Rutgers GSE Lecturer Selected for Google AI Educator Series

Natalie O’Neil joins a national network of educational leaders and tech innovators shaping the future of AI in teaching and learning.

New Brunswick, NJ—The Rutgers Graduate School of Education is pleased to announce that part-time lecturer and alum Natalie O’Neil has been selected as a Google AI Ambassador, a competitive professional development program created in partnership with the International Society for Technology in Education and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ISTE+ASCD), a unified non-profit, to prepare educational leaders as AI trainers and advocates.

O’Neil’s relationship with Google for Education spans more than a decade, beginning in 2013 when she was accepted into the Google Teacher Academy. This was an immersive professional development experience held at Google’s Mountain View, California campus. That experience helped launch her career in educational technology and innovation, leading to work as a Google Certified Trainer and Google Mentor, and ultimately to her joining Rutgers GSE as an instructor in education and technology.

Through Google’s latest AI programming efforts, O’Neil will participate in a two-day, Google-sponsored professional development immersive alongside a national cohort of educational leaders. Accompanying the launch of Google’s latest AI Educator Series, participants gain hands-on experience with AI tools, develop instructional use cases, and build expertise aligned with ISTE+ASCD’s “Profile of an AI-Ready Graduate.” This graduate framework identifies the core skills students need to use AI creatively, critically, and responsibly.

O’Neil has taught numerous versions of her learning and technology course at Rutgers GSE for years, continually revising the curriculum to reflect advances in learning science and edtech. This includes the rapid growth of AI in education.

O’Neil brings a wide range of professional experience to her work in educational and technological innovation. In addition to her decade-long tenure at Rutgers GSE where she teaches graduate-level courses spanning AI, learning theory, and technology integration, she has served as Chief Operating Officer and Director of Innovation at the RAPID Institute within the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE).