Joe Wise is the Chief Operations Officer at the Wildwood Institute for STEM Research and Development (WISRD). He has been involved in education for over 40 years. He has received several awards for his teaching and innovation. He was a founding member of the Los Angeles Physics Teacher Alliance. He also founded the W. M. Keck Math Science Institute, the Center for Effective Learning, and was co-founder of the PlayMaker School at New Roads.

During this time he has participated in numerous National Science Foundation grants to reform and promote science education. He served ten years as the education coordinator for NSF's Center for Embedded Network Sensing and 17 years as the education/public outreach liaison for NASA's Dawn Mission. He has publications in journals of science and cognitive science, was a reviewer for the 7th edition of PSSC Physics, and was a contributing author to The Dawn Mission to Minor Planets 4 Vesta and 1 Ceres.

Dr. Liza Bearman is the Director of the Wildwood Institute for Social Leadership (WISL). She has spent the past 25+ years working to transform K-12 education by co-creating learning environments that address the unique lives and interests of students through real-world, community-rooted, project-based and personalized teaching and learning. Liza grew up in Los Angeles and spent years living and working in both Washington, DC and New York City. She earned her in B.A. English and Political Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and her Master of Arts (M.A.), Master of Education (M.Ed.) and Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) degrees from Columbia University’s Teachers College.