Dr Gabriela C. Zapata was born in Rosario, Argentina. She received her MA in TESOL and PhD in Spanish (Linguistics track) from the Pennsylvania State University in the United States. At present, she is Associate Professor in Education in the School of Education at the University of Nottingham. She also serves as the editor of the book series Multiliteracies and Second Language Education (Routledge) and co-editor-in-chief of the journal Diversity & Inclusion Research (Wiley). Her research foci are Generative AI in higher education; Learning by Design and second (L2) and heritage language (HL) pedagogy and assessment; computer supported collaborative learning; teacher education; and and multimodal social semiotics (with a focus on cultural artifacts such as Mexican lotería). She is also involved in the development and implementation of inclusive open educational resources. Throughout her career, she has published articles on bilingualism, L2 and HL pedagogy and assessment, Learning by Design, multimodal social semiotics, AI technologies in higher education, and teacher cognition and practice in a variety of peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes. Dr. Zapata is the co-editor (with Dr. Manel Lacorte) of the volume Multiliteracies Pedagogy and Language Learning: Teaching Spanish to Heritage Speakers (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017). Her co-authored (with Dr. Mary Kalantzis and Dr. Bill Cope) book Las alfabetizaciones múltiples: Teoría y práctica was published in December 2019 by Editorial Octaedro. Her single-authored book, Learning by Design and L2 Teaching: Theory, Research, and Practice (Routledge), appeared in April 2022. Dr. Zapata's latest co-edited book (with Dr. Bill Cope and Dr. Mary Kalantzis), Towards Education Justice: Literacy, Multiliteracies, and the Design of Social Futures (Routledge), was published in December, 2023. At present, she is working on two volumes on Generative AI (GenAI) and education: An edited book on GenAI, multiliteracies, and L2 education to be published by Routledge, and a special issue of the journal Ubiquitous Learning: An International Journal on GenAI technologies in education. Dr. Zapata received her certification as ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview Tester in Spanish in 2014. She has also served as an ACTFL mentor and the Vice-Chair, Chair, and Past-Chair of ACTFL’s Spanish for Heritage Learners Special Interest Group. In 2019, she was awarded the SGA Open Education Champion Award by the Student Government Association at Texas A&M University. Dr. Zapata is also a CIMER Entering Mentoring Trained Facilitator. She completed the certification program in Diversity and Inclusion at Cornell University in 2021.