Welcome. This site originated sometime around 2009 as my online portfolio, which I built while I was submitting applications to graduate schools. It now serves as a place for me to share interesting projects that I’m working on.
Research
I currently work with Living Observatory, a non-profit organization and learning collaborative of scientists, artists, and wetland restoration practitioners engaged in the documenting, interpreting, and revealing the arc of change as it occurs prior to, during, and following ecological wetland restoration on retired cranberry farms. I am continuing the work from my dissertation to employ low-power wireless sensor networks and other technologies to further these goals.
I received my Ph.D. from the MIT Media Lab’s Responsive Environments group.
Previously, I was a research assistant at Intel Labs Seattle, where I focused on robotics and sensing applications.
- List of Publications
- Enabling Robots to Plug In to Unmodified Electrical Outlets
- An Electric Field Pretouch System for Grasping and Co-Manipulation
- Classroom Presenter for the XO Laptop
Teaching
At the Media Lab, I’ve been the TA for my advisor’s class on sensor technologies (which also serves as the lab’s main introductory courses to analog electronics.) I also regularly assist with How to Make Almost Anything, the famous introduction to digital fabrication. For Fall 2013 I taught part of the electronics portion of MAS.500: Foundations in Media Technology, and served as TA for 4.S23: Design of Low Power Environmental Sensors and Networks. This semester I will be officially taking a break from teaching, but I’m sure will end up assisting with various things.
I was a teaching assistant for the Software for Embedded Systems course at the University of Washington for three quarters. I developed lab assignments and custom hardware for the class, and assisted students in the lab. I received an honorable mention for the Bandes Memorial Award for Excellence in Teaching for my work.
Hardware Designs and Projects
(mostly ancient history at this point)
- My page for MAS.863 “How to Make (almost) Anything”
- The FabFish — an open-source electric field sensor board
- AirStick electric field sensor board for UW computer engineering lab
- Finger-sized electric field sensing hardware
- Basic electric field sensor board for UW computer engineering lab
- Robot power system
- Power monitor board
- ZigBoard (working title) 802.15.4 transceiver board