Phd in Cognitive Science in Education, BAS in Systems Engineering

Teachers College, Columbia University

Hi! I’m Azi, A GIANT dreamer. Founder of The GIANT Room

I have a PhD in Cognitive Science in Education from Columbia University’s Teachers College. After grad studies, I co-founded Tiggly, an early learning company that pioneered the integration of physical play with digital applications, to provide a rich and interactive learning experience for children. Next, I joined littleBits as their head of education strategy. Millions of children got to love learning math and writing their first words with Tiggly. Millions more are inventing the world they want to live in with littleBits.

I’m a TED speaker, former TED resident, have published journal articles and book chapters on a broad range of topics such as designing learning platforms for children, emerging educational tech, game design, mathematical education, and cognition. I’m honored to have received numerous awards including “IES Prize for Excellence in Research on Cognition and Student Learning” and “The Cooney Center’s certificate of innovation in Children’s Learning”.

Today, I’m the CEO at The GIANT Room, giving every child the opportunity and community support they need to act on their most ambitious dreams.

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PhD in Science Education

Teachers College, Columbia University

Hi! I’m Jess. A GIANT curiosity catalyst. Co-founder of The GIANT Room

I have a PhD in Science Education from Columbia University. I am a former HS biology teacher and informal educator. I have a passion for play based learning and believe mistakes are portals to discovery! In my research, I studied science educators' perceptions of play and how that influences pedagogy. I stay active in online teacher networks and am a National Geographic certified educator with a love and deep respect for the out of doors.

While always being an educator, postgraduate school, I worked for early-stage organizations helping them build and scale. I worked as an Instructional Designer and then as an Education Program Manager at a start-up called Mendeley that invented an iTunes like platform for researchers, and was acquired by publisher Elsevier. I was the Director of Research at a privately owned incubator generating solutions focussed on Nature-based education and the Skills Gap. I then moved forward developing a new platform based on intel from the Skills Gap incubator project. I product managed a human capital technology called Frontier Signal using machine learning to help companies more effectively onboard, train and retain talent.

I am a mom and believe children need space to express their creativity on their own terms. I am apart of The GIANT Room to empower children to act on their curiosities!

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MA in Neuroscience and Education

Teachers College, Columbia University

Hi, my name is Maria Eugenia, but you can call me Maru. I am a passionate early childhood educator from Monterrey, Mexico. I recently graduated with my Master of Neuroscience and Education from Teachers College at Columbia University. When working with children, I love establishing a safe and nurturing environment where children feel free to explore and create without judgement. I can't wait to meet all of you at The GIANT Room and spark your imagination with some fun play-based STEAM activities.

BM in Flute Performance, MA in Arts Entrepreneurship

Mannes School of Music & The New School

Rebecca Schifilliti is an educator and artist with an entrepreneurial spirit. Rebecca is the co-founder and co-executive director of Art Beyond the Ink, an arts education organization which supports students and early-career artists through musical storytelling and interdisciplinary collaboration. At The GIANT Room, she runs their daily Creative Bootcamp program and builds curriculum and content for STEAM (STEM + Arts) workshops, including a collection of over 300 educational videos and lesson plans. As a musician, Rebecca has participated in the Krymov Lab, working with visionary Russian theater artist Dmitry Krymov on the creation of an original theater piece. She has also performed in venues throughout NYC and abroad.

MA in Interactive Telecommunications [ITP]

NYU

Nathier is a multidisciplinary designer, researcher and artist, with a Master’s in Interactive Telecommunications [ITP] from NYU. As a designer, she creates rich visual landscapes that materialize in sets, experiences and interactive installations. Her current research focuses on the relationship between human and non-human interactions and what arises when emerging technologies are involved. She has an interest in living materials and possible intersections between biological and computational systems.

As a generalist, her practices extends to education were she explores the intersection between art, technology, and science through workshops and lectures in experimental media, digital art, and biodesign/biomedia for children and adults alike. As part of her teaching ethos, errors are encouraged, expected and welcomed both aesthetically and metaphorically.

MA in Cinema and Literature in the Middle East, BA in Anthropology

The City University of New York (CUNY), Oxford

I am a poet and photographer with a masters degree in cinema and literature in the Middle East from CUNY, and a BA in anthropology from Oxford. I am also a translator, working across Turkish, English, and Arabic. I have practiced and thought alternative printing techniques of photography to kids as well as adults, and translated titles like Audre Lorde's 'Sister Outsider'. I participate in community building and activism with LGBTQ people of all ages from various backgrounds.

BFA in Creative Technologies

Parsons School of Design

Jessica is a digital designer and educator focused on helping children use technology in creative ways. She currently teaches science, previously having taught math, literacy, and art. Although always learning new creative technologies, Jessica is well-versed in a variety of tools and mediums such as Scratch, Python, web design, paper circuitry, littleBits, animation, and more. She holds a BFA degree from Parsons School of Design in Creative Technologies.

BA in Design

Parsons School of Design

Iris Sun is a New York-based product designer who graduated from Parsons School of Design. To Iris, design is about combining love, stories, and exploring the possibilities of life. Iris’s endless curiosity in all things keeps her exploring outside her comfort zone which explains the various influences seen in her work. With her keen interest in observing space and interaction between people, she believes that design could be a tool to make the world a bit more beautiful and romantic through distinctive user experience.

BA in Electrical & Computer Engineering

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Mitalee is an outgoing, energizing and cross-disciplined engineer, who believes that solving complex problems comes from taking on challenges and enjoying the process of continuous learning. After graduating from UIUC in Electrical & Computer Engineering, she kicked off her career in Hardware at Apple. As she continues to challenge herself, she plans on using her multitude of interests, coupled with her tech background, to develop interdisciplinary communication and drive human centered evolutions in food & coffee, education, and human rights activism. Her belief that education is supposed to evoke love for life long learning is what brings her to the GIANT Room. We can learn by not strictly focusing on our results, but by enjoying the process, making a mess, and always seeking out new ideas!

MA in Instructional Technology and Media

Teachers College, Columbia University

Hi! I’m Hongjin. You can also call me Jackie. I am a graduating master’s student of the Instructional Technology and Media program at Teachers College, Columbia University. I have a very persistent interest in human learning and focus my research on kids' collaborative learning experience design. Besides being a huge fan of innovative, technology-based classroom interventions, I’m a makerspace enthusiast, a nature lover, a Chinese/English/Japanese speaking chatterbox, and a marathon runner. I’m looking forward to starting a meaningful journey with you at the GIANT Room!

BFA in Fine Art, BA in Literary Studies

The New School (Parsons, Eugene Lang)

Jane is currently in her last few semesters at The New School for Fine Art and Literary Studies: Writing (primary genre: non-fiction, secondary genre: poetry). She is familiar with 2D, 3D, and 4D mediums but is prioritizing her focus on painting and printmaking. She has prior experience teaching children and disabled adults. On her free time, she enjoys going to museums, bookstores, and going to shows.

B.A. Theatre Minor in Digital Studies

University of Southern California

BS in Childhood & Special Education, MA in Design and Development of Digital Games

NYU & Teachers College, Columbia University

Jamie Solis is an educator who specializes in childhood development and digital technologies. She first earned a BS in Childhood & Special Education from NYU, where she discovered her passion for learning experience design. In the classroom, she saw the various manifestations of music in children’s daily lives and the ways in which technology shaped those experiences. Jamie furthered her studies with an MA in Design and Development of Digital Games from the Teachers College at Columbia University, focusing on digital music learning for young children. Her firm belief in music as a conduit to the creative process led her to found NOISE212 Labs, a music enrichment program that introduces young children to DJing and digital music production.

BA in Product Design

Stanford University

Alex Briñas is a designer on a mission to empower kids from different backgrounds to make together, grow together, and stand tall with creative confidence. With a background in Product Design studies from Stanford and a deep care for innovative education, Alex has had a hodge-podge of a journey so far: from crowdfunding a kids’ drawing tool to working at a leadership-focused high school in Japan to doing UI/UX and graphic design for a media company.

BBA in Strategic Design & Management

Parsons School of Design

Hi! I’m Shaini! I graduated from Parsons School of Design with a BBA in Strategic Design & Management. I moved to San Francisco shortly after and started my own baking company called Whisk Me Away SF, where I specialized in made-to-order buttercream flower cakes.

I am a mom of 2 boys (a 3-year old and 4-month old). After having my first, I became deeply interested in early childhood education. Since then I’ve taught classes covering a wide range of topics including gardening, science classes and theme-based exploratory classes. I am extremely passionate not only about teaching kids but also learning and discovering with them.

BFA in the Advancement of Science in Art

The Cooper Union

Nancy Chavarria is an artist, photographer, and graphic designer based in Brooklyn, New York. She received her BFA from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science in Art in 2017. She uses her knowledge of art, graphic design, and photography to nurture creativity and inspire kids to create whatever they set their minds to through art.

BS in Industrial and Product Design

New Jersey Institute of Technology

Coming from a theatre background, Brent likes to encourage kids to learn in a fun and engaging way. He’s been working in the Industrial Design industry professionally for the last 4 years while going to school full time. Brent works in multiple medias to help erase the line between art and technology. He has worked for prestigious companies such as the award winning company Solight Design in NYC, and led design on the MoMA storefront display for their new product ‘QWNN’. In 2019 his work with MXR Labs was featured at Oculus Quest 2019 and recently published as a book for creation of an educational VR game for use in middle schools, where he served as Lead Industrial Designer, and was awarded the 2019 URI research grant for further studies in VR education.

BA in Visual Art

Rutgers University

Reid is a maker educator with a passion for creating hands-on experiences that combine high and low tech. Before becoming a resident at GIANT he was the Director of the Creative Lab at OliOli, the first hands-on children’s museum in Dubai. He has been with the museum since it opened in 2017, directing all the camps and programs as well as working on many special projects like building (Probably) The World's Largest Paper Marble Run with hundreds of students. Before working with OliOli, Reid was Maker Space Coordinator at the NY Hall of Science and comes from a tech-art background creating interactive LED installations, pirate radio stations, and rainbow photo booths.

MS in Art and Design Education

Pratt Institute

Paul is a visual artist with a MS in Art and Design education from Pratt Institute. Before entering into teaching he worked as a scenic artist and prop artisan for regional and off-Broadway theatrical productions. As an educator he has taught a diverse range of individuals and groups which include: children, at-risk youths, and older adults. His firm belief that by participating in art programming helps to enrich the lives of older adults led him to the field of Creative Aging. He sees the arts are a great connector and the visual arts as a conduit for exploration and personal discoveries.

BA in Business Administration, MA in Finance

Clark University

BFA Emily Carr University, and Master’s degree from School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Maryam Taghavi is an artist and educator from Tehran and currently based in Chicago. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Emily Carr University, and Master’s degree from School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2017), where she was awarded the New Artist Society scholarship. Her works have been exhibited nationally and internationally at LAXART, EXPO Chicago, Queens Museum, Exterressa Museum, Chicago Cultural Center, and Sullivan Galleries amongst others. She is interested in doing things with words and works across disciplines of installation, photography, video, drawing and performance.

Current Undergraudate Student

BS in Information Systems; Applied Mathematics

Stony Brook University

Hi! My name is Jacky. I am an undergraduate student at Stony Brook University studying Information Systems and Applied Mathematics. I am passionate about using technology to improve people's lives. Some hobbies that I enjoy in my free time are gaming and research the stock markets. I want to use my technical background to improve The Gaint Room experience and educate the youth about the importance of technology.