Stephen Gilman is the founder and executive director of MakerState. Stephen and his son Ben started MakerState to bring fun STEAM building and learning projects in robotics, coding, game design and more to all kids, schools and communities (STEAM: science, tech, engineering, arts, math). Stephen’s mission is to help transform K-12 education from lecture-based memorization to student-centered, inquiry-based, experiential learning, empowering our kids with life-transforming passions and creative masteries in 21st skills and 21st century technology. Stephen is a founding board member of the Urban Assembly Maker Academy, a founder of the Carnegie Learning Center, a founding teacher and dean of Bronx Collegiate, a public school based in Outward Bound experiential learning, and a founding board member of the volunteer network, UlsterCorps. A veteran 82nd Airborne paratrooper, Stephen is focused on bringing our warriors back into civilian life with a youth-empowering purpose equal to their former missions of national defense. Stephen enjoys historical fiction writing, game design, geocaching, hiking, biking around NYC, and creativity of all kinds, especially if it’s with his son, Ben, and partner, Michele.