Instructors
Adam Juarez is a 6-12 Technology Integration Coach and History Teacher for Cutler-Orosi Joint Unified School District. In addition to teaching history, he leads teachers in implementing tech into their lessons through one-on-one coaching, demo lessons and professional development. In addition, he is a Google Certified Trainer and Innovator, 2017 CUE Leroy Finkel Fellowship Finalist and co-founder of the Twitter chat #CVTechTalk. He frequently presents at ISTE, CUE and Krause Center for Innovation (KCI) events.
Alisha currently serves as the STEM ToSA for Sunnyvale School District, in addition to facilitating the EMpowered Math (4th-5th grade) program for KCI. In her spare time, you’ll find her coaching youth sports (high school basketball, Girls on the Run), or out on the trails exploring the beautiful Bay Area. While she’d heard about the amazing Krause Center for Innovation for years, it took being a participant in the inaugural EMpowered Math cohort to catch the KCI fever and realize it was exactly the professional learning community she’d been hoping to find. Follow her on Twitter as she shares her sketchnote adventures and explorations with math, science, and technology integration!
Amanda Sandoval is an 11th grade US History teacher and Technology Coach. Amanda works with teachers at her school to integrate technology with the focus of pedagogy first. In addition to supporting teachers at her site, Amanda presents frequently at conferences, is a CUE Rockstar Lead Learner, and a connected educator. She believes in creating a learning environment that puts the student at the center of the curriculum by engaging them, using technology, real-world connections, and FUN to build historical skills. Amanda was honored as a Riverside County Teacher of the Year along with a California State Semi-Finalist for Teacher of the Year. She is a Level-2 Google Certified Educator.
Twitter: @historysandoval
Award-winning Google for Education Certified Innovator and Trainer, Spanish Teacher and Department Chair with international teaching experience. Instructor on the use of technology to transform learning at the secondary level with particular interests in standards based grading and student-centered classrooms. M.Ed.
Cristina Bustamante is currently an AVID and math teacher in the Alum Rock Union School District. She is a Co-President of the Silicon Valley CUE Board, and she is an active member of the CUE organization. Cristina has worked with KCI programs for several years, both as a participant and as a director. Most recently, Cristina has been the Math Programs Director at KCI overseeing the development and implementation of the FAME and EMPowered programs. Cristina will be co-directing the STEAM Leadership program with Ed Campos this year (2021).
Ed Campos currently works as an Independent Education Consultant and Math/Computer Science/Ed Tech Consultant with Kings County Office of Education in the Central Valley of California. He taught high school Math and Computer Science for over 15 years in the San Joaquin Valley where he was instrumental in creating a model 21st century math learning space that allowed his students to express themselves, present, and teach their peers in a multitude of ways. He has a passion for travel, technology, and for empowering underrepresented students and colleagues with the skills and knowledge that make the classroom more fun and effective.
Greg Brown is a Stanford-trained design thinker with a passion for hands-on learning and a penchant for problem-solving. A common thread in his work is a humanistic approach to education, combined with persistent optimism about the capacity each of us has to understand, learn, and grow.
While Greg was a Silicon Valley R&D manager, he directed projects in robotics and global technology training. At The Tech Museum, Greg created The Tech Challenge, a STEM event that has inspired over 100,000 students, and has remained a flagship program at the museum for more than 30 years. At RAFT, Greg developed engaging hands-on learning experiences for use in any setting, and delivered practical training programs for educators of all types. Now, Greg is engaged with a successful consulting practice. He was a main writer on the team that successfully produced Green Ninja, a new NGSS curriculum approved by the California Department of Education. Greg is proud to be an instructor for the Krause Center for Innovation at Foothill College, where he develops and leads teacher training programs on science, engineering and design thinking.
- BS and Master’s Degree from Stanford University.
- Registered Professional Engineer in the State of California
- Wrote Chapter 9 in “Design Make Play: Growing the Next Generation of STEM Innovators” by the New York Science Center
- Contributor to “The Klutz Book of Inventions” by John Cassidy, KLUTZ
- Developed STEM kits in collaboration with Scholastic Books and University Games.
- Presenter at numerous educational conferences over many years, including:
- Association of Science and Technology Centers
- National Science Teachers Association
- California Science Teachers Association
Kas is the current Teacher in Residence at the KCI. She is in charge of curriculum development, course management, and instruction. She is also the Director of the KCI’s Makerspace and Makerspace programs. Kas has long been a KCI affiliate, being a 2012 MERIT Fellow, the miniMERIT Program Director for several years, and a guest instructor in many programs. Most recently, she has been an adjunct faculty member for Foothill and a Lead Maker in the KCI’s Makerspace before stepping into her current role.
