People

	Richard Larson is Principal Investigator of the MIT BLOSSOMS Initiative. He is a professor in the MIT Institute for Data, Systems and Society. He is also the Founder and Director of MIT LINC (Learning International Networks Consortium), an MIT-based international project that has held four international symposia and sponsored a number of initiatives in Africa, China and the Middle East. Professor Larson first became interested in technology-enabled education when in the early 1990’s he saw what a valuable addition it was to the education of his own children. From 1995 to 2002, he served as director of MIT’s Center for Advanced Educational Services (CAES) where he focused on bringing technology-enabled learning to students living on the traditional campus and to those living and working far from the university, often on different continents.
	Elizabeth Murray is Project Manager of the MIT BLOSSOMS Initiative and Co-Director of MIT LINC. She has been involved with LINC since its inception in 2002 and is editor of the proceedings of all four LINC conferences. She has traveled extensively in her LINC-related work and has co-authored with Professor Larson the following two papers on technology-enabled education: Distance Learning as a Tool for Poverty Reduction: A Focus on Two Countries, China and Mexico and Open Educational Resources for Blended Learning in High Schools: Overcoming Impediments in Developing Countries.
	Ling Wang is the MIT BLOSSOMS China Partnership Liaison. Her position is to support the communications between the Chinese partners and the BLOSSOMS team. She has Master's degrees in both Chemical Education and Analytical Chemistry, and worked as a high school chemistry teacher in China before coming to the U.S. Because of her academic background and professional experience, Ling also serves as a Chemistry Content Expert and assists in the review of all chemistry-related BLOSSOMS lessons.
	Jerold Gelfand is the Senior Producer and Director for MIT Blossoms and has produced over 35 unique Blossoms video lessons. Jerold has developed a series of global production standards adhered to by all partnering Blossoms video producers and consults with Blossoms production teams around the world, ensuring a level consistency and excellence. Jerold is also the president of Boston Digital Video, an award-winning video production company where he produces marketing and educational videos for technology, life science, higher education and non-profit industries.
	Zaleha Abdullah is Project Manager for the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) - MIT BLOSSOMS initiative in Malaysia, coordinating this collaborative effort among Malaysia Ministry of Education, UTM and MIT. She is also the Coordinator for the Educational Technology Program, which is based in the School of Education. She is actively involved in research and projects of Higher Education under the Creative Technology Research Group (CITE). Her research interests and experience are in the area of creativity, Activity Theory, and online Learning. She holds a Ph.D. degree in distance and online learning, and has previously worked in the design industry before joining the School of Education.
	Wendy Hwang is Project Manager for the MIT BLOSSOMS partnership with the Verakin High School of Chongqing (VHSC) of the Verakin Group in China. Ms. Hwang is Assistant to the Chairman of Verakin Group/ Director of International Department of VHSC. She has worked in educational institutions for 12 years and has been Director of the International Department of VHSC for 5 years. She has a wealth of experience in operating international education programs and in designing exchange activities around college counseling for high school students. She devotes herself to improving the learning/teaching skills from the traditional Chinese educational methods towards a model that will develop students' creativity and increase their exposure to cross-cultural communications.