Amir Baradaran is a New York based Iranian-Canadian ARtificial artist. As the Creative Research Associate at Columbia University’s Computer Science department, Baradaran’s praxis focuses on the {AR}ticulation of visual vocabularies that use Augmented Reality (AR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies around notions of interactivity, storytelling, po{AI}try, data-mining, failed utopias, infiltration, identity, body, and the ephemeral. Baradaran is a TEDx speaker, a member of Columbia University Digital Storytelling Lab, and the recipient of the Knight Foundation Art Award, Canada Council for the Arts New-Chapter/150th Anniversary Prize, International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality prize, UC Berkeley Artist Residency (from Center for Critical Theory, New Media, Race and Gender Studies) and Morgan Stanley Pulse Art Fair grant. Reviews include Oxford University Press, Art in America, New York Observer, ARTNET, National Public Radio, BBC, Forbes, Euro-News, and L’Actualité. ARTINFO described his public-art, Transient (installed in 6,300 NYC taxicabs, 1.5M viewers), as “one of the most interesting urban interventions.” He is currently working on a large-scale interactive storytelling public ARt installation in Florida & Canada.  

Makeba Clay is the inaugural Chief Diversity Officer (CDO) at The Phillips Collection, America’s first modern art museum located in Washington, DC.  Makeba provides leadership, vision, and strategy for implementing an institution wide inclusion plan aimed at driving organizational culture change.

Makeba is a nationally recognized diversity and inclusion expert and leadership strategist with more than 20 years of experience in the field, Clay has developed a significant track record of transformational contributions toward organizational equity, diversity, and inclusion goals in higher-education and cultural organizations. She has also presented keynote addresses, lectures and workshops at local, state, national and international conferences on issues related to diversity and inclusion, educational equity, women’s leadership and empowerment, social justice, and organizational change.

Makeba currently maintains Board leadership and/or professional affiliations with numerous organizations; among them, United States Women Chamber of Commerce (USWCC), The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), Hostelling International (HI USA), The Maryland Humanities for the Arts, Museum Hue, DC Commission on Arts and Humanities, Art Table DC, Arts Administrators of Color.

She is a certified mediator and holds professional certificates from Development Dimensions International (DDI) and also from the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University. She is founding director of both the Diversity Institute of Charles County and the Community Mediation Center of Charles County.

Orna Cohen, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer – Dialogue Social Enterprise (DSE) is a creator of well-known interactive exhibitions, and has reached international recognition and scale. Her methodology is based on experiential learning.

After various studies in psychology, educational sciences and dramatic arts, she started developing educational games for kids. For several years she worked for the French Foreigner Affairs and developed a program in Africa to overcome illiteracy through cultural activities. Back in Paris she joined the team that created La Cité des Sciences et de  l’industrie. Orna gained high recognition through “La Cité des Enfants”, with interactive exhibitions for kids, which are replicated worldwide. In 2004, Orna was honored as a “Chevalier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres” by the French Government to acknowledge her contribution to science and technology education.

In 2009 Orna co-founded Dialogue Social Enterprise (DSE). She is focus now on designing exhibitions that convey DSE’s mission to change the mind-set towards otherness through exhibitions as catalysts for change. Most recently she started to teach museology at the University of Artoise in France

Fred Dust is a former Senior Partner and Global Managing Director for the design firm IDEO.

Fred Dust works at the intersection of business, society and creativity. As a designer, author, educator, consultant, trustee, and advisor to social and business leaders, he is one of the world’s most original thinkers, applying the craft and optimism of human-centered design to the intractable challenges we face today. Most recently, he has been investigating new ways to ignite constructive dialogue in a climate of widespread polarization, cynicism and disruption.

Fred is a frequently requested speaker, advisor, and lecturer. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the Sundance Institute, the Board of Directors for NPR, the Board of Directors at The New School. He was a founder and trustee for IDEO.org, IDEO’s non-profit that designs solutions to global poverty. He lectures widely on various topics, including design methodology, future trends, and social innovation.

Fred writes frequently for publications such as Fast Company, Metropolis, and Rotman Magazine. His books include Extra Spatial (Chronicle Books, 2003), which discusses the design of spaces, and Eyes Open: New York and Eyes Open: London (Chronicle Books, 2008), city guides that view exceptional experiences through an urban lens.

Fred is currently working on on a book on designing dialogue which will b ereleased by Harper Collins Spring of 2020.

