AI ARCHITECT · INNOVATION BUILDER · EDUCATOR

Build the future
where people are.

Donnell P. Layne builds the ecosystems that turn emerging technology into human opportunity — across AI, experiential learning, STEM infrastructure, entrepreneurship, and workforce transformation.

$12M+Federal STEM funding secured
5,000Sq. ft. innovation hub
20+Years in technology
Donnell P. Layne
California Community Colleges AI Fellow
AIApplied Intelligence
XRImmersive Learning
∞Human Potential
01 — ABOUT

Technology is only powerful when people can see themselves inside it.

Donnell Philip Layne is an educator, technologist, entrepreneur, and innovation leader focused on expanding who gets to participate in the future. He directs the STEM Innovation Center and iMAKE Innovation Center at Moreno Valley College and serves as a California Community Colleges AI Fellow for the Inland Empire/Desert region.

His work blends emerging technology with practical ecosystem design: the spaces, people, infrastructure, training, partnerships, and belief required to turn access into lasting capability.

02 — IMPACT

Proof of work.

Not technology for technology's sake. Infrastructure that changes what people believe is possible.

$12M+

Federal STEM funding

Secured to advance equity, immersive learning, and innovation infrastructure.

5,000 sq ft

Innovation hub

A hands-on ecosystem for fabrication, AI, robotics, design, entrepreneurship, and learning.

20+ yrs

Technology leadership

Across IT, project management, education, consulting, entrepreneurship, and systems building.

1st

Applied AI hub

Co-founded the Inland Empire’s first hands-on applied AI training center.

94%

Access indicators

17 of 18 iMAKE indicators improved, up from 13 of 18 (72%). The model has been adopted by city libraries, and alumni return to lead.

4

ESR cohorts

Four EV & Solar cohorts — Fall 2024, Fall 2025, Spring 2026, and Summer 2026 — with 37 enrollments and 35 unique participants. Training covers solar and EV charging, with NABCEP and NCCER credentials.

2

Makerspace buildout

Built the Makerspace & Innovation Center and managed two federal grants over eight years.

Goals

Student outcomes

His protégés have attained UC Riverside, UC Davis, and UCLA and successfully graduated; a protégé now manages laboratories at Stanford. These are sample outcomes for some students, not all, illustrating the innovation center environment.

03 — CURRENT WORK

Building across systems.

Higher education, workforce, entrepreneurship, community development, and emerging technology — connected rather than siloed.

01

iMAKE Innovation Center

Directing an experiential learning ecosystem at Moreno Valley College where students and community members build with advanced fabrication, XR, robotics, AI, and digital technologies.

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02

California Community Colleges AI Fellowship

Supporting responsible, practical AI adoption and workforce readiness across the Inland Empire/Desert region.

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03

Kinetic AI Hub

Co-founding a hands-on applied AI training center serving entrepreneurs, nonprofits, public institutions, creatives, and workforce professionals in the Inland Empire.

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04

TwinFlame Ventures + Catalyst Design Studios

Entrepreneurship, creative technology, social impact, design, and future-facing experiences that connect innovation to community value.

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05

Greater Englewood Chamber / ESR

Board Member and Secretary of the Greater Englewood Chamber of Commerce (joined 2016), and co-founder of the Greater Englewood Chamber Foundation. The visionary mind behind ESR and The Emerald — solar and EV charging workforce training.

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04 — SPEAKING & THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

From AI strategy to the future of learning.

Donnell speaks about AI, immersive learning, makerspaces, workforce transformation, STEM identity, entrepreneurship, and what it takes to build technology ecosystems that genuinely expand opportunity.

AI + EducationFuture of WorkXR + Spatial ComputingMakerspacesInnovation StrategySTEM Equity
05 — THE ARC

From caseworker to systems architect.

A career built by following one question: how can technology create more leverage for people who have historically had less access to it?

01

Service first

After Cornell, Layne worked as a Section 8 caseworker — an early lesson in systems, human need, and the limits of one-to-one intervention.

02

Technology as leverage

He moved into IT and telecommunications, teaching himself, solving increasingly complex problems, and building technical leadership experience.

03

Education meets technology

At Kaplan Test Prep, as a senior technical project manager, he saw firsthand how access to technology and educational support could change outcomes.

04

Systems leadership

He later served as Director of IT for the Noble Network of Charter Schools in Chicago, supporting a large multi-campus education system.

05

Build the ecosystem

At Moreno Valley College, he transformed that experience into physical and digital innovation infrastructure designed around belonging, experimentation, and real-world capability.

CORNELL UNIVERSITYB.A. · Africana Studies
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITYM.S. · Information Technology
RECOGNITIONTop 10 STEM Directors · 2024

COLLABORATE

Build something
that matters.

Speaking · AI strategy · innovation ecosystems · workforce transformation · experiential learning · community-centered technology initiatives.

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