Keynote Speakers
Meryl Alper
Meryl Alper is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Studies and Affiliate Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Northeastern University. Her research focuses on the social, cultural, and health implications of communication technologies for young people, with a particular emphasis on disabled children, adolescents, and their families. She is the author of three related MIT Press books: “Digital Youth with Disabilities” (2014), “Giving Voice: Mobile Communication, Disability, and Inequality” (2017), and “Kids Across the Spectrums: Growing Up Autistic in the Digital Age” (2023). Her research has been recognized with awards and honors from the Association of American Publishers, American Library Association, International Communication Association, and American Sociological Association. Her research also informs and is informed by her long-standing work as an educational researcher, curriculum developer, and strategist in the children’s media industry with partners such as Sesame Workshop, PBS KIDS, WGBH, Nickelodeon, Disney, and Apple TV+ (e.g., Sesame Street, Yo GabbaGabbaLand).
Danaé Metaxa
Danaé Metaxa is Raj and Neera Singh Term Assistant Professor of Computer and Information Science at the University of Pennsylvania, with a secondary appointment in the Annenberg School for Communication. Their research interests focus on bias and representation in sociotechnical systems, and the effects of such systems on users in high-stakes social contexts like employment and politics. Dr. Metaxa received a PhD in Computer Science from Stanford University, where they were a fellow with the McCoy Center for Ethics in Society and subsequently a postdoctoral scholar with the Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society. Dr. Metaxa’s work has been published and awarded in top-tier publication venues including ACM CHI and CSCW. They have also worked in an advisory role with legal, industry, and policy groups including the NYC Commission on Human Rights, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and PolicyLink. Dr. Metaxa serves as Penn’s delegate to NIST’s AI Safety Institute Consortium, and on the editorial board of the Journal of Online Trust and Safety.
Vanessa Angélica Villarreal
Vanessa Angélica Villarreal was born in the Rio Grande Valley to Mexican immigrants. She is the author of the essay collection Magical/Realism: Essays on Music, Memory, Fantasy, and Borders (Tiny Reparations Books, 2024), longlisted for the National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award, and the poetry collection Beast Meridian (Noemi Press, 2017), recipient of a 2019 Whiting Award, a Kate Tufts Discovery Award nomination, and winner of the John A. Robertson Award for Best First Book of Poetry from the Texas Institute of Letters. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, New York Magazine’s The Cut, Harper’s Bazaar, Oxford American, Paris Review, Poetry Magazine, and elsewhere. She is a recipient of a 2021 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and holds a doctorate in English Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where she lives with her son and a loyal dog.