Fred holds a bachelor’s degree in art history from Reed College and a master’s in architecture from the School of Environmental Design at UC Berkeley.

Seth Frankel, Principal of Studio Tectonic (Boulder, Colorado, USA), Seth brings twenty-five years of experience to design and planning for museums, memorials and educational institutions. Seth particularly focuses on sites of conscience and complex history. He develops accessible and dynamic exhibitions that focus on difficult societal challenges, with the goal of engaging the public in social transformation. His work can be visited throughout the United States, in Africa, and in Asia.

Recent projects include the new Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center in New York State; the revitalization of Maison des Esclaves (House of Slaves), a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Senegal, in conjunction with the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience; a new national memorial commemorating the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombing in Tanzania; and a re-envisioning of the permanent exhibitions at the Seminole Tribe of Florida’s Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum.

Seth has contributed to several books about museums as agents of change, and has presented at international and local museum association conferences, including the annual meeting of the American Alliance of Museums.

Karleen Gardner is Director of Learning Innovation at the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) and leads the Center for Empathy and the Visual Arts at Mia. Gardner serves on Mia’s leadership team and collaborates to develop and implement institutional strategies and impactful community-focused initiatives. With a strong belief in museums as spaces for dialogue and reflection, she works with cross-functional teams and partners to develop programs and exhibitions that foster conversation, new ways of thinking, empathy, and global understanding. Gardner is a frequent presenter at national and international conferences, is a peer reviewer for the Journal of Museum Education, and volunteers for the American Alliance of Museum’s Education Committee. She holds an MA in Art History from the University of Mississippi and a MS in Museum Education Leadership from Bank Street College. 

Elif M. Gokcigdem, Ph.D. is the Founder of Empathy-Building Through Museums Initiative. Elif is an innovative thought leader, historian of Islamic art, and a museums scholar who is committed to creating fertile grounds of empathy through informal learning platforms to inspire positive behavior change, caring mindsets, and compassionate worldviews that value all of humanity and the planet. Dr. Gokcigdem is the Author and Editor of two visionary books on the subject of empathy-building: Fostering Empathy Through Museums (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016), and Designing for Empathy: Perspectives on the Museum Experience (forthcoming, Rowman & Littlefield, 2019). She is also the co-chair and the creative coordinator of the world’s first Summit on “Fostering Universal Ethics and Compassion Through Museums” with His Holiness the 14^th Dalai Lama, which will take place in Dharamsala in October 2018.

Kate Goodall is the Co-Founder and CEO of Halcyon, a non-profit dedicated to solving 21st century problems by providing space and access to emerging leaders in social entrepreneurship and the arts. Goodall continues to grow Halcyon’s offerings with By The People, an international arts and innovation festival in partnership with the Smithsonian and numerous organizations throughout DC. In 2016, Goodall helped establish WE Capital, a consortium of leading businesswomen investing in and supporting women and women-led companies. Goodall has served as juror at national and international social entrepreneurship competitions, like the Creator Awards, and MIT Tech Review Innovator Europe & Latin America. She was listed as one of the Washington Business Journal’s Power 100 and 40 Under 40, Washingtonian’s 2017 Tech Titans, and Techweek 100 DC’s Talent Cultivators. She has two sons who keep her on her toes.

Dan Gottlieb, Hon ASLA, Director of Planning, Design & Museum Park, North Carolina Museum of Art directs planning and design of NCMA’s 164-acre campus transformation: from a former prison site into cultural destination. He utilizes strategies to integrate formal and informal experiences with art, recreation, sustainable and ethical design practices.  He directs the campus’ architecture, landscape, and sculpture program to be a more inclusive and accessible public institution. His primary focus has been to transform a traditional art museum into one that welcomes all, is free to the public, and designed to break barriers between community and art. The site’s social and physical history is of decay and incarceration, now a community-gathering place, supporting environmental and public health – a framework for public engagement.

Dan has studied biology, fine art, art administration, and furniture design. He is also an exhibiting artist whose work explores the human relationship to time and nature. Dan was honored with election to Member by the American Association of Landscape Architects and is recipient of North Carolina’s Order of the Longleaf Pine, North Carolina State University College of Design’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and numerous awards for design and environmental leadership.  His essay Museum Transformation and the Design of Citizenship is included in the forthcoming book, “Museum as Icon, Museum as Place.” 

