Michael Meth has been serving as the Interim Dean for the College of Information, Data and Society (formerly College of Professional and Global Education) since October of 2023. In addition to this interim appointment, Michael is also the Dean of the SJSU Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. He brings a wealth of experience to SJSU from his previous roles as Associate Dean of Research and Learning Services at Florida State University (FSU) Libraries and Director of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education Library at the University of Toronto (UofT). Previously, he was the inaugural Director of the Li Koon Chun Finance Learning Centre at UofT Mississauga Library. Additionally, he held an adjunct faculty appointment at the Institute for Management of Innovation at UofT Mississauga.

Andreen Soley is director of the Public Interest Technology (PIT) program at New America. In 2018, Soley joined New America after twenty years of experience working within higher education and the nonprofit sector. From 2001 to 2005, she served as the director of educational programs at the City University of New York’s JFK, Jr. Institute for Worker Education Program (IWE), overseeing its workforce development and career advancement initiatives to make higher education accessible to low-income workers. This mutually beneficial model saw human service agencies such as United Cerebral Palsy of New York City and Young Adult Institute agree to provide employees completing IWE’s credited certificate programs with financial incentives such as a one-time bonus or salary increase, promotions, and/or release time. She has a master’s in media ecology from New York University and wants to help technologists transform the world for the better.

Albert Gehami is the Privacy Officer for the City of San José, overseeing responsible and effective deployment of AI, technology, and data initiatives. Under his leadership, San José has been recognized as a national leader in privacy and AI governance, highlighted as a national exemplar by the White House, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Department of Homeland Security, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and other forums. His office is responsible for managing the GovAI Coalition, a group of over 350 Local, State, and Federal agencies committed to effective and responsible AI and vendor accountability.

Dr. Magdalena L. Barrera is an author, educator, and university leader with 19 years of experience in higher education. She currently serves as Vice Provost for Faculty Success at San José State University, providing thought leadership on all aspects of faculty recruitment and professional advancement within a Hispanic Serving Institution context. Dr. Barrera’s current research focuses on the experiences of historically underserved students and faculty in higher education; she is the co-author of The Latinx Guide to Graduate School (Duke University Press, 2023), which offers graduate students a roadmap for surviving and thriving in advanced degree programs.

Dr. Amy Yeboah Quarkume, affectionately known as Dr. A, is a daughter of Africa, a scholar, filmmaker, data scientist, and Associate Professor of Africana Studies in the Department of Afro-American Studies at Howard University. She holds a Ph.D. in African American Studies, master’s degrees in Sociology and graduate certificates of Data Analytics. Dr. A is presently the Director of Graduate Studies for the master’s Program in Applied Data Science and Analytics, advancing Howard University's first major effort in becoming a hub for data science social justice research and training for the next generation of data scientists.

Dr. Jonathan D. Gomez is the Faculty in Residence for HSI Initiatives in the Office of the Provost, and Associate Professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies at San José State University. He is the founder and facilitator of the Culture Counts Reading Series, a community based transformative pedagogy project that encourages participants to utilize poetry as provocation and permission to write about and speak up for their rights to a livable destiny. His scholarship and teaching center race, space, and the connections between Chicanx cultural expression, transformative education, and urban social movements.

Étienne Brown is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at San José State University, in Silicon Valley. His work sits at the intersection of political philosophy and philosophy and technology, with a current focus on the philosophical implications of content moderation and algorithmic recommendation. He is the founder and co-organizer of Philmod.org, a community of academic researchers and technology professionals interested in the ethics of social media platform policy. His work has appeared in the Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy, Social Theory and Practice, Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, and Critical Review. He is the author of Moral Judgement: An Introduction Through Anglo-American, German, and French Philosophy (Rowman and Littlefield, 2022).

Author of the recent book, Black Software: The Internet & Racial Justice, From the Afronet to Black Lives Matter, Dr. Charlton McIlwain is Vice Provost for Faculty Development, Pathways & Public Interest Technology at New York University, where he is also Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication at NYU Steinhardt. He works at the intersections of computing technology, race, inequality, and racial justice activism. He has served as an expert witness in landmark U.S. Federal Court cases on reverse redlining/racial targeting in mortgage lending and recently testified before the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services about the impacts of automation and artificial intelligence on the financial services sector. He is the author of the recent PolicyLink report Algorithmic Discrimination: A Framework and Approach to Auditing & Measuring the Impact of Race-Targeted Digital Advertising. He writes regularly for outlets such as The Guardian, Slate's Future Tense, MIT Technology Review and other outlets about the intersection of race and technology. McIlwain is the founder of the Center for Critical Race & Digital Studies, and is Board President at Data & Society Research Institute. He leads NYU’s Alliance for Public Interest Technology, is NYU’s Designee to the Public Interest Technology University Network, and serves on the executive committee as co-chair of the ethics panel for the International Panel on the Information Environment.

As SJSU’s provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs, Vincent J. Del Casino Jr. serves as a key member of the university president’s leadership team with primary responsibility for ensuring academic excellence in undergraduate and graduate studies as well as a continual commitment to research, scholarship, and creative activities that benefit all students and society at large.

At the University of Arizona, Del Casino provided leadership and administrative oversight as the campus redeveloped central spaces for student support activities; re-organized its central administrative areas; increased online enrollment and program offerings; and enhanced student success and retention. With more than 18 years of academic and administrative experience in higher education, he also served as professor and chair of the Department of Geography at California State University, Long Beach.

Darra Hofman is an Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator (Master of Archives and Records Administration) in the School of Information at San José State University, San José California, USA. Dr. Hofman received her Ph.D. in library, archival, and information studies from The University of British Columbia, her M.L.I.S. from the University of Kentucky and her J.D. and B.A. (honors) from Arizona State University. Her research examines the intersection of archives, technology, and law, exploring how records support human rights and human thriving. She is the principal investigator of the Cross-campus Interdisciplinary Responsible Computing Learning Experiences (CIRCLE) project, a Mozilla Responsible Computing Competition awardee.

Marissa Gerchick (she/her) is a Data Scientist and Algorithmic Justice Specialist with the ACLU’s Technology team, where her work focuses on civil rights implications of automated systems. Marissa’s recent work has focused on ACLU’s litigation, advocacy, and public education related to algorithmic systems used in hiring, the criminal legal system, and the child welfare system. Marissa also regularly publishes and presents research on topics related to algorithmic accountability.

Tobi Jegede (she/her) is a data scientist at the ACLU where her focus has largely been on highlighting racial and ethnic disparities within the criminal justice system, in the provision of housing, and in the immigration system. Tobi’s interest in the use of data for social good was honed during her time at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy where she received an M.S. in Public Policy and Data Analytics and at Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs, where she received a B.A. in Public Policy.

Dr. Lauri Goldkind is a professor of social work at Fordham University and the Editor of the Journal of Technology in Human Services. Her current research includes two strands: artificial intelligence in social work practice and data labors and the nonprofit sector. Lauri is a co-lead of the Harnessing Technology for Social Good Grand Challenge. She holds an M.S.W. from SUNY Stony Brook and a PhD from the Wurzweiler School of Social Work at Yeshiva University. She can be reached at goldkind@fordham.edu.

Erhardt Graeff is an Associate Professor of Social and Computer Science at Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering. He works on the design and use of technology for civic engagement, civic learning, and social justice, and on the ethical responsibility of technologists as stewards of democracy. His current research is on articulating the responsibilities of engineers as citizens and developing new forms of civic education within undergraduate engineering. His pedagogy is organized around creating spaces for student-owned and -led public interest technology projects. Erhardt is a Visiting Fellow at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University (2024–25), a Senior Fellow and Visiting Faculty member at the Burnes Center for Social Change at Northeastern University (2024–25), and a faculty associate at the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University. He holds a PhD in Media Arts and Sciences from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Dr. Lisa A. Frazier is a Senior Researcher at the Battelle Center, serving as the point person for the Center’s initiatives for complex problems in technology and human health. Her approach to teaching, research, and management is grounded in the understanding that policy is a determinant of health, and thus that public policy can be a mechanism for achieving health equity and advancing social justice.

Jasmine McNealy is a Fellow with the Public Interest Technology program at New America. An attorney, critical public interest technologist, and social scientist who studies emerging media and technology with a view toward influencing law and policy, she is professor at the University of Florida, where she convenes ICED Labs, and a faculty associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.

Ellina Yin is a Cambodian American social practice artist, activist, and entrepreneur who works at the intersection of art, technology, and lawmaking to re-imagine civic participation in local government. Ellina is the Founder & CEO of Only in San José (OSJ) a civic education and media organization with a mission of building a culture of civic participation for democracy to thrive. In 2020, OSJ launched San José’s first civic education podcast, transforming the City of San José’s practice of civic engagement. In 2024, in partnership with the City of San José Office of Racial and Social Equity launched another first of its kind in the nation Free Multilingual Civics Masterclass.

Ellina has served as a Knight Emerging City Champion, Multicultural Arts Leader, New Leaders Council fellow, and City Commissioner. Most recently, Ellina is a Pulitzer Center AI Program Alumni, exploring AI use in government and civic engagement.

Deirdre K. Mulligan is a Professor in the School of Information at UC Berkeley, a faculty Director of the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology, a co-organizer of the Algorithmic Fairness & Opacity Working Group, an affiliated faculty on the Hewlett funded Berkeley Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity and a faculty advisor for it's AI Policy Hub, and a faculty advisor to the CITRIS Policy Lab. Mulligan’s research explores legal and technical means of protecting values such as privacy, freedom of expression, and fairness in socio-technical systems.

