20 Under 40: Young Shapers of the Future (Education)
The future is unwritten. It is also right around the corner, and, if, as science fiction author William Gibson noted, it is not evenly distributed, more and more young people around the world are reaching toward it to shape it, improve it, and make it more equitable. These “shapers of the future” work in many fields and endeavors, embracing every corner and intersection of health and medicine, science and technology, and business and entrepreneurship. They are people of ideas, framing the intellectual questions and concerns that will guide future thought. They are scholars, builders, designers, architects, artists, teachers, writers, musicians, and social leaders. While under the age of 40 (as of January 2022), the 200 shapers of the future that we will highlight in this series have already left their mark on the present, and we expect to see much more invention, innovation, creation, and interpretation from them in times to come.
Dafne Almazán (19)
Dafne Almazán, a native of Mexico City, is an extraordinarily adept learner. She taught herself to read at age 3, completed high school at 7, and entered one of Mexico’s most prestigious universities, the Monterrey Institute of Technology, at 10. She earned a degree in psychology and became the youngest credentialed professional in Mexico, capping that at the age of 17 by becoming the youngest student to enter graduate school at Harvard University in a century, earning a master’s in mathematics education. Along with her other accomplishments, she plays piano, violin, and guitar, practices tae kwon do and kempo, and is fluent in English, French, Latin, and Mandarin, the last of which she also teaches. Classified as “super-gifted” in a country whose educational system does not always know what to do with students like her, she and her parents established the Centro de Atención al Talento (CEDAT), or Talent Attention Center, which provides accelerated courses for gifted students—most of whom, she notes, have been misdiagnosed as having attention deficit disorders.
Yasha Asley (18)
Raised by a single father with a gift for home teaching, Yasha Asley, of Iranian ancestry, completed the British school-leaving A-level mathematical exams when he was 8 years old, the youngest person ever to do so. He divided his time between primary school and the University of Leicester, trained by a Russian-born professor of mathematics, Alexander Gorban. Although he wished to remain in school with his age-mates, Gorban and other scholars encouraged him to enter the university full-time, and so he did, becoming a tutor in mathematics at the age of 13. He was hailed in 2017 as the “world’s youngest professor,” hired by the University of Leicester to teach mathematics while studying for his doctorate. It has been reported that there was some hesitation about appointing Yasha to his lecturer’s post, because of child labor laws, but an interview with the faculty quickly revealed his gifts as both a mathematician and a teacher, work that he has continued to perform to exemplary standards.
Gah-Yi Ban (36)
Born in South Korea and raised in Australia, Gah-Yi Ban studied at the University of Sydney, from which she earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and physics, then went on to the University of California, Berkeley, where she earned master’s and doctoral degrees in statistics and industrial engineering. Her teaching career has taken her to numerous economics and business programs, including the London Business School and, recently, to the University of Maryland, where she teaches courses in information technology. Her research focus is on the use of big data in making decisions, especially in decisions that are entrusted to artificial intelligence. One of her projects, for example, was to teach companies how to interpret data streams in order to improve inventory control and prevent waste. This also allows more sensitive pricing of goods, refining ordinary projections of supply and demand. As well as being a TED speaker, she received numerous teaching awards, including the MIM (Masters in Management) Award for 2018.
Ian Brock (17)
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Ian Brock was fascinated by computers and mathematics at a very early age. He taught himself programming, leaving school in the eighth grade to study independently. The young African American man also became aware that members of ethnic minorities were not broadly encouraged to enter technological professions, and so, at the age of 12, he founded Dream Hustle Code, an organization that teaches coding and other skills to members of underserved and underprivileged communities: “We focus on students who are underrepresented in the tech industry—African Americans, Latinos, and Girls—to ensure that Computer Science is truly for All,” he writes. “We believe that proper access to Computer Science Education is a Civil Right and one that we continue to fight for.” Hundreds of students of all ages have passed through the online academy’s virtual doors, and Ian has been featured in many magazine articles and television programs, including CBS Evening News. Along with his work and studies, he is now writing his first book, and he has founded an offshoot of Dream Hustle Code called New Nerd, teaching computing skills not on most school curricula to what Ian calls an “after school league” of members.
Ashish Fernando (~37)
Born in India, Ashish Fernando studied biotechnology at Pune University, then took an M.S. in the discipline at Sathyabama University (now Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology) in Chennai. He worked as a programmer and software developer in the Chennai area for a few years. It was while applying for graduate study in the United States that he came to the realization that the whole process was unnecessarily complicated, particularly for international students who had to navigate a bewildering array of application forms that varied widely from school to school. Drawing on his knowledge of artificial intelligence, Fernando designed a program that would allow students to apply to several schools using a single form. He eventually received a full scholarship for an M.B.A. at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts. His early work formed the basis of iSchoolConnect, the firm he founded in 2018 and of which he became CEO. With offices in Boston and Mumbai, the platform serves both individual students and institutions, streamlining the application and recruitment processes.
Dwayne Fields (39)
Born in Jamaica, Dwayne Fields moved with his family to England at age six. On the tough streets of London, drawn into the milieu of street gangs and violence, he nearly lost his life, and it was then and there that he resolved to change his path. Always interested in nature, having grown up near a tropical forest, he turned to nature for inspiration and education, spending as much time as he could in the countryside and learning outdoor skills. In 2010 he became the first Black Briton to reach the magnetic North Pole, walking more than 400 miles. For his achievement, he was invited to celebrate the centenary of Robert Falcon Scott’s South Pole expedition in 2011, along with fellow explorers, by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. He has since worked with inner-city youth, and young Britons outside the city as well, to teach them how to explore the outdoors and thrive in it, for, as he wrote for The Guardian, in the age of coronavirus “our new normal is going to involve spending a lot more time outdoors.” If all goes according to plan, for Dwayne Fields, time outdoors will soon involve an expedition to Antarctica.
Alejandro Gibes de Gac (33)
When Alejandro Gibes de Gac’s father was freed after several years as a political prisoner in Chile, he moved to Paris. There he met Gibes de Gac’s mother, a graduate student from Puerto Rico who was studying in the French capital. While they were working in theater in the Netherlands, Alejandro was born. They immigrated to the United States and devoted themselves to educating their children. Gibes de Gac says that he learned two lessons from his family: that “a child’s education involves much more than just their schooling” and that “parents’ love for their children is the single greatest, and most underutilized, natural resource in education.” He credits these as the founding tenets of his Springboard Collaborative, which offers five-week summer reading programs for inner-city youth in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Oakland, California, to counter the “summer slide” of loss of reading skills during school breaks. In fact, and surprisingly, with that five weeks’ extra attention, students gain an average of three months in improved proficiency in reading, a valuable boost. One of the components, the former first-grade teacher relates, is that he also shows parents how to be reading coaches, which boosts their skills as well.
Anh Phuong Ha (31)
Anh Phuong Ha grew up in Phu Tho province, a mountainous region that, though only 50 miles away from the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi, is a world away, most of its people being members of ethnic minorities. Herself a member of the Muong people, she studied English at Hanoi University and was offered a position working as an international representative of a Pakistani pharmaceutical firm, but instead she returned to school to earn a master’s degree in English. She then returned to her native province to teach English at Huong Can High School. She uses Skype and other technologies to connect her students with native English speakers so that they can improve their skills and overcome shyness, since encounters with native speakers of English on the ground there are rare. All her students have passed national proficiency exams, for which reason she has received numerous teaching awards, including being named a 2020 finalist for the Global Teaching Prize. In addition to her work at the school, she teaches through the “borderless” vehicle of the Internet, with students throughout Asia, Africa, Europe, and even North America. She also consults on curriculum design.
Grechen Huebner (~32)
Do elementary-school students need to learn computer coding? The answer, according to Grechen Huebner, is an emphatic yes. Not having had the opportunity to learn coding early, Huebner, while earning a B.A. in communications from the University of Louisville, took up the subject and taught herself several computer languages as well as web design, which, she says, enabled her to get good jobs even when she was still in school. Inspired, she then cofounded a company called Kodable, with an eye to providing coding instruction to students around the world, particularly in underserved communities. The extensive curriculum that Kodable developed has enabled it to reach more than half of the elementary schools in the United States, according to the company. A secret of Kodable’s success, Huebner says, is that she takes pains to be in constant contact with her customers, finding out what needs to be changed, added, or taken away. “Don’t be afraid to fail,” she insists. “Failure is part of the learning process.”
Charlene Hunter (36)
Born in Nottingham, England, Charlene Hunter was fascinated by the computer that her father brought home one day. It helped that he owned a software company and encouraged her to learn how to code. After earning a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Birmingham, she went to work in computing and immediately discovered that there were few Black women in the offices in which she worked. In 2017 she founded Coding Black Females, a London-based service and education group that teaches computer coding skills to unemployed Black women and places them in positions in the industry. “Everyone works and learns together,” she says, “and now we have visible role models in the technology space.” While working as lead software engineer for a London tech firm, she is also expanding Coding Black Females to add courses and partners to the enterprise, so that, as she says, “we can build up our presence in technological organizations across the board.”