Kas comes to the KCI from a background of sixteen years teaching high school, the last twelve in the East Side Union High School District in San Jose. As a teacher of Film, Media, and English, she has run the Yearbook along with a daily broadcast television show for several years. Kas has also served as the WASC Coordinator, the Professional Development Coordinator, and a Department Chair at her school site. Most recently, she was one of the co-founders and the Director of the Quicksilver Innovation Program (QuIP), a small learning community for freshmen and sophomores that focuses on cross-curricular and project-based learning. Kas has a B.A. in Literature from UC Santa Cruz, an M.A. in Educational Best Practices and an M.A. in Educational Leadership from San Jose State University, as well as an administrative credential, and a single subject teaching credential in English with a supplementary authorization in Graphic Arts.
I have been an educator for over 30 years. I have experience teaching elementary, middle and high school, here in California and also in bilingual schools in Honduras and Mexico City. Currently I teach social studies and P.E. at Renaissance Academy middle school in east San Jose, where I am also the varsity volleyball coach. I graduated from the MERIT program in 2013 and have been a trainer for the Krause Center for Innovation (KCI) since 2016. I live in Santa Cruz, and love cycling, yoga, and walks on the beach.
Kim Randall, a global educational technology consultant, works with professional learning organizations including the Krause Center for Innovation, providing relevant and engaging training centered around effective use and pedagogy of educational technologies in the classroom. She is an adjunct faculty member for Foothill College & the KCI, a miniMERIT instructor, and has been a part of the MERIT instructional team in 2016.
Kim is also a Google Certified Innovator, Trainer, an Apple Distinguished Educator, and holds an M.A. in Educational Technology Leadership from George Washington University, Washington, DC. She is also a member of the Google Earth Education Experts and is actively involved with the Google Geo Teacher’s Institute. She loves to present geo-literacy related sessions at conferences and workshops. She is the co-author of Bring the World to Your Classroom: Using Google Geo Tools. Kim has been an elementary and middle school teacher as well as a technology integration specialist and holds a California Multiple Subject teaching credential. She is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, but often found in her spare time traveling to new places near and far, scuba diving, and dabbling with topside and underwater photography.
Follow Kim on Twitter @scubagirl812.
Website: www.kimrandalledu.com
Kyle is currently the Director of Technology and Innovation in the Redwood City School District in Redwood City, CA. He is a veteran educator who holds the title of California’s 2018 Technology Leader of the Year, and he is a Google Apps for Education Certified Innovator/Trainer.
Linda Ullah is a retired K-12 teacher who has also worked as teacher in residence and an online Instructor at the Krause Center for Innovation, Foothill She has been a coach for Friday Institute in NC, New Tech Network, and Personalize Learning, LLC.
Martin Ricardo Cisneros (@TheTechProfe) is a Modern Learning Advisor, speaker, GeekDad, TechJedi, SuperMariachi and a Director of Technology, from Silicon Valley! At his current position, he provides strategic leadership in anticipating and developing appropriate and innovative systems to future needs and challenges regarding the District’s information technology program and blended learning in the workplace and classroom.
Melissa Hero is a biology teacher, technology coordinator, and online/distance learning coach at Carlmont High School, in Belmont, CA. She graduated from UC Davis with a Bachelors of Science Degree in Avian Sciences, and volunteers at Golden Gate Raptor Observatory and Sequoia Audubon Society. She incorporates her passion for birds into her biology class whenever she can. Melsisa has a Masters Degree in Cross-cultural Education, Leading Edge Certifications (Digital Educator, Online & Blended Teaching, Professional Learning Leader), and is a Google for Education Certified Innovator and Trainer and loves to integrate technology into the classroom to enrich lessons. Melissa is the VP of SVCUE, a CUE Lead Learner, and on the Fall CUE Planning Committee and was the Carlmont High School Teacher of the Year in 2020.
Twitter: @mdhero
Paul is a middle school computer science educator originally from Upstate New York. He moved to sunny Southern California in 2014 with his wife and has not looked back since. He has taught 5th and 6th grade prior to becoming a computer science educator. Within this time Paul has been able to refine his teaching beliefs to students are the controller of their own learning and the teacher is the facilitator. His teaching practices reflect this style and can be seen from the way his students become independent thinkers and learners.
Esports and video games have been a lifelong passion for Paul. He has actively participated in esports for the previous four years. Within this time he has set up multiple opportunities for his students to partake in esports and video games throughout their educational career. Paul has independently set up an afterschool gaming club where students could come and play different video games including Playstation, Switch, PC and Virtual Reality. He has also established one of the only a few in the country, a Middle School League of Legends esports team. Currently Paul is teaching a middle school elective class called, “Video Game Design and Theory” which covers topics, but not limited to, storyboarding, gender demographics and target audience, game strategy and ethics, but also streaming production and shoutcasting.
Twitter Handle: @TeachtheTech