Jonathan Schaeffer is a professor of Computing Science at the University of Alberta. He received his B.Sc. from the University of Toronto, and an M.Math and Ph.D. from the University of Waterloo. Dr Schaeffer is recognized as a world authority in artificial intelligence applied to computer games. His work in heuristic search resulted in the creation of Chinook, the first computer program to win a human World Championship in any game (checkers), an accomplishment that is noted in the Guinness Book of World Records. He also received an NSERC E.W.R. Steacie fellowship in 1997 for his influential games-related research. He is one of seven Canadians ever named a Fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence, and in Canada contributes substantially to the development of information technology both in Alberta and nationally. He has designed numerous algorithms that have achieved widespread use, and has published widely, including almost 200 refereed publications, two books, and five edited volumes. He is a Canada Research Chair and an iCORE Chair. Less   View all posts

Stephen Laster is the Chief Information and Technology Officer of Harvard Business School and a member of the HBS administrative leadership team, which oversees the School’s academic, research and administrative computing teams. Stephen sits on several Harvard University committees focused on leveraging technology across the Harvard community. As an educator, he has taught courses at the undergraduate, graduate, and executive/professional levels in the areas of Web development, problem solving, software design, virtual team management, and e-learning product development. Prior to joining Harvard, Stephen held several critical leadership positions for Babson College, including CTO for Babson Interactive, Babson's for-profit eLearning company, and Director of Curriculum Innovation and Technology. Stephen served as a trustee for Babson College from 1992-94. Stephen is also principle of Intelligent Solutions, LLC. Intelligent Solutions engages with select organizations to transform their ability to leverage information technology and collaborative tools to achieve outstanding business results. Intelligent Solutions brings the power of technology, practice, and education to core business problems, and provides strategy and educational consulting to enable a new generation of information workers, products, and services. Prior to focusing his career on the apex of technology, education, and consulting, Stephen worked in the information technology and technology product development industries. He has developed and run a network monitoring business, developed enterprise software packages, and led major re-engineering and implementation efforts. Stephen has held leadership positions at Stride Rite, Art Technology Group, CrossComm, and Advanced Business Technologies, Inc. Throughout his career, Stephen has managed diverse teams of business and technology professionals. He has managed distributed teams across the United States, Poland, and India. Stephen sits on the board of Recycline, and is a seasoned speaker and consultant. He has helped organizations to develop effective operational practices leveraging people and technology for outstanding results. He is considered to be a leader in e-learning and digital community building, and was recognized by IBM for thought leadership in message oriented middleware and by Ed Tech Magazine as a thought leader in educational technology. Less   View all posts

Deirdre Woods, Associate Dean and CIO, leads Wharton’s IT team in delivering technology resources to faculty, students, staff and alumni and developing strategies to engage 21st century learners. She is also responsible for Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS), a computing platform, data warehouse and scholarly research commons used by more than 275 universities worldwide. During more than 20 years at Penn, Woods has served as Senior Director for Wharton Computer and Information Technology and as Director of Faculty Services and Networking. Less   View all posts