Marina Umaschi Bers

Marina Umaschi Bers is Augustus Long Professor of Education at Boston College’s Lynch School of Education and Human Development, where she directs the interdisciplinary DevTech Research Group. Originally from Argentina, she earned an undergraduate degree in Social Communication from the University of Buenos Aires, a master’s degree in Educational Media and Technology from Boston University, and an M.S. and Ph.D. from the MIT Media Laboratory under the mentorship of Seymour Papert. Her work focuses on early childhood technology, computer science education, robotics, and learning technologies. She co-created the ScratchJr programming language and developed the KIBO robotic kit.

Bers is the author of Beyond Coding: How Children Learn Human Values through Programming (MIT Press, 2022), which examines how programming education can foster character development and human values alongside technical skills. She received the 2005 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers and previously served as a professor at Tufts University, where she established the DevTech Research Group and directed the graduate certificate program in Early Childhood Technology.