People

The following people are involved in CS4HS 2017. This list will be updated as speakers confirm sessions.

Amanda jordan
Strategic Partnerships/Strategic Partnerships Development Manager, NZ at Google

An AUT Alumni who studied conjoined Business and Science degrees Amanda has been a Googler for 7 years, starting in the Sydney office before moving back to Auckland. She works on the NZ strategic partnerships team, working to help NZ businesses get the most out of Google products like Adwords. Amanda also co-chairs Google New Zealand's Diversity and Inclusion efforts with a specific interest in getting more women, youth and other under-represented groups interested the NZ tech space. 

ben kenobi
Lecturer Co Lab, AUT 

Ben graduated from Auckland School of Architecture (BAS) in 2001. He has created, developed and taught on computer game, architecture, drawing, digital and spatial design courses at Unitec, AUT and The University of Auckland.
After completing a Masters in Art and Design in the area of game environment design and story implementation he worked for 2 years as a game designer at Gameloft Auckland.
He is currently also a board member of the NZGDA (NZ Game Developers Association) and is an active member of the NZ commercial and indie game scene.
An enthusiastic and critical analyst of games, Ben seeks to build upon current media conventions and broaden the landscape of gaming in both AUT and NZ. He is also developing AUT’s Games Developers Network, bringing together different areas of games research and development across the Faculty.

AUT Profile

Associate Professor Dave parry
​ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR AND HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE, AUT

Dave Parry is an Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Computer Science, in the AUT School of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences. Originally from Wales, Dave has been at AUT since  2000 apart from sabbaticals in Australia, the UK and Bhutan. Dave’s research interests include artificial intelligence, health informatics and ehealth along with mobile computing and Radiofrequency identification.  More recently he has been involved in an international collaboration  on disaster ehealth.
He won the VC teaching excellence award in 2014 and is very interested in what technology can and can’t do in the classroom. He has two daughters, one of whom is studying Computer Science.

​AUT Profile

Darren Menorath
Research Fellow @ COLABxMINA, AUT

Darren is a recent Masters graduate from Colab (Creative Technologies) at AUT. His research focuses around the technological and aesthetic components of mobile-based augmented reality (AR) and how it can be used to enhance and disrupt current print-based design. He is currently involved in research project with mobile AR and mobile 360°video at COLABxMINA 

Donna Cleveland
LECTURER, RESEARCHER AND PHD CANDIDATE COLAB, AUT ​ 

Donna Cleveland is a lecturer, researcher and PhD candidate within Colab, Creative Technologies Research Centre at the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand. Her research engages with innovative design led strategies, entrepreneurship and designing for systems change. Her areas of expertise include e-textiles application and fabrication, sustainable fashion and textiles design, social engagement through sustainable design education, textile reuse within a social context and developing more effective systems of fashion textiles waste management. Her passion lies in sustainable design education and the fusion of traditional applications with emerging technologies, such as e-textiles to redefine the future landscape of design. 

AUT Profile

Professor Edmund Lai
HOD Information Tech & Software Engineering, AUT 

Edmund joined AUT in February 2016. He obtained his BE(Hons) and PhD in Electrical Engineering from The University of Western Australia in 1982 and 1991 respectively. Prior to joining AUT, he was with the School of Engineering and Advanced Technology at Massey University from 2006. He had also held various academic positions in the School of Computer Engineering at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, School of Engineering with Edith Cowan University in Western Australia, and Department of Information Engineering at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He had also worked as a independent consultant, developing industrial training courses and optimization software for the mining industry in Australia. His general research interests include multimedia signal processing, machine learning techniques, wireless networks and information theory.​

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Professor Enrico HaemmerlE
​DEAN OF ENGINEERING AND THE HEAD OF THE SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING, COMPUTER AND MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES, AUT

Professor Enrico Haemmerle is the Dean of Engineering and the Head of the School of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences at AUT. He has a background in Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering and his most recent interests are in the research and design of medical devices and sport technology.
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AUT Profile 

eRic willigers
Software engineer, google sydney, GOOGLE

Eric Willigers studied Computer Engineering and Mathematics at the University of Wollongong. He has been a Googler for 5 years. Eric is a software engineer in Google's Sydney Chrome team and participates in the CSS Working Group, collaborating with other browser vendors to develop standards and improve interoperability. Outside work, he mentors high school students participating in the FIRST Robotics Competition.

