Federico Casalegno, Ph.D., is the Director of the MIT Mobile Experience Lab and Associate Director of the MIT Design Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Since 2008, he is the director of the Green Home Alliance between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Fondazione Bruno Kessler in Italy. He is adjunct full professor at IMT Institute for Advanced Studies Lucca, Italy, and has been awarded an honorary professorship at the University of Glasgow, Glasgow School of Art. A social scientist with an interest in the impact of networked digital technologies in human behavior and society, Dr. Casalegno both teaches and leads advanced research at MIT, and design interactive media to foster connections between people, information and physical places using cutting-edge information technology., Since 2004, he has also held a position as Lecturer at the MIT Media Lab Smart Cities group. From 2004 to 2007, he worked at Motorola, Inc., as Technology and Product Innovation Analyst, designing pioneering products, experiences and services for mobile devices. Previously, from 1994 to 2000, he worked at Philips Design on connected communities and new media environments to inform design and product experience planning., Dr. Casalegno holds a Ph.D. in Sociology of Culture and Communication from the Sorbonne University, Paris V, with a focus on mediated communication and social interaction in networked communities and wired cities., He has published several scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals, books and articles. For the Living Memory, connected community project, he was awarded the Best Concept prize by the American Leading Industrial Designers I.D. Magazine, and the Silver Prize Design Concept by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA).
Amar Boghani is a S.M. candidate in the Comparative Media Studies program at MIT, and holds a B.S. in Computer Science from RIT. He came to the Mobile Experience Lab from Orange