Dr. Carstarphen currently serves as an Adjunct Faculty member in the University of Texas Department of Educational Administration. She is a member of the Austin Area Research Organization and serves on the boards of the Council of Great City Schools, Educational Testing Service, Austin Partners in Education, Austin Public Education Foundation, the Austin Symphony and Ballet Austin, and is on the Children’s Hospital/AISD Health Service Advisory Board. She is a student mentor through the Seedling Foundation.

Born and raised as a first generation American to a single mother on welfare in Hell’s Kitchen, New York, Jaime understands and appreciates the power of education in changing the destiny of a family in just one generation. His mission is to make sure that education continues to be the silver bullet it was for him.

Having joined PBS Interactive in 1999, DeWitt has worked with the PBS KIDS producer family on a variety of award-winning television program sites, such as Curious George, Super Why, Arthur, and WordGirl. DeWitt has also overseen production of nationally-recognized web-original projects on PBSKIDSGO.org, such as Chuck Vanderchuck's “Something Something” Explosion, Oh Noah!, and Fizzy's Lunch Lab. A frequent speaker on multimedia approaches to learning for kids, DeWitt has presented at renowned conferences including SXSW, Games for Change, and the Sandbox Summit.

Before coming to PBS KIDS, DeWitt worked as a preschool teacher and a management researcher. She studied media habits of children in rural United States for the Stanford University Spencer Project for Youth and Families, and co-authored with Dr. Shirley Brice Heath a study for the Poynter Institute on youth and newspapers. She holds both a BA and an MA in English from Stanford University, and a certificate from Stanford’s Children, Society, and Public Policy program.

Before netomat, Alan spent six years at Activision, a global leader in entertainment software. He was a member of the executive management team that rebuilt Activision from bankruptcy into a profitable industry leader with more than a billion dollars in revenue. At Activision, Alan served as Senior Vice President of Activision Studios where he supervised all product development at the company’s Los Angeles studios. Titles released under Alan’s leadership include Civilization: Call to Power, Asteroids, Muppet Treasure Island, Spycraft, Pitfall, Zork and Tony Hawk Skateboarding.

Before Activision, Alan spent nearly ten years in the film industry where he worked in development, production and post-production with credits on numerous feature films and documentaries. As a writer, Alan was a film critic for the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong and co-author of Game Plan, a book about the computer and video game business published by St. Martin’s Press. His articles and photographs have been published in numerous magazines and newspapers including the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Filmmaker Magazine, Cinema India-International and Bowler’s Journal.

As a speaker, Alan has presented at a wide variety of conferences throughout the world including PC Forum, South By South West, Sundance Film Festival, Games for Change, CTIA, Teach For America, Game Developers Conference, National Writers Workshop,, MIT Fab Lab Conference, Milia/Cannes, LAX Conference, Game, Learning & Society, ISTE, SoCap, NASBE, NCTE, Game On Texas, e-virtuoses France, ICE/Toronto, Serious Games Korea and the World Economic Forum at Davos. Alan has also led game design workshops throughout the world for students, teachers, parents and policy makers, most recently at the invitation of the White House for the winners of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching.

Alan serves on the Board of Directors of FilmAid International, a nonprofit that uses film and video to empower refugees throughout the world and on the Advisory Boards of PBS Kids Next Generation Media, Creative Capital, Startl, Global Kids, We Are Family Foundation and the Joan Ganz Cooney Center For Educational Media and Research (Sesame Workshop). He is also on the Advisory Board and former Chairman of Games for Change, a nonprofit committed to rising the sector of social impact computer and video games.

He is leading a Learning Revolution movement to transform the American school system. A senior at Syosset High School, Nikhil lives with his family in Woodbury, New York.

Mrs. Khosla currently serves as a member on several advisory boards, including the Board of Directors for High Tech High School’s Graduate School of Education, the Advisory Board for the Wikimedia Foundation, the Advisory Board for DonorsChoose, the Advisory Board for Stanford University’s School of Education, the Advisory Board for IDEO.org, the Advisory Board for SxSW Edu, and is one of the founding members of the K-12 Initiative of the Design School (Hasso Plattner Institute of Design) at Stanford University.

Mrs. Khosla holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Delhi University/San Jose State University, a Master’s of Science degree in Molecular Biology from San Jose State University, and a Master’s of Education degree from Stanford University.

As a parent of one of her recent students, who is also a teacher, says about Mrs. Mieliwocki: “Her students, my son included, are captivated by the fervor with which she teaches every day. So many children think school is boring and it is difficult to convince them otherwise, but Mrs. Mieliwocki lights a fire under these students with her infectious enthusiasm.”

Ms. Mieliwocki holds a Bachelor’s degree in Speech Communication from California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo and a Single Subject Credential in English from California State University-Northridge.

She was chosen the National Teacher of the Year from among the fifty-four 2012 state and territorial teachers of the year. Selected by the oldest and most prestigious awards program to focus public attention on excellence in teaching, Ms. Mieliwocki began a year as a full-time educational spokesperson in June 2012. The National Teacher of the Year Program, a project of the Council of Chief State School Officers, is sponsored by the ING Foundation and Target, in partnership with the University of Phoenix and People to People Ambassador Programs.