ILANA SIGNAL
Teacher support and resource development, Code Avengers

Ilana is a NZ high school teacher who has taught Digital Technology, Classics, English and Social Studies. She graduated from the University of Auckland with a degree in Ancient History and a diploma in Secondary Education.
Ilana began working at Code Avengers in 2016 as a resource developer, teacher liaison and works to support teachers at schools and universities in delivering NZC and NCEA.

Jim Buchan
​CO-DIRECTOR THE SOFTWARE ENGINEERING RESEARCH LAB, AUT

Jim started off his career as a secondary school teacher and has had a variety of careers after that, including working in the IT industry, running his own Environmental Engineering company, and a polytechnic and university lecturer in Business and Computing.
His area of teaching and research is now Software Engineering, and over the last decade he has particularly focused on how the Agile way of working works, and when and why. He loves teaching at all levels from undergraduate to PhD and was the proud recipient of two teaching awards in the past three years. He is the Co-Director the Software Engineering Research Lab at AUT.

AUT Profile

kim newall
Co Lab, AUT 

Kim Newall (MCT) is a creative technologist and interdisciplinary artist who practices in a wide variety of community based settings. He is interested in the meeting place between learning, emerging technology and collective creativity.

lAURENT Antonczak
​DIRECTOR COLABXMINA

Creative technologies Lecturer, AUT COLAB / Faculty of Design & Creative Technologies Research Fellow & Health Communications and Media Lecturer, AUT School of Public Health and Psychosocial Studies- digital learning and youth enterprise Research Fellow, Centre for Learning and Teaching
Laurent Antonczak is a multicultural entrepreneur specialising in digital strategies, education and mobile technologies (mainly for smartphones). Within the last 20 years, Laurent led and managed a diversified myriad of international, national and regional projects across numerous disciplines. Laurent is also a multiple award-winning researcher at Colab – Auckland University of Technology focusing on Mobile Technologies & Education. Moreover, he is one of the co-founders of MINA [ Mobile Innovation Network Australasia ] and director of COLABxMINA, which aims to explore the possibilities of interaction between people, content and mobile devices in the APAC region mainly.

​AUT Profile

​Dr Mahsa Mohaghegh
​LECTURER ENGINEERING, COMPUTER & MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES, AUT
DIRECTOR/FOUNDER SHESHARP

​Dr Mahsa Mohaghegh is a computer engineer with a background in artificial intelligence and natural language processing. She obtained her PhD from Massey University with a thesis in Statistical Machine Translation.
Prior to joining AUT, Mahsa was a Senior Lecturer and Program Leader at Unitec, and also lead an outreach effort within the Department of Computing there. After being awarded Google's Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship in 2012, Mahsa became involved with Google's Computer Science for High Schools initiative, and successfully applied for Google funding to run these workshops in Auckland for the last 3 years.
​Mahsa is also the founder and director of the women's technology group She# - shesharp.co.nz, a platform aimed at promoting STEM to the next generation, and creating networking opportunities for tertiary students and industry professionals in the digital sector. Her passion for promoting careers in technology to young women has been recognised by a number of organisations, and resulted in her being awarded at the Westpac Women of Influence Awards.

​AUT Profile

DR MIKE WALMSLEY
Founder and CTO of Code Avengers

Mike began coding at age 12 and loves it just as much now as he did then.
In 2012, while doing a PhD in computer-assisted education he began creating the CodeAvengers.com learning platform with the goal of providing the most fun and effective way to learn to code. He has worked heavily with the Ministry of education to develop and provide PD for teachers around the new curriculum and unit standards. 

NICK PATTISON 
Learning Designer Stem, Ormiston Junior College & Primary

Nick Pattison started New Zealand’s first STEM immersion class at Rongomai Primary in Otara in 2016 to show how STEM education can provide accelerated learning for the students.  His primary classroom led the testing of homes for mould in South Auckland.
 
Nick, Learning Designer STEM at Ormiston Junior College & Primary is pushing the boundaries of what a modern New Zealand education looks like. He is leading projects with large companies toward community outcomes such as increasing fishing stock, monitoring bee population health, creating biochar from plant waste to sequester carbon and grow food crops all while making it fun and engaging for the students, scientist and community.
 
Nick, co-founder of Smart Fish is currently working on projects such as how to improve mathematics instruction for underachieving students by using robots in collaboration with the University of California, AUT’s STEM Centre and developing new systems for using the latest in technology within New Zealand’s classrooms.