Eliana (Ellie) Grossman is a research assistant in the Creativity and Emotions Lab at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. She received her BFA from Northeastern University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts with Tufts University in 2017. Much of her work explores the emotions involved in the creative process. An oil painter by training, she studies how certain emotions can be productive to the creative process as well as the inherent challenges of the creative process itself. Ellie is interested in the interdisciplinary application of the study of creativity to fields such as in human development, organizational behavior, and education. Ellie has also worked in direct service, namely working with individuals with mental and physical disabilities to develop their vocational skills.

William T. Harris, President & CEO, Space Center Houston, Manned Space Flight Education Foundation oversees the strategic direction of the nonprofit science and space exploration center, Space Center Houston. With approximately 400 employees and contractors, Space Center Houston is the No. 1 international attraction in the greater Houston area, generating a $73 million annual economic impact. Houston’s first Smithsonian Affiliate, it is the Official Visitor Center of NASA Johnson Space Center and dubbed “The Big Draw” by USA Today.

Joining the foundation and center in April 2016, Harris has more than 32 years in nonprofit leadership including senior positions at museums and universities, where he led numerous multi-million-dollar fundraising campaigns, principal and major gifts, marketing, communications, government relations and strategy development.

Harris previously was at the California Science Center Foundation as senior vice president of development and marketing, overseeing all external affairs including board relations, campaigns, annual and membership programs, public funding, marketing and communications. Harris was a leader on the team to bring the space shuttle Endeavour to the California Science Center, including its funding, promotion, transport, communications, marketing and exhibit opening. 

He is a member of the board of directors and executive committee of the Association of Science Technology Centers (ASTC) and chairs the board Equity and Diversity Committee. 

Andreas Heinecke, Co-Founder and CEO – Dialogue Social Enterprise (DSE) is a serial social entrepreneur for more than 30 years. He pursues his mission to mitigate social gaps and foster empathy through exhibition. The most popular one is Dialogue in the Dark, an exhibition where blind people lead the audience in small groups through a set of real-life scenarios in total darkness. His company Dialogue Social Enterprise operates globally and reach out to 800.000 people annually. For his achievements in terms of social innovation and entrepreneurship he became the first Ashoka Fellow in Western Europe and a Global Fellow of the World Economic Forum. Andreas is a recipient of various international awards, holds a PhD in philosophy and is a honorary professor of social business at the European Business School in Germany.

Philip Himberg, Artistic Director, Sundance Institute Theatre Program. Since 1997, Philip has overseen all aspects of the Sundance Institute Theatre Program which is one of our country’s most respected global play development organizations. Under his aegis, the Institute’s theatre labs have supported hundreds of artists and new plays and musicals that have gone on to production and acclaim at regional theatres across the U.S., including Broadway, and at international venues. 

The Theatre Program’s core International work currently focuses on an ongoing interaction with Arabic language theatre makers across the Mediterranean basin, in North Africa, the Middle East and those MENA artists now living in the EU. Sundance has hosted theatre labs across the region including disapora populations in Europe. 

As a playwright, Philip’s most recent play PAPER DOLLS received its world premiere at the Tricycle Theatre in London in 2013 and this year, its U.S. premiere at the Mosaic Theatre in Washington DC. The play looks at Filipino gay immigrant communities in Tel Aviv. He is a former Tony Award Nominator and Past President of the Board of TCG (Theatre Communications Group). He has taught at NYU Tisch and the Yale Drama School. 

Mr. Himberg holds a degree as a Doctor of Chinese Medicine, since 1985, and previously was a practicing acupuncturist and herbalist. 

Zorana Ivcevic, Ph.D., is a Research Scientist at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Zagreb in Croatia, received her doctorate from the University of New Hampshire, and did postdoctoral work at the Interpersonal Communication and Interaction laboratory at Tufts University. Dr. Ivcevic studies how to use the arts (and art-related institutions) to promote emotion and creativity skills, as well as the role of emotion and emotion skills in creativity and well-being in the workplace. She is Associate Editor of Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, and the International Journal of Creativity and Problem Solving. Dr. Ivcevic received the Award for Excellence in Research from the Mensa Education and Research Foundation, as well as the Berlyne Award for Outstanding Early Career Achievement in psychology of aesthetics, creativity, and the arts from the American Psychological Association.