Fatou Hydra (31)
Born in Gambia and now a resident of Rabat, Morocco, Fatou Dino Hydra is the founder of African Youth Architects, an educational clearinghouse, which describes its mission so: “The sole objective of AYA is to campaign on improving and the attainment of relevant and quality education for all.” This includes an international campaign across the African continent to develop curricula and resources for students. With a background in pre-medicine, Hydra emphasizes that one critical resource is well-trained teachers, especially those with computer skills, and this has become a critical part of the group’s mission. Among AYA’s current programs is an effort to respond to the coronavirus pandemic with scalable educational reforms that highlight distance learning for students in the developing world. Hydra also emphasizes the development of salable interpersonal skills, such as clear communication and careful, authentic self-presentation. AYA has also inaugurated an award program recognizing young African leaders, such as Heba Assem Adel Mohamed, an Egyptian advocate of civic education, and Sandra Ifeanyichukwu Ajaja, the Nigerian founder of FemPower Africa, emphasizing technological and entrepreneurial education for women.
[Read more about the people who are transforming the future of academia.]
Bernadette Lim (26)
After attending Harvard University, where she majored in public health, and traveling to India as a Fulbright scholar, Bernadette Lim became involved in teaching health and hygiene to young women in the developing world. This interest led her to found Women SPEAK, a mentoring project teaching young women media literacy, self-care, and leadership skills, with the further aim of their “building positive body image, deconstructing gender media stereotypes, establishing healthy relationships, and being leaders of change in the community,” as the organization’s website puts it. Highlighted by publications such as Business Insider and Glamour and by activists such as Chelsea Clinton and Jessica Alba, the organization received many honors and awards, while local chapters of the organization sprang up at secondary schools and universities throughout the United States. Lim is now studying to become an OB/GYN with the intention of working in a medically underserved community.
Moritza Lim Fang Min (31)
A popular teacher of English at Serangoon Secondary School in her native Singapore, Moritza Lim was concerned that many of her students faced challenges at home that impeded their ability to learn and often resulted in absenteeism. One teenage girl whose parents regularly fought into the night often fell asleep in class, while another who lived in similar circumstances ran away from home and lived in a parking garage for several weeks. Rather than apply strict and potentially embarrassing discipline to such struggling students, Lim attempts to discover underlying issues by asking an affected student whether there is anything she might do to help. The isolation wrought by the coronavirus pandemic exacerbated many of these difficulties. To help combat them, Lim organized her at-home students, asking the older ones to share their school and life experiences to help younger students prepare for the near future. She called this program the Student Interview Talk Show, drawing on students from across the curriculum. “It was heartening to hear the students share the reasons for their interest in their subjects, their aspirations for the future, and the authentic advice they gave to their juniors,” she told Singapore’s Ministry of Education. In 2021 Lim was one of six recipients of the nation’s Outstanding Youth in Education Award (OYEA), which honors young educators who have shown exceptional passion for teaching and a commitment to inspiring and encouraging their students.
Henry Motte-Muñoz (34)
The son of French and Filipino parents, Henry Motte-Muñoz began his career as a business analyst, having earned a bachelor’s degree from the London School of Economics and a master’s degree from Harvard Business School. He worked for Bain Capital and Goldman Sachs until, in his late 20s, he decided to move to the Philippines and found the Manila-based Web portal Edukasyon.ph, which assists students in finding matches with their interests, schools, scholarships, and other education-related concerns. Seven years later Edukayson.ph had served more than 20 million Filipino students as a clearinghouse for self-empowered education. He told Esquire that he noticed plenty of such resources while working in the United States and United Kingdom, with information that was “substantial and clear in terms of what courses are offered, what job opportunities are available in line with the courses you take and even the basics on how to apply.” Providing such a platform for the Philippines where none existed before has proven both a sound business decision and an important educational service.
Faraja Nyalandu (36)
Born and raised in Tanzania, Faraja Nyalandu earned a bachelor’s degree in law from the University of East London, followed by a master’s degree in law from the University of Dar es Salaam, specializing in human rights and labor law. Before entering college, she won the Miss Tanzania competition. In 2013, while still in law school, she founded Shule Direct, Tanzania, which delivers educational materials via social media and other technological platforms to learners everywhere, though with an emphasis on education in Tanzania by offering, for example, the entire secondary-school curriculum online, bringing learning to students in remote locations and allowing all students to review and even get a step ahead of their classwork. She is now the executive director of the organization, and she also founded a technological learning and networking platform for young women entrepreneurs called Ndoto Hub. Nyalandu, who has written two books in KiSwahili, has been honored by the World Economic Forum for her contributions.
