Prof. Newton Lee is the founding president of the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Institute for Education, Research, and Scholarships based in Los Angeles, California and a 2021 graduate of the FBI Citizens Academy.
Lee was the founder of Disney Online Technology Forum, 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).
He graduated Summa Cum Laude from Virginia Tech with a B.S. and M.S. degree in Computer Science (specializing in Artificial Intelligence), and he earned a perfect GPA from Vincennes University with an A.S. degree in Electrical Engineering and an honorary doctorate in Computer Science.
Lee has lectured at Emily Carr University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 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.