Emerson Lopez Odango, Ph.D., is a subject matter expert for the Region 5 Comprehensive Center (R5CC). His areas of focus include multilingual learners; early literacy and oracy; Indigenous & Native communities; STEAM education; and diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. Emerson has experience providing technical assistance in the areas of language education policy development and implementation, place-based education, and curriculum design. He is especially interested in the power of stories and storytelling across multiple domains—from data and data sovereignty, to logic models and theories of action, and to strategic communication. Emerson is an avid gardener, continuously learning from his Filipino elders, from other fellow gardeners, and from the halamanan ‘garden’ itself.