Jesse Reising (31)
Jesse Reising grew up in a working-class community in Decatur, Illinois, a place in which, he told an interviewer, “Ivy League schools weren’t even a topic of discussion.” Even so, the valedictorian and star athlete earned a football scholarship to Yale University, where he flourished. He also enrolled in the campus branch of the Marine Corps Officer Candidate School, intending to receive a commission after graduation. A candidate for the William V. Campbell Trophy, honoring scholar-athletes, his plans inadvertently changed when he lost the use of his right arm in an accident on the field. He traveled to Afghanistan all the same, working as a construction manager at a combat outpost, then entered Harvard Law School. There, with two Yale classmates, he founded the Warrior-Scholar Project, which helps returning military veterans enter college through “academic boot camps” at a dozen campuses, including Harvard and Yale, that provide curricula focused on humanities, STEM, and business and entrepreneurship and that teach such essential student skills as effective note-taking and analytical reading, as well as offering mentorship from professors and fellow veterans and guidance in applying to schools. Along with aiding the project, which has served more than 1,000 veterans, he now works as an attorney in Chicago.
Joanna Smith (30)
Born and raised in Miami, Florida, Joanna Smith attended Harvard University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree and was a research assistant at the Graduate School of Education. Settling in the Boston area, she taught eighth-grade mathematics in charter schools, then worked as an attendance and family-engagement specialist. She took note of the fact that in lower-income schools, truancy was chronically higher than in wealthier ones, and she decided to address the problem by using technology to encourage attendance and help students overcome obstacles to getting themselves to class. In 2018 she founded a business called AllHere Education that works with thousands of schools across the United States to get students to class by means of a smart chatbot system. Not only does AllHere’s system track attendance, it also helps determine whether academically at-risk students need health care, food, computer access, or other resources, then matches those students with appropriate agencies. Although the business suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic, Smith was able to convert the chatbot so that it could monitor students working remotely, making sure they kept up their online classwork. In 2021 the company secured venture capital funding to develop its chatbot system even further, allowing greater capacity for expansion.
Tran Hoai Tam (~35)
Born and raised in the Vietnamese city of Can Tho, Tran Hoai Tam attended a high school for gifted students, concentrating on physics, then enrolled in the “mechatronics”—that is, robotics—department of Can Tho University. After completing his degree, he earned a master’s at Ho Chi Minh City University of Science and Technology. Returning to his native city, he joined the Can Tho University of Science and Technology faculty of mechanical engineering in 2013. When the coronavirus pandemic struck, he embarked on a project that had an immediately useful effect: he designed a robot to deliver food, medicine, and other materials to hospital patients being treated for the virus, sparing doctors and nurses from exposure when contact with those patients was not required. The robot can be controlled with either an app or a remote control, lending it both flexibility and precision. Tam attributes his ability to build such a machine to experiences garnered both in teaching and in research.
Mithuna Yoganathan (29)
Mithuna Yoganathan earned a bachelor’s degree in science from Australia National University in 2013 and, with it, a scholarship to go to graduate school at the University of Cambridge in England. She is now a doctoral candidate there, concentrating on quantum computing, and a lecturer in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Cambridge. Taking the view that such heady matters should be available to everyone, she created the YouTube physics and mathematics channel Looking Glass Universe, where she gently explores such topics as teaching yourself quantum mechanics (she says it’s “super, super exciting!”) and the laws of the conservation of energy. As she explains it, the inspiration for the educational channel lay in the fact that she had difficulty explaining mathematical concepts in plain language—and, indeed, none of her professors could either. Her user-friendly video lessons have now taught thousands of viewers the rudiments of physics, mathematics, and other sciences, reflecting her view that STEM education has a role in every field. “I love teaching maths to someone who says they hate maths and they’re not good at it,” she says. “I love changing their mind!”
Malala Yousafzai (24)
Born in the Swat Valley of Pakistan, the daughter of a political activist and educator, Malala Yousafzai was an excellent student who loved to go to school. When Muslim extremists invaded the region in 2007, they announced that girls would be forbidden to go to school. Malala spoke out frequently against the ban for the next five years, earning international attention, and, finally, a Taliban gunman shot her in the head in an attempt to silence her. She was hospitalized in England and successfully recovered. When she was 16, she was awarded the United Nations Human Rights Prize, and in 2014 she became the youngest person ever to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. She has written two memoirs and continued to agitate for the rights of children to be educated in every country of the world, and her Malala Fund established a school for Syrian girls in a refugee camp in Lebanon, among other endeavors. While continuing to work as an education advocate, in 2020 Malala Yousafzai earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, political science, and economics—a degree associated, in Britain, with political aspirations—from the University of Oxford, having enrolled in Lady Margaret Hall, the same college as a much-admired compatriot, Benazir Bhutto, did two generations earlier.