Leah Alexander, PhD, MPH is a Nashville native. She has an MPH degree in Health Behavior and a PhD in Health Education and Promotion, both from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Currently, Dr. Alexander is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Public Health in the School of Global Health at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, TN. She is an avid proponent of community-engaged research. As such, she combines her academic expertise and lived experience with community expertise and lived experiences to focus on HIV prevention among African American women and clergy, health promotion in faith-based organizations, Public Interest Technology for health, and maternal health. In 2024, Dr. Alexander became the founding Director of the Maternal Health Equity Research Center at Meharry. In addition, she teaches Research Design, Health Education and Promotion, Health Behavior, and Readings in Public Health to master’s students and medical residents at Meharry. Dr. Alexander received her undergraduate degree from Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. On most days, she is happily married to Dr. Olayinka Otukpe. Together and with the support of an amazing network of family and friends, they are raising two revolutionaries, (son Iyanu, 14 and daughter Imisi, 13) who will change the world.

Kelsey Badger is the Research Data Librarian and an assistant professor at The Ohio State University Libraries. In this role, she provides data-related education to Ohio State researchers, specializing in the management, curation, and public archiving of research data. Previously, Badger has supported data management through positions in academia as well as state and federal government, including the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and the U.S. Geological Survey. As a researcher, she studies the needs of data producers and users, advocates for open data policy, and collaborates with community partners to strengthen ecosystems for civic data.

Marina Feferbaum is the undergraduate and graduate programs at FGV São Paulo Law School, specializing in digital law, ethics, and algorithm governance. A Learning Designer (Kaospilot) and Vice Dean of the Teaching Methodology and the Center for Teaching and Research in Innovation, both at FGV São Paulo Law School. Additionally, she leads the Pedagogical Innovation Hub at FGV, where she is responsible for fostering innovation and governance across the university's various schools.

Emily York is an Associate Professor in the School of Integrated Sciences at James Madison University (JMU). She earned her Ph.D. in Communication and Science Studies from University of California, San Diego, and has degrees in English Literature and Computer Science from University of Chicago. Her research examines practices of multidisciplinary collaboration in relation to knowledge production, responsible innovation, and pedagogy in higher education. She is a PI of a multi-institutional National Science Foundation grant called Collaborative Research and Education Architecture for Transformative Engagement with STS (or CREATE/STS) that brings together faculty from STEM, humanities, and social sciences fields to co-develop critical Science, Technology, and Society pedagogies. Her teaching scholarship focuses on methods of integrating ethical reasoning, moral imagination, and critical inquiry into STEM curricula, and she is the co-director of the STS Futures Lab at JMU.

Dr. Ahmed Banafa is a renowned expert in IoT, Blockchain, Cybersecurity, and AI, recognized with awards like the Certificate of Honor from San Francisco and the Haskell Award from the University of Massachusetts Lowell. LinkedIn named him the No.1 tech voice in 2018. His research has been featured in Time, Nature, Forbes, IEEE, and MIT Technology Review, and he has been interviewed by major media outlets including NBC, ABC, CBS, and BBC. As an accomplished author, his books have received acclaim and are integrated into curricula at institutions like Stanford University. Prof. Banafa holds a Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering, a PhD in Artificial Intelligence, and has studied at Harvard University and MIT.

In January 2014, Brian became aware that an $11 million-dollar city-wide mass surveillance system was being planned for Oakland - without any privacy guardrails in place. In response to overwhelming community opposition to the proposal spearheaded by a coalition led by Brian, the Oakland City Council voted to dramatically scale back the project, and created an ad hoc committee of citizens to start drafting privacy policies for the city. Brian was appointed to and eventually chaired this committee.

Dr. Jonathan Reichental is a multiple-award-winning technology and business leader whose career has spanned both the private and public sectors. He’s been a senior software engineering manager, a director of technology innovation, and has served as chief information officer at both O’Reilly Media and the City of Palo Alto, California. Reichental is currently the founder of advisory, investment, and education firm, Human Future, and also creates online education for LinkedIn Learning. He has written three books on the future of cities: Smart Cities for Dummies, Exploring Smart Cities Activity Book for Kids, and Exploring Cities Bedtime Rhymes. His latest books include Data Governance for Dummies and a Cryptocurrency QuickStart Guide.

Russell Hancock is President & Chief Executive Officer of Joint Venture Silicon Valley, a position he has held since 2003. In these roles Dr. Hancock is best described variously: as a civic leader, community gatherer, institution builder, civic entrepreneur, social scientist, and outspoken advocate for regionalism. Since taking the helm he has grown the size of the organization ten-fold; assembled a potent board filled with mayors, CEOs and university presidents; built strategic partnerships; recruited a highly talented staff; founded the Institute for Regional Studies, and launched initiatives that are delivering measurable results to the region.