation Leader,
Northeastern University
Usama Fayyad is the Chairman and Founder of Open Insights, a consultancy based in Silicon Valley and Seattle that he launched in 2008. He is the SVP of AI & Data Strategy, Senior Advisor to the President, and Inaugural Director of the Institute for Experiential AI at Northeastern University. Previously, he served as Chief Data Officer and Group Managing Director at Barclays in London, Chief Data Officer and EVP at Yahoo!, and co-founded multiple companies in data mining, AI, and digital innovation. Over his career, Fayyad has been recognized as a pioneer in big data, AI-driven business transformation, and large-scale analytics, with impact spanning technology, healthcare, finance, and telecommunications.
Can Erbil
Professor of the Practice of Economics, Boston College
Dr. Can Erbil is a distinguished applied economist, professor, and consultant with 30+ years of expertise in economic modeling, international trade, and development economics. As a Professor of the Practice at Boston College, he integrates AI and EdTech into courses on the global economy, economic policy, and inequality.
As Principal Investigator for multiple grants, including Exploring AI in Teaching and Learning Economics and Virtual Reality in Economics Education, Dr. Erbil pioneers AR, VR, and XR applications in digital learning and AI-driven economic modeling. He is also a Research Fellow at the Economic Research Forum and Director of the EcoMod Modeling School, training policymakers worldwide.
Gabriela Torres
Co-founder, Sundai Club
Gabriela works at the intersection of Human-AI interaction, behavioral design, and education. They co-founded Sundai Club and Aethos in the MIT ecosystem to foster AI prototyping, start-up acceleration, and AI safety research, and are expanding these communities in Latin America through Sundai Latam. Her research spans digital privacy and financial infrastructure, including co-authoring Enhancing the Privacy of a Digital Pound with the Bank of England at the MIT Media Lab and contributing to projects on digital economies in the Global South.
Before focusing on AI, Gabriela worked in corporate finance and digital transformation and founded a non-profit EdTech initiative for teenagers in Peru.
LEADERSHIP SUMMIT
Kjersten Moody
Chief Executive Officer for North America
Elai
Kjersten Moody is a dynamic board member and results-oriented C-suite leader with over 25 years of experience driving business transformation and growth through AI, data, and technological innovation. She has consistently delivered a 10x or greater ROI for data and AI solutions across three Fortune 100 companies, spanning the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa. An expert in corporate governance and change management, Kjersten has managed annual budgets exceeding $100M and has upskilled global teams of over 1,000 professionals in modern data, AI, and public cloud technologies. Beyond her corporate leadership, she serves as a strategic technology and AI advisor for state and national governments in both the US and UK.
Kellie Fitzgerald
Senior Director of Admissions Operations
NYU
Kellie is a seasoned Higher Education Administration professional at New York University with over 15 years of experience in Undergraduate Admissions Operations. Recently promoted to Senior Director after a decade-long tenure as Director of Operations, she oversees the implementation and management of critical enterprise systems, including Technolutions Slate, Ivy.ai, PeopleSoft Campus Solutions, and Perceptive Content. As the chief data liaison for the Common Application and the Data Steward for all undergraduate admissions asset definitions in Collibra, Kellie ensures data integrity and technical excellence across the department. She leads a diverse team of 25 full-time and union employees, alongside 15 student staff, while providing essential endpoint system administration and technical support. Kellie holds a BA in Organizational Management from NYU SPS and an MA in Higher Education Student Administration from NYU Steinhardt.
Cansu Canca
Head of Responsible AI
Northeastern University
Cansu Canca is a philosopher and the Founder+Director of AI Ethics Lab, one of the first initiatives focusing exclusively on advising practitioners and conducting multidisciplinary research on AI ethics. She is also the Director of Responsible AI Practice at the Institute for Experiential AI and a Research Associate Professor in Philosophy at Northeastern University. With her team of computer scientists and philosophers, she provides hands-on, research based consulting in integrating ethics into AI innovation and implementing responsible AI strategy for organizations.
