Crypto Team
Prof. Newton Lee
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Prof. Newton Lee is the founding president of the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Institute for Education, Research, and Scholarships based in Los Angeles, California. He is a former Disney and Bell Labs engineer, and a 2021 graduate of the FBI Citizens Academy.
Serving as an FBI Ambassador, Lee expounds on social media, campus safety, student mental health, cybersecurity, and counterterrorism as portrayed in the highly acclaimed Total Information Awareness book series published by Springer Nature.
During his 10-year stint at The Walt Disney Company, he served as a steering committee member of the Disney VoluntEARS Leadership Council until 2006.
He received a B.S. and M.S. in Computer Science from Virginia Tech and an A.S. in Electrical Engineering and an honorary doctorate in Computer Science from Vincennes University. He has lectured at California State University Northridge, Emily Carr University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, San Diego State University, San Jose State University, Simon Fraser University, University of Southern California, Vincennes University, and Woodbury University.
He has been honored with a Michigan Leading Edge Technologies Award, two community development awards from the California Junior Chamber of Commerce, and four volunteer project leadership awards from The Walt Disney Company.
Newton was the lead game engineer at Disney Online, creator of AT&T Bell Labs' first-ever commercial artificial intelligence tool, inventor of the world's first annotated multimedia OPAC for the U.S. National Agricultural Library, developer of an AI Expert System for counterterrorism at the Institute for Defense Analyses, designer of an AI Expert System in pharmacology and drug interactions at Virginia Tech, and the longest serving editor-in-chief in the history of the Association for Computing Machinery for its publication Computers in Entertainment (2003–2018).
⇨ BOOKS
Among his 200+ publications in 3 languages and 6,700+ library holdings worldwide, the Total Information Awareness trilogy books have garnered rave reviews from Newsweek and The Daily Beast, ACM Computing Reviews, AdWeek, and Choice Magazine, among others. Veteran Staff Sergeant Andrew Price of the United States Air Force (USAF) remarked, “I am inspired by the prospect of world peace. I’d fully recommend following the author’s steps, reaching beyond our borders, making friends outside our norm, and helping to foster world peace and a better tomorrow.”
⇨ GAMES
He has co-developed over 100 online games at The Walt Disney Company, and 12 bestselling & award-winning interactive titles including The Lion King Animated Storybook & Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree that were featured in the Billboard Magazine.
⇨ MUSIC
He has executive produced dance-pop songs that have played on American Idol and charted on U.S. Billboard, U.K. Music Week, and U.S. iTunes HOT 100 (Electronic). His latest albums are "Google It (Soundtrack)" and "I Am Not I" for which DJ Robert Scott called "a marvelous pop/dance affair of the highest order!"
Dr. Edward Clift
Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer
Dr. Edward Clift is past president of the world-famous Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara/Ventura, California and was the founding dean of the School of Media, Culture & Design at Woodbury University. He earned his PhD degree in communication from the University of Utah with specialties in mass media and new technology.
Dr. Clift’s guiding passion has always been to find ways to transform students and others seeking to realize their potential as creative individuals. He has substantial international executive business experience and was honored to be a Fellow in the inaugural class of California Connections, a professional development program offered by the Southern California Leadership Network.
His community activities include service as chair of the Burbank Cultural Arts Commission and education director on the board of the Burbank International Film Festival. In addition to publishing articles on the rhetoric of economics, Dr. Clift is the editor of "How Language is Used to Do Business" and co-editor of three books published by University of Chicago Press exploring the intersections of cities, film, and digital media.
Dr. Clift grew up in Washington D.C. and is the nephew of four-time Academy Award Nominee Montgomery Clift.
Peiwei (Peter) Xiao
Chief Technology Officer
Peiwei (Peter) Xiao earned a joint Mathematics and Economics Degree from the University of California San Diego and continued his financial career path in New York City after graduation. Peter worked with brokerage company Broker Junction, Series LLC in the U.S. derivatives industry. He passed NFA series 25 and 34 exams and hosted the brokerage company’s educational webinars.
Peter left the financial industry and continued his graduate study in Data Analysis at San Jose State University. He believes that data analysis techniques can lead to more effective management of resources by analyzing trends and identifying cost-reduction opportunities. His driving motivation currently is to discover ways that machine learning and deep learning can benefit society.
Peter has joined the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Institute for Education, Research, and Scholarships as the chief technology officer responsible for cryptocurrency development, crypto blockchain research, and Web 3.0 adoption by nonprofits.
Mark Carvalho
Chief Marketing Officer, Worldwide
Mark Carvalho, U.S. Marine Corps Veteran, is the Global Ambassador and Director of Business Development at the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Institute for Education, Research, and Scholarships (IFERS). He is Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) for the 501C3 Coin cryptocurrency, University of Esports, and Planet Marz theme parks and also serves as a Director at Sunn Classic Pictures and the Asian Film Festival.
After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps as a hydraulic technician on Phantom Jets (F4), Mark entered the automotive industry where he specialized in building hot rods, race cars, and movie vehicles as an automotive artist. His work was featured on Tonight Show with Jay Leno, in a segment where Leno drove the Summit Pro stock car at the Winter Nationals in Pomona, California.
Mark is an environmental futurist with 20+ years of experience in applying life sciences and chemistry to improve indoor air quality, health, and wellness. He is passionate about education that can change lives, and he hopes to expand its reach to governments and universities globally.
Mark has recently joined Big City Beats and Space Club Kitchen as a Global Ambassador with the mission to feed one billion people globally from the European Space Station. He counts it as one of the most meaningful humanitarian projects of his lifetime.