Steve Beaty is professor and chair of the Department of Computer Sciences at Metropolitan State University of Denver, specializing in Cybersecurity. He earned his doctorate in Computer Science from Colorado State University, and holds a rich background in both the theoretical and practical aspects of computers and networks. He led a team of developers at Pixar and Hewlett Packard and served as head of cybersecurity at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder. He actively contributes to many open-source projects and consults with the Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking and a wide range of other businesses and agencies.
Jane Burke boasts over two decades of experience in non-profit arts administration, gained from positions held in encyclopedic and contemporary art museums, as well as alternative art organizations. She has worked as an independent curator, juror, and advisor for galleries, universities, and government agencies, while pursuing her ongoing research interests in the cross-cultural construction of identity and intersectional social change through the lens of visual and material culture.
Mentor George Michael Karas and Mentee Fernando Medina are contributors at the Youth Art Mentoring (YAM) program at RedLine. Their presentation will center on the power of mentorship through creative practice, highlighting how intergenerational relationships between artists can support identity development, confidence, and long-term creative growth. Together, they will reflect on their shared experience as mentor and mentee, offering both personal insight and a broader perspective on how arts education can foster connection, belonging, and opportunity.
David Klein is a professor in Industrial Design at MSU Denver. He received his MFA degree in Industrial Design from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and designed children’s toys, adult fitness equipment, interior design accessories, and consumer electronics at Samsung. He was Western District VP of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) and has published work through the Fulbright-Hayes Seminar in the Czech and Slovak Republics, and worked with the Beijing Academy of Science and Technology and the Fachhochschule Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Art, among other publications in international journals.