A two-time TEDx speaker, Cansu has given over 100 talks on AI ethics, including keynotes at Harvard Business School, the U.S. Department of Justice, her TEDxCambridge talk How to Solve AI’s Ethical Puzzles, and several others. She was listed among the “30 Influential Women Advancing AI in Boston” and the “100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics”, nominated for the VentureBeat’s “Women in AI” award, and recognized with Mozilla's Rise25 "Change Agent" award.
Dan Be Kim
Research Assistant, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Dan Be Kim is a researcher at the Harvard Human Flourishing Program and a graduate student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, with interests in AI, youth engagement, and wellbeing.
Leadership Summit
Leadership Summit
[UPskilling LAB]
Meg Riordan
Chief Learning Officer, The Possible Zone
Meg Riordan, Ph.D., is the Chief Learning Officer at The Possible Zone. She designs and scales career-connected learning, competency-based pathways, and human-centered innovation. Her work bridges research and practice to expand economic mobility and enhance durable skills, supporting young people in shaping their futures. Meg authored "Going to Scale with New School Designs: Reinventing High School," as well as numerous journal articles and blog posts.
Rania Ben Amor
Senior Lecturer | AI Pedagogy and Safety
Mike Mendelson
Chief Technology Officer
sideby.ai
Kristi Girdharry
Director and Tutor, Babson College
Kristi Girdharry is the Director of the Writing Center and an Associate Teaching Professor in the Arts and Humanities division of Babson College, where she teaches courses on writing, tutoring, and social media. Her work brings together teaching, research, and community engagement, with a particular focus on how writing and literacy practices shape inclusion, access, and belonging. In addition to her research, Kristi co-edits the Best of the Journals in Rhetoric and Composition Series, helping bring key trends and conversations in Writing Studies to a broader teaching community. Her most recent work explores the role of artificial intelligence in the writing classroom, examining how emerging technologies are reshaping writing pedagogy and student learning.
[Expert Sessions]
Rachel Slama
Associate Director, Future of Learning Lab
Cornell Bowers
As the Associate Director of the Future of Learning Lab at Cornell University, Rachel Slama leads strategic partnerships, research initiatives, and global collaborations at the vital intersection of education, technology, and workforce development. She supports an interdisciplinary team of faculty, postdocs, and students in building, deploying, and evaluating the cutting-edge technologies that are actively redefining how the world learns and works.
Beyond her leadership at Cornell, Rachel serves as a co-investigator on the National Tutoring Observatory. This groundbreaking initiative focuses on constructing the world’s largest open-access dataset on tutoring to drive the development of responsible, AI-powered learning tools at scale.Throughout her work she remains dedicated to bridging the gap between academic research and real-world application, ensuring that the future of AI in education is both innovative and equitable.
Pelin Bicen
Professor of Marketing
Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs and Quantitative Graduate Programs
Suffolk University
Pelin Bicen is a professor of marketing at Suffolk University specializing in global marketing strategy, analytics, innovation management, and supply chain management. Her research has been published in leading journals and presented internationally. Recently, Pelin has focused on the role of artificial intelligence in shaping work, skills, and education, integrating AI-driven approaches into business curricula to prepare students for the global marketplace.
Wendy Colby
Higher Education Executive,
Boston University
Senior higher education executive with global experience leading mission-driven institutions and organizations through growth, transformation, and innovation. Proven success aligning strategy, academic quality, and financial performance while building strong leadership teams and stakeholder trust. Deep expertise in online and hybrid education, organizational change, and enterprise sustainability.
Wendy Colby is a transformational higher education and global education executive with 25+ years of experience leading strategy, academic innovation, and program development to expand access and create transformative learning opportunities for students worldwide. She has worked across public and private universities, edtech ventures, global campuses, workforce learning, and K–12 organizations, consistently delivering mission-driven impact, sustainable growth, and enterprise-wide innovation.
A visionary leader and collaborator, Wendy combines strategic insight, general management expertise, and entrepreneurial agility to drive academic excellence, operational effectiveness, and meaningful outcomes for learners.
Erik Noyes
Entrepreneurship Professor, Director of The Generator Interdisciplinary AI Lab
Babson College
Dr. Erik Noyes is Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Director of The Generator Interdisciplinary AI Lab at Babson College, where he is the Michael London ’92 and Stephen H. Kramer ’92 Term Chair in Entrepreneurship.
