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ROBERT J. TORRES, PHD

LEARNING SCIENTIST

INTERNATIONAL YOUTH AND EDTECH LEADER

adwaqm@r.postjobfree.com LinkedIn +1-502-***-****

TEDx speaker, author. Poverty, equity, and inclusion activist. 20+ years building impactful education and training systems from ground up. Raised and granted over $750 million. Large-scale project manager. AREAS OF DEEP EXPERTISE

WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIST

leadership coaching • social-emotional learning

new school and instructional design

RESEARCH & INNOVATION MANAGEMENT

research and data analysis • human-centered design pilot-testing and iteration

Hello World

Hello World

GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT

business acquisition and scaling • capacity-

development • resource management

PHILANTHROPY

fund-raising • grant-making

impact-investing

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE

Teach-The-World Foundation, Washington, DC August 2016 – Present Chief Strategy Officer

• Developed humanitarian mission to provide youth aged 4-17 technology-enabled literacy programs.

• Recruited and intensely trained NGOs in Pakistan and Bangladesh working in emergency contexts.

• Directed internal monitoring and evaluation program; authored EGMA and EGRA assessments.

• Managed key UNICEF and World Bank relationships. Impact

• Students continue to make 2 to 2.5 greater learning than their control group.

• 50-150% yearly enrollment increases; Rohingya refugee NGO to serve 10,000 students. Hello World

EkStep Foundation, Bangalore, India November 2014 – January 2016 Co-Founder and Chief Learning Scientist

• Led R&D efforts and algorithmic requirements for meta learning technology platform, an open-source large-scale humanitarian enterprise to educate 200 million children in India.

• Established founding partnerships with global cadre of pioneering game-based digital technology developers, many whose R&D labs I funded/founded while at the Gates Foundation. Impact • Directed design of Genie, K-12 content learning app used by millions of students and teachers.

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The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Wash., DC April 2010 – November 2014 Senior Program Officer

• Executed $75 million Games for Learning and Assessment Investment Strategy.

• Created unprecedented R&D collaborative ventures between developers, data scientists, and educators.

• Sponsored over 2 dozen conferences to guide and influence expanding ecosystem of policymakers and donors.

Impact

• Produced archetypal games; meta-analyses; data-mining solutions.

• Market growth expected to quadruple to $17B expected by 2023. Institute of Play, NYC February 2007 – April 2010

Co-Founder, Chief Research Officer, Lead Coach

• Secured $1.5 million MacArthur Foundation grant to lead conceptualize, test, and launch Quest to Learn school, the first-of-its-kind game-based grades 6-12 school.

• Led design and research efforts; facilitated deep collaborations between games designers. Impact • Student outperform peers across NYC.

• Directed design of Genie, K-12 content learning app used by millions of students and teachers. Design by Design, NYC April 2002 – April 2010

Founder and Chief Executive Officer

• Created and mentored consulting group of 20 staff; managed annual $5-12 million operating budget. Impact

• Created 30 high-impact schools in low-income communities.

• 36% increase in Black male college enrollment compared to control groups.

• 9.4% increase in on-time 4-year high school graduation rates. Nuyorican Dream, NYC Writer and Producer 1994 – 2000

• Produced award-winning auto-biographical HBO film on impact of poverty.

• Premiered at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival; Winner, Best-Picture, NYC, Los Angeles, Paris film festivals. Clearpool, Inc., NYC Director of Education 1999 – 2002

• Designed first charter school approved by the NY State Board of Regents. Learning Project Middle School, NYC Founder and School Principal 1995 – 1999

• With an exceptional group of teachers, conceptualized and ran an innovative project-based school. Teach For America, Bay Area & NYC Various Roles 1995 – 1999

• Served as Bilingual Ed. Teacher, Faculty Member, and President of the National Faculty

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EDUCATION

Dual Doctoral Fellowships

Social Science Research Council, NYC

Florida State University, Tallahassee

Evaluated extent to which Quest to Learn School enabled student systems-thinking skill development. 2009 – 2010 Ph.D. Learning Sciences,

Education Technology

New York University, NYC

600 youth design-based study measured student

acquisition of system-thinking skills after daily 4-month- long play of game design learning game.

2004 – 2009

M.Ed. Supervision and Administration

Bank Street College of Education, NYC

Complete preparatory course of study for school principals and district superintendent 1998 – 2000

B.A. Double Major: English and Spanish

Literature

Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio

American and European English Lit and Criticism

Spanish and LATAM Language and Literature

1986 – 1990

VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE

Shambhala Meditation Center of New York 2008 – 2016 Attended Staffed 25+ Weekend Trainings Workshops Refuge Vows Taken AWARDS

v Best Paper on Emerging Media Award. Media, Culture & Curriculum, American Education Research Association, 2010

v Mitchell Leaska Dissertation Honors Research Award, New York University, 2008 v Paul Patrick Honors in Achievement Award in Literary Studies, Oberlin College, 1990 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

International Experience: U.S., India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malawi, Senegal, Mexico Languages: English (fluent); Spanish (fluent)

Computer Skills: Microsoft Office Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, Azure, Team, SharePoint

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