DR ROOPAK SINHA
SEnior lecturer and programme leader (software engineering) ​ ​​

Roopak is interested in the systematic design of software for “next-generation systems”. New computing domains like smart-homes, intelligent transportation, and high-volume manufacturing bring ever-increasing complexity and scale, which need more systematic design techniques.
 
Roopak’s achievements include international research grants, research and teaching awards, as well as successful commercial software projects

DR SARAH MARSHALL
LECTURER ENGINEERING, COMPUTER & MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES, AUT ​ ​​

Sarah joined AUT in February 2014. She teaches analytics papers at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Sarah’s research focusses on stochastic modelling for remanufacturing systems, inventory management and warranty cost analysis. Sarah is the Industry Liaison for the Master of Analytics. This involves talking to organisations who are interested in providing projects for analytics students.

AUT Profile

professor sergei gulyaev
Professor Engineering, Computer & Mathematical Sciences, AUT

​Sergei Gulyaev is Professor of Astronomy at AUT and Foundation Director of the Institute for Radio Astronomy and Space Research (IRASR). He holds a PhD and DSc (Doctor of Science) in Radio Astronomy and Astrophysics from Moscow State University. Since moving to New Zealand in 1998, Sergei was one of the co-founders of AUT’s Earth and Oceanic Sciences Research Institute (EOS) before establishing IRASR and leading the team which built New Zealand’s first modern Radio Astronomical Observatory near Warkworth. IRASR conducts joint observations with radio telescopes around the world, supports space missions and space agencies and is involved in Earth science research with national and international partners. Sergei was one of the pioneers of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) development in NZ. He has a broad spectrum of research interests in the areas of astronomy, quantum physics, Earth science and space geodesy. He is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (London), Member of the RSNZ and RASNZ and Member of the International Astronomical Society.  

AUT Profile 

steffan hooper
Lecturer Engineering, Computer & Mathematical Sciences, AUT

​Steffan joined Auckland University of Technology in 2013, and has taught a variety of programming-related papers in the School of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences. He is currently Paper Leader for the first-year introductory paper, Programming 1, which introduces student to computer programming, as well as the third-year Game Programming paper where students get the opportunity to work in teams and implement their own game ideas.
 
Steffan has programming experience in C, C++, Java, C# and various assembly languages, and game and real-time computer graphics programming with industry standard APIs, such as DirectX and OpenGL. He also has experience with in-house game engine development, as well as developing with commercial game engine middleware. Prior to joining AUT, Steffan held the position of Senior Lecturer – Game Development at the Media Design School in Auckland. Beginning in 2006, he developed and taught across a variety of papers offered in Media Design School’s game development-related programmes.

​AUT Profile

TYNE CROW
Secondary school teacher and PhD student, University of Auckland

Tyne Crow is a secondary teacher and has been teaching Digital Technologies and computer programming at Pakuranga College since 2015. In 2014, he was a recipient of a TeachNZ scholarship and completed his Masters in Information Sciences through Massey University in which he developed and investigating methods for game based learning on mobile devices. He is currently starting his PhD in Computer Science through University of Auckland and is working with Code Avengers to investigate how digital tools can improve programming education. 

Professor Welby Ings
​PROFESSOR ART & DESIGN, AUT  

Welby Ings is a Professor in Design at Auckland University of Technology. He is an elected Fellow of the British Royal Society of Arts and has been a consultant to many international organisations on issues of creativity and learning. Welby is also an internationally acclaimed author, designer, illustrator, and film maker who has taught at all levels of the New Zealand school system. He has supervised over 80 Masters and PhD theses that explore through practice, relationships between emerging technologies and creative inquiry. His widely acclaimed book Disobedient Teaching was released in March this year. In 2001 Welby was awarded the Prime Minister’s inaugural, Supreme Award for Tertiary Teaching Excellence and in 2014 he was awarded the AUT University medal for his contributions to research, pedagogy and creativity.  
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AUT Profile 

Zoe Timbrell & OMGTech! 
Robotics expert

OMGTech! is on a mission to support our communities as we come to understand how technology will be a part of all our future, empowering us to be creators instead of consumers. We bring industry experts and Tech leaders directly into schools.
As co-founder and General Manager of OMGTech! Zoe constantly works to connect New Zealand kids to the technologies that will shape their futures.  In the 2 years since this charity was set up, more than 4000 students have participated in OMGTech! STEAM based programmes. Her work has enabled some of our most disadvantaged communities to play and explore with future technologies.
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