Rated one of the Top 50 Business Professors in the U.S. by Poets & Quants, and awarded Babson's College-wide Award for Teaching Excellence, Noyes advises, researches, and teaches about innovation and entrepreneurship in the AI-age.
At Babson, he created the courses 'AI Pioneers: Creating the Future of Business', and 'Entrepreneurial Opportunities in AI'. His ideas about innovation, AI, and entrepreneurship have been featured in the Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Entrepreneur Media, and The Financial Times.
Rayna Freedman
Educator & Instructional Technology Specialist
Jordan/Jackson Elementary School
Dr. Rayna Freedman is a 5th grade teacher at the Jordan/Jackson Elementary School in Mansfield, MA. She has taught grades 3-5. Rayna has a B.S. in Education from the University of Vermont and a M.Ed in Educational Technology from Lesley University. She received her doctorate through Northeastern in teaching, learning, leading, and curriculum. Rayna is currently exploring how AI can support both educator and student life, creating meaningful experiences for students. She has been using AI in her classroom this year in the content areas, to support student research, and providing feedback to students as some examples. Rayna has presented for ISTE, Ed Tech Teacher, MassCUE, Vietnam Technology Conference, CUE Nevada, NYSCATE, Tech and Learning, Medfield Digital Learning Day, FETC, BPLC, and BLC. She is a consultant for Ed Tech Teacher and serves on the DESE AI task force. She believes in student agency and the power of building relationships and community.
Luke Hobson
Assistant Director of Instructional Design
MIT
Luke Hobson, EdD is a leader in pedagogical innovation, currently serving as the Assistant Director of Instructional Design at MIT xPRO and a Lecturer at the University of Miami’s School of Education and Human Development. With a career dedicated to bridging the gap between academic theory and practical application, he has become a definitive voice for modern educators and learning designers. He is the author of the essential industry guide, What I Wish I Knew Before Becoming an Instructional Designer, and the host of the Dr. Luke Hobson Podcast and YouTube channel. Recognized as a top learning influencer and e-learning expert, Luke’s research has been featured in Inside Higher Ed and cited by OpenAI’s ChatGPT for Education initiative. His work in digital transformation and learning science is further recognized by the Division of Continuing Education at Harvard University, cementing his reputation as a forward-thinking strategist in the evolving landscape of higher education and professional development.
Asher Scott
Applied AI & Responsible Deployment in Public Schools, K–12 Systems Leader
New York City–based educator and improvement lead working at the intersection of AI and K–12 school systems. With 15+ years of teaching experience across the U.S., Australia, and Finland, I bring deep grounding in adult learning theory, coaching, and continuous improvement. My focus is reducing administrative burden while protecting educator judgment, student trust, and privacy. I design and build AI tools alongside district leaders and school teams, currently supporting a network of 100+ NYC public schools with an emphasis on deployments that hold up in real operating conditions.
Rachel Schechter
Founder, LXD Research
Dr. Rachel Schechter founded Learning Experience Design (LXD) Research at Charles River Media Group, acting as Principal Investigator and Chief Research Advisor to companies large and small. Rachel helps guide the use of data and evaluation to support product improvements, build evidence of efficacy, and strengthen customer implementations.
Rachel has led research teams evaluating multimedia educational programming for learners of all ages since 2007, led the research team at Lexia for eight years, and most recently was the Vice President of Learning Sciences at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Her research often examines motivation, feedback, and learning in blended learning environments, and she has published several research articles evaluating formal and informal educational programming. Rachel holds a doctorate in Child Development from Tufts University and a Master’s of Arts in Education from Harvard University.
Kippy Smith
Senior VP of Learning
sideby.ai
Peter Shea
Assistant Dean of AI Integration
Middlesex Community College
Peter Shea is a learning professional with extensive experience as a designer, instructor, editor, writer, and professional development manager. He is an advocate for highly immersive learning experiences and for using learning analytics to inform learning design. He has spent several years as director of professional development at the community college level and created the first open educational inclusive pedagogy resource collection for the community colleges of Massachusetts. In addition, he served as a teaching assistant for a course on Adult Learning at Harvard Extension School.
