Hometown

Currently Howell MI. Also lived in Philadelphia, New York, Chicago and now Boston. That’s just in the US.

Undergraduate Work

Computer Science and Engineering, Columbia University, 2003
SM in Media Arts and Sciences, MIT, 2006

Degree Candidate

PhD Candidate, MIT Media Lab, Fluid Interfaces

Interest Area

My focus is on extending the human reach, and I approach that through the lens of unifying the world of digital information with the physical world in which we live. I feel that people often have the right intentions, but often not the right tools with which to change or express themselves. I work in the intersection of hardware, software and design to create tools that let people be more than they could be alone. I feel that, ultimately, my endeavor is always about people.

Thesis Topic

There are many conditions that are important to people on a daily basis, and yet for which they don’t keep good mental accounts: how much food you ate for lunch; how much power that laptop uses on standby; how much the daily run to the food court affects your savings. My research focuses on creating ‘mental prostheses’ that give people insight into these behaviors and their effects, opening the door to informed self-induced changes in behavior via increased self-reflection.

Career Ambition

Build a few companies, hopefully make an impact, retire early and then dedicate myself to teaching.

Why MIT?

If the mind is a garden of ideas waiting to bloom, then interesting thoughts are the seeds of the bounty of that garden. At the MIT and the Media Lab, I interact daily with fellow students and faculty members who seed my mind with such thoughts. I don’t think that there is anything that could be more precious in a graduate education than to be around such a diversity of talents, ideas and ideals.

Quote

People think that design is styling. Design is not style. It’s not about giving shape to the shell and not giving a damn about the guts. Good design is a renaissance attitude that combines technology, cognitive science, human need, and beauty to produce something that the world didn’t know it was missing.
— Paola Antonelli