Keynote Speakers

Opening Keynote Speakers

Kamau BobbDr. Kamau Bobb

Senior Director | Constellations Center for Equity in Computing at Georgia Tech

Kamau Bobb is a national authority in STEM education. He is the founding Senior Director of the Constellations Center for Equity in Computing at Georgia Tech. He brings to his current position a wealth of experience as a former Program Officer at the National Science Foundation (NSF). At NSF he was responsible for $30 million annually of investments targeted on improving computing and STEM education. In that role, Dr. Bobb worked at the highest levels of the federal government to help shape the national research agenda for effective means of delivering equitable and quality computational education to all students.

He has worked with members of the Office and Science and Technology Policy in the Obama Administration to set the national strategy for STEM education at both post-secondary and secondary school levels. He was selected as a member of President Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper STEM + Entrepreneurship Taskforce to help U.S. cities craft strategies to engage young men and boys of color in the STEM landscape.

 

Caitlin DooleyDr. Caitlin McMunn Dooley

Deputy Superintendent, Teaching and Learning | Georgia Department of Education

Dr. Caitlin McMunn Dooley is Deputy Superintendent for Teaching and Learning for the Georgia Department of Education. She has worked as an elementary classroom teacher, teacher educator, educational researcher, and professor at Georgia State University. Since earning degrees from the University of Virginia and the University of Texas, Dr. Dooley has authored over 50 publications and led and evaluated funded research projects totaling over $250 million to investigate children’s literacy learning and instruction, digital literacies, teacher learning, and education policy. 

Dooley was a writer for the national Computer Science Education Frameworks and has been the principal investigator for several projects funded by the National Science Foundation for computer science education and learning technologies. She has served on several Boards, including the National Council of Teachers of English, Literacy Research Association, Georgia’s Brain Trust for Babies, the Get Georgia Reading Campaign Cabinet, and Decatur Makers.

 

Closing Keynote Speaker

Baruti KafeleBaruti Kafele

Educational Consultant | New Jersey

Principal Baruti Kafele is a highly-regarded urban educator from New Jersey. As a middle and high school principal, Principal Kafele led the turnaround of four different New Jersey urban schools, including “The Mighty” Newark Tech, which went from a low-performing school in need of improvement to national recognition, which included U.S. News and World Report Magazine recognizing it three times as one of America’s best high schools.

Principal Kafele is one of the most sought-after school leadership experts and education speakers in America, delivering over two thousand conference and program keynotes, professional development workshops, parenting seminars and student assemblies over his 34 years of public speaking. In addition, Principal Kafele is a prolific writer, having written extensively on professional development strategies for creating a positive school climate and culture, transforming the attitudes of at-risk students, motivating Black males to excel in the classroom, and school leadership practices for inspiring schoolwide excellence.