Alan was named one of the nation’s fifteen most influential thinkers of the decade by Technology and Learning Magazine. In 2001, he was listed one of eight educators to provide leadership into the future by the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse. In 2007 he was selected to speak at the Cisco Public Services Summit during the Nobel Prize Festivities in Stockholm, Sweden. His writing includes numerous articles and two best-selling books, Empowering Students with Technology and Web Literacy for Educators. Alan was co-founder of the Stanford Institute for Educational Leadership Through Technology and is most proud of being selected as one of the original five national Christa McAuliffe Educators.

The Foundation’s most significant accomplishment to date is the opening of The Carver Academy just east of downtown San Antonio on September 17, 2001. Considered the single largest gift ever made by a professional athlete, the Robinsons donated more than $9 million to create the project benefiting many low-income, at-risk students. The school offers elementary-age children a challenging academic program featuring small classes, leadership opportunities and a nurturing family-like environment based on Judeo-Christian scripture. Named for African-American botanist, social advocate and educator George Washington Carver, Robinson’s hope for the school is that Carver graduates return and reinvest in the community. The Academy represents the Robinson family’s interest in education as well as their legacy to San Antonio’s children. For more information, visit www.thecarveracademy.org.

Robinson began his incredible athletic career after just one year of high school basketball at Osbourn Park in Manassas, Virginia, before attending the Naval Academy. He was an All-American in both his junior and senior seasons and was everyone’s choice for College Player of the Year. He was the first player in NCAA Division I history to finish his college career shooting over .600 percent from the field for more than 2,500 points and 1,300 rebounds.

Robinson was selected as the number one NBA draft pick in 1987 by the San Antonio Spurs, but did not play until completing his two-year military commitment to the Navy. In 1989-90, his first season with the Spurs, Robinson earned unanimous Rookie of the Year honors. The two-time NBA World Champion (1999 and 2003) Robinson retired in 2003 from the Spurs after 14 memorable years at the age of 37. However, he led an outstanding career with tremendous accomplishments on and off the court. Please see attached listing.

She was the first woman to be named Superintendent of the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) in 2002, Dr. Robles oversaw $16 billion in school district funding and a staff of nearly 4,000.

Closing the achievement gap is Dr. Robles’ highest priority. She is acclaimed as a state leader in implementing the Williams legislation—a landmark law enacted in 2004 to promote educational equity—through monitoring of 600 low-performing schools annually to ensure all students have access to textbooks, safe and clean facilities, and qualified teachers.

Dr. Robles also has attained unprecedented success in organizing superintendents and forging partnerships with local, state, and national officials to promote policies and programs that advance educational opportunities for underserved student groups. In addition, she has dedicated a record level of human and financial resources to improve services provided to the thousands of at-risk and special-needs students enrolled in LACOE-run schools.

As chief of the Salt Lake City School District from 1995-2002, Dr. Robles was recognized for raising student achievement, significantly reducing the dropout rate, and securing vital resources for needy schools. Such efforts include obtaining a $12 million Annenberg Challenge Grant to support district-wide reform, and spearheading a $136 million capital bond measure that gained the support of nearly 75 percent of voters.

Earlier, as Superintendent of the Montebello Unified School District, she saved that district from a state take-over by returning it to financial stability within two years. The California native formally began her 30-year education career in Montebello as a teacher, then coordinator, of bilingual and bicultural education, and also served as an elementary and intermediate school principal.

Dr. Robles received her Bachelor of Arts degree in history from California State University, Los Angeles; her Master’s Degree in education from Claremont Graduate School; and her Doctorate in education policy and administration from the University of Southern California.

In October 2009,and again in 2011, she was named one of the Top 100 Influential Hispanic Americans by Hispanic Business Magazine, and in March 2010 was a “Women of the Year” recipient by the L.A. County Commission for Women. Dr. Robles is committed to public service and serves on many local and national boards. She was recently named to the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. Dr. Robles and her co-authors, Dr.Ott and Franco wrote and published “A Culturally Proficient Society Begins in School: Leadership for Equity” in 2011 by Corwin Press.

She is married and has one son and one granddaughter. The Robles’ live in Whittier.

After four years in Atlanta of advising CEOs and other executives on issues related to strategy, business development, and organizational design and effectiveness, he left McKinsey & Company as a senior manager. Upon leaving McKinsey, he joined Knowledge Universe, Inc., where he launched, acquired, and operated education-related businesses.

Shelton holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Atlanta’s Morehouse College as well as master’s degrees in business administration and education from Stanford University.

Shelton currently resides in his hometown, Washington, D.C., with his wife and two sons (Sonia, Justice and Jameson).

Yowell received the Distinguished Fellows Award from the William T. Grant Foundation, an award to support scholars seeking to bridge research and practice, under which she worked with the National Writing Project to develop approaches that integrate web 2.0 technologies into the social practices of teachers.

Yowell earned her bachelor’s degree from Yale, and her PhD from Stanford University.