Keynote Presentations 

Sean O’Connor 

"Utilizing Technology in Citizen Science to Expand Educational Opportunities" 

Sean O’Connor is the program manager of educational mapping for National Geographic Education. His experience with educational mapping includes designing maps and interactive map technologies for a range of audiences. His work also involves a strong outdoor education component, helping educators understand the ways and best practices in using technology inside and outside of the classroom to enhance field learning experiences. 

Chad Pregracke 

"Helping to Clean America’s Rivers: From the Bottom Up"

Chad Pregracke is the president and founder of Living Lands & Waters (LL&W), the world’s only “industrial strength” not-for-profit river cleanup organization. Chad formed LL&W at the youthful age of 23, after spending his life growing up and working on the Mississippi River. Early on, he became appalled by the amount of garbage in the river and decided that if no one else was going to do something about it, he would. Over the last 16 years, he, his crew and nearly 70,000 volunteers have removed more than 7 million pounds of garbage out of our nation’s rivers. He’s also broadened his mission to include a Million Trees and an Adopt-A-River Mile Project, as well as a new floating classroom aboard a barge that he and his crew live on seven months out of the year, teaching students, educators and individual citizens about the value of our rivers and natural resources. Most recently, Chad was named the 2013 CNN Hero of the Year.