Andrea Jones is an independent consultant and educator known for her “outside the box” thinking. She collaborates with museums and educational organizations to reinvent storytelling and interpretive methods in the service of greater relevancy and meaning for public audiences. Recognized for her role in reinventing interpretive strategy at the Atlanta History Center and Accokeek Foundation (in Maryland), she is a champion of immersive and thought-provoking experiences. In 2016, her team won the award for “Innovation in Museum Education” from the American Alliance of Museums. Now operating under that name Peak Experience Lab, her clients include Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, National Museum of Natural History, Wisconsin Historical Society, and The First Amendment Museum among others. She blogs at PeakExperienceLab.com.

Jon Kolkin, M.D. is co-chair of the the Dalai Lama – North American Museum Summit, Dalai Lama – City of Raleigh Initiative, and the North Carolina – Museum of Compassion Initiative. He is recognized on a national and international level as an artist, physician, health coach, speaker on topics related to stress reduction and life balance, mentor, humanitarian and philanthropist. 

Jon’s photographic projects focus on personal growth and wellbeing. His Inner Harmony series had its international debut as a solo exhibition at His Holiness’s World Headquarters in Dharamsala, India, followed by an exhibition at the India International Centre (IIC) Gallery in New Delhi, sponsored by the Dalai Lama Foundation, Library of Tibetan Works & Archives and the IIC. Inner Harmony then traveled to the SLU Museum of Art in St. Louis for a 5-room, multi-sensory, interactive exhibition. 

Emlyn Koster was born in the Suez Canal Zone and is a citizen of the UK, Canada and the US. With a BSc from the UK’s University of Sheffield and PhD from Canada’s University of Ottawa, both in geology, his career began with research and teaching appointments. Wishing to engage the public in nature-and-humanity matters, CEO appointments followed at Alberta’s Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto, Liberty Science Center next to New York, and since 2013 at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. Recognized at the White House with a national medal for community service, this institution’s mission is to illuminate the natural world and inspire its conservation.

Honors have included induction into France’s Ordre des Palmes Académiques, Humanitarian of the Year by the American Conference on Diversity, and recognition by the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee in New Jersey. Board and committee roles have included the Getty and Noyce Leadership Institutes and International Coalition of Sites of Conscience. For the Paris-based International Council of Museums, he chairs its working group on the Anthropocene and is a member of its working group on Sustainability. 

‘Museums, Ethics and Cultural Heritage’ includes his chapter on externally responsible contexts; ‘Hot Topics, Museums and Public Culture’ includes his summary on the evolution of purpose in science museums and science centers; ‘Fostering Empathy in Museums’ includes his invited foreword and chapter on how museums can be resources after tragedies; and ‘The Future of Natural History Museums’ includes his chapter on their need for a holistic embrace of the past, present and future.

Kürşat özenç is a a designer and an innovation consultant at SAP Labs in Palo Alto. I lead the Ritual Design Lab initiative where I run experiments with students and partner organizations on personal, team and human-robot rituals. I also teach interaction and service design at d.school as part of the Stanford Legal Design Lab. I enjoy cooking, swimming, and spending time with my wife Margaret, and two sons, Kerem and Teoman. 

Tom Rockwell is Creative Director at the Exploratorium, San Francisco’s museum of science, art, and human perception. During his thirteen years at the Exploratorium, Tom has led the exhibits and media departments, the development of new galleries for the museum’s move to the waterfront in 2013, as well as the Geometry Playground exhibition and other National Science Foundation supported projects. His interests include exhibiting the human sciences, mathematics, and fundamental physical phenomena, as well as exploring the relationship between science, art and religion. Prior to coming to San Francisco Tom founded and ran Painted Universe, Inc. where projects included exhibitions such as It’s a Nano World, The Enchanted Museum: Exploring the Science of Art, and illustrations for The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene. Tom was born and raised in Rome, Italy, and currently lives in Berkeley, California with two teenage children, his partner and an Australian cattle dog. 

Kevin Shelly, Facilities Technician, Portland Children’s Museum spent his career as a long-range fisherman out of San Diego, California, and sailed the world on both commercial and sport vessels. During the fishing off-season, he became an accomplished naturalist for whale watching expeditions to the lagoons of Baja California, Mexico, where gray whales migrate from the Arctic to breed and give birth. During one of these expeditions to Bahia Magdalena, he met his future wife Ruth. After marriage and the birth of their daughter Maggie (named after the lagoon), Kevin became shop foreman at the San Diego Museum of Natural History. Following a ten-year interlude in Wisconsin, Ruth and Kevin moved their family moved to Oregon, where Ruth became Executive Director of Portland Children’s Museum and Kevin joined the Facilities department. Throughout his career, Kevin has brought people closer to the natural world and seeks to understand their needs as customers of natural history and cultural organizations. 

Ruth Shelly, Executive Director, Portland Children’s Museum has spent a lifetime in museums, starting as a volunteer in eighth grade. She trained in exhibit design at the Milwaukee Public Museum, and later headed up exhibits departments at the Albuquerque Museum, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Fernbank Museum of Natural History, and Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. At the Aquarium, Ruth moved into administration over a ten-year tenure, and then joined the San Diego Museum of Natural History as Deputy Director of Public Programs. In 2003, her family relocated to Wisconsin when Ruth served as Executive Director of Madison Children’s Museum for ten years. Here she oversaw the museum’s capital campaign and move to an expanded location—the first LEED-certified museum in Wisconsin and winner of the National Medal for Museum and Library Service. In 2013 her family moved to Oregon, where Ruth became executive director of Portland Children’s Museum. This organization includes not only a museum, but also a pre-K through grade 5 school and a research center that are all united by the learning approach of Playful Inquiry, which stresses nurturing empathy as a foundational principle and practice. 

Elizabeth Silkes, Executive Director of the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience. As director she guides the strategic growth of a thriving consortium of 220 museums, historic sites and memory initiatives in over 55 countries. Through regional and issue-based networks, the Coalition supports members across the globe in developing innovative civic engagement, transitional justice and human rights programs through exhibit design and methodological guidance, peer-learning exchanges, project grants, and joint advocacy initiatives. Prior to joining the Coalition, Liz served as CEO of Cinereach, a foundation supporting film and media projects focused on social change, and as Executive Director of FilmAid International, a humanitarian relief organization using film and video to address the needs of refugees and other displaced communities. Prior to joining FilmAid, she led the major gifts program at Amnesty International USA to record growth while advocating for human rights in the US and abroad. Liz has served on the board of ICOM-US, the U.S. National Committee of the International Council of Museums, and is a member of the Law Advisory Council of the Fetzer Institute. Her extensive experience with community-based memory and media projects gives her a unique perspective on the power of the personal story to move audiences from past to present and memory to action. As a featured speaker at conferences and workshops around the world, Liz has addressed issues ranging from psycho-social relief initiatives in displaced communities to the role of memory in creating lasting cultures of peace and human rights in post-conflict settings and emerging democracies. 

Danielle St.Germain-Gordon joined San Francisco Ballet as Chief Development Officer in June of 2018. She provides leadership and management of SF Ballet’s individual and institutional fundraising efforts and oversees a department of over twenty employees. Her extensive fundraising and development experience includes serving from 2013 – 2018 on the senior management team of Minnesota’s Guthrie Theater, as the Director of Development. Previously, she was the Chief Development Officer for Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater in Washington, DC. Her additional arts fundraising experience in Washington, DC includes serving as Vice President for Institutional Advancement at the American Alliance of Museums and, prior to that, as Associate Director of Development at the Shakespeare Theatre Company. She received a bachelor’s degree in humanities with a minor in art history/studio arts from Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles and has two children.

Ngodup Tsering, was born in Tibet and escaped to India with his parents in 1959. He studied in Tibetan school Shimla, in Northern India and went to Panjab University, Chandigarh for Undergrad studies. Representative Tsering was elected to the Tibetan Parliament in Exile in 1979 and served a term before joining the Tibetan Administration in 1982 as a Deputy Secretary, in the Department of Education and later Served as the Deputy Secretary, in the Home Affairs. Then, 1991, he was appointed as the Director of Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts.

Ngodup Tsering is the first recipient Best Gazette Staff of CTA in 1995 and was promoted to the Secretary of Education Department of CTA in1995.

He immigrated to US in 2000 under US Tibetan Resettlement Program and served as the President of Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota in 2002-3, later moving to the Bay Area where he was appointed President of the Tibetan Association of Northern California, 2007-8. Mr. Tsering then returned to India to serve as a Secretary of Education in the DoE at the request of CTA in 2012 and later appointed to be the Minister of Education, CTA. He was then reappointed as the Education Minister in 2016. In December, 2017, he was appointed as the Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to North America and continues in that capacity. 

John Wetenhall is founding director of the new George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum, serving also on the faculty of GW’s Graduate Program in Museum Studies. Previously, as Executive Director of The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art he led a $150 million capital and endowment program that re-established the estate as a prominent cultural attraction in Southwest Florida.  He also participated in major renovations at the Cheekwood Museum of Art in Nashville and the Birmingham Museum of Art, having additionally held positions as President of the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh and as Interim Director of The Miami Art Museum (now Perez).  He is an art historian, educated at Dartmouth (BA), Williams (MA) and Stanford (PhD), with an MBA from Vanderbilt.  Dr. Wetenhall has served on the boards of AAM, ICOM-US and AAMG and has received the lifetime achievement award from the Florida Association of Museums.  He has a black belt in Aiki JuJitsu, supports Tottenham Hotspur, cheers for Tennessee Titans, and is married to Tanya Wetenhall, a professor at GW specializing in the history of fashion and global dress. 

Jim Wharton, Director Conservation Engagement & Learning, Seattle Aquarium is the Director of Conservation Engagement and Learning at the Seattle Aquarium where he works with a dynamic team committed to the Aquarium’s mission of Inspiring Conservation of our Marine Environment. Jim joined the Aquarium in 2012 from Mote Marine Laboratory where he served as Vice President of Education. He holds a B.S. from the University of Michigan, an M.S. from Oregon State University, and is currently completing a Ph.D. in educational measurement at the University of South Florida. Jim is a member of the Steering Committee of the Aquarium Conservation Partnership, the Conservation Education Committee of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), and serves as the Public Engagement Project Coordinator for AZA SAFE’s shark and ray conservation action plan.

Susie Wilkening, principal, Wilkening Consulting has 20 years of experience in museums, including over ten years leading custom audience research projects for museums as well as fielding groundbreaking national research on the role of museums in American society.  Susie earned a BS in History, Technology, and Society from Georgia Tech and an MA from the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture at the University of Delaware. She resides in Seattle, and her husband and curious young children often accompany her as she travels to various museums and historic sites.

Amelia Winger-Bearskin is an artist, technologist and community organizer. In 2018 Amelia won a MacArthur and Sundance Institute award for her immersive technology 360 video series about Native American mythologies.  Amelia is a Native American: Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Seneca-Cayuga Nation of Oklahoma, Deer Clan.

She is the director of product at Decoded, an educational technology company with a mission to democratize tech education. She founded IDEA New Rochelle, and collaborated with Mayor Noam Bramson to create a VR/AR app for citizens to participate in city governance (a project which was awarded a Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Challenge Award in 2018).

Amelia was an assistant professor at Vanderbilt University for five years where her research was focused on art, artificial intelligence and learning science. After leaving academia he founded and directed the DBRS Innovation Labs, an applied Artificial Intelligence lab that specialized in developing creative uses of machine learning technologies.

Wendy Woon, The Edward John Noble Foundation Deputy Director for Education at The Museum of Modern Art, has over 30 years of experience in museum education. Ms. Woon oversees all areas of MoMA’s Department of Education, where she focuses on transforming museum education through experimental, collaborative, and research-based pedagogy. Since joining MoMA in 2006, she has initiated, led, and participated in cross-institutional initiatives key to the organization’s future. She also directed the expansion of Education’s reach through building external partnerships; and developing off-site, community-based, and online programming. 

Woon has served as The Beatrice Cummings Mayer Director of Education at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; taught and advised at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago; and served as Head of the Department of Education, Extension, and Programming at the Art Gallery of Hamilton in Ontario, Canada.

She is an adjunct professor for New York University’s Visual Arts Administration graduate program teaching Art Education in Museums. She has presented nationally and internationally, and is a member of the Thirteen/WLIW Community Advisory Board and the Visiting Committee of the J. Paul Getty Museum.

Woon holds a BFA (1979) from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, and an MFA (1982) from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Tashi Phuntsok is the director of the Tibet Museum since May 2012. He was born in Bhutan and brought up in India. Tashi has completed his bachelor degree from Government College, Chandigarh in 1997 and master degree in History from Punjab University in 2001. In addition, Tashi has completed one year training in graphic design from Amnye Machen Institute, Mcleod Ganj in 1999 and one year Advanced degree in Graphic design from International Institute of Fashion Design, Dehradun in 2005.

Tashi joined the Department of Education as graphic designer and worked for four and half year as graphic designer of the department’s publication section from 1999 – 2004. He later joined Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy as information officer from October 2005 – March 2009. Tashi joined Central Tibetan Administration as formal staff in April 2010 and served at the Tibet Museum as traveling exhibition in-charge from 2010 – 2011, project officer at Department of Home from May 2011 to April 2012. In May 2012, he was transferred to the Tibet Museum as director. Tashi responsibilities include overall administration of the Tibet Museum, as well as project design, management and implementation. He is also responsible for the research, design and production of exhibition materials, posters, books and other printed materials. Mr. Tashi has attended numerous conferences on museum and human rights issues in Bangkok; Thailand, New Castle; UK, Indianapolis; US, Wyoming University, US, Prague, Czech Republic and University of Manchester; UK. For last seven year, Mr. Tashi has developed and curated around ten different temporary and traveling exhibition themes. He is currently project coordinator of the new Tibet museum project as well as content developer of the exhibition sub-theme – Escape and Occupation.

Rinchen Dorjee is deputy director and person in-charge of traveling exhibition. He was born and brought up at Ladakh and completed his bachelor in commerce from Delhi University in 2002. He joined Central Tibetan Administration in 2016 as office secretary at Department of Health and served for three years as an assistant account. He was later promoted as Office Superintendent and served as accountant at Hunsur Rabgyaling Tibetan Settlement Office and Department of Information and International Relations for 6 years. In 2016, he was promoted to Section Officer and transferred to finance department and later transferred to the Tibet Museum on November 2017 as deputy director. His responsibilities include managing traveling exhibition, budgeting and assisting museum director on administrative work. 

Tenzin Topdhen is digital production and programme officer of the Tibet Museum since December 2018. He was born in India and done his entire schooling from Tibetan Children Village, Dharamshala. He finished his Bachelor in Pharmacy from Panjab University, Chandigarh in year 2008 and MBA-Marketing at Symbiosis International University in year 2011. Before joining the Tibet Museum, Topdhen has worked as Assistant Manager at Domestic Company Mother Diary Fruit and Vegetable Pvt Ltd and Nepal Country Manager at an Italian Dutch conglomerate Perfetti Van Melle India Pvt Ltd.

With deep sense of responsibility toward Tibetan community and self-actualization, he joined the Tibet Museum as Digital Production and Program Officer. His responsibilities include liaisoning with various stakeholders like content developer, consultants, curators, contractors and digital content manager and developing programme for the new museum.

Yeshi Wangmo, a project officer of the Tibet Museum was born and brought up in India.  She has graduated from Maharaja Sayaji Rao University, Baroda in 2014 with Bachelor’s degree in Political Science. After graduation, she attended six months intensive course on Buddhist Philosophy and Tibetan Literature at Gyudmey Tantric Monastery. She joined Central Tibetan Administration in 2017 and was first posted as Office secretary cum Cashier at Tibetan Settlement Office, Chauntra.  She is currently working as Project Officer in the Tibet Museum since 2017.

Tenzin Youtso is web and database manager. She has completed her secondary schooling from Central School for Tibetan, Kollegal and senior secondary from CST Mundgod. She completed her bachelor degree in Computer Science from Teresian College, Mysore and master degree in Computer Science from University of Mysore. She joined the Tibet Museum on November 1, 2015 and her responsibilities include managing website and database as well as digitizitation and cataloguing of the Tibet Museum’s photo archives.

Kunga Choedon has recently joined the Tibet Museum as production and collection Assistant. She has finished her senior high school from Central School for Tibetan, Mussoorie and completed her Bachelor degree in English Honor from University of Delhi in 2013 and Post Graduate Diploma in Mass Communication from Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology in 2015. Apart from the academic achievements, she has worked as a blogger in Student for Tibet (2011) while continuing her undergraduate degree. 

In 2015, she has worked as a Freelance Blogger in BhodBuzz; a Tibetan Lifestyle Blog that features Tibetan current topics like Fashion, Woman Empowerment, Entertainment and interviews of Tibetan personalities. She has also worked as a full-time Content Writer in Salaax E-services (A New India) an SEO company based in Delhi in 2016 and also been employed in Tibetan Phone Case company ‘Caso Accessories’ to write website content, select and create Tibetan and Contemporary theme related designed Phone cases from 2016-2018. Apart from that, she also has a personal blog since 2012 where she writes poems, fictional stories and lifestyle-related topics (kunchoecouture.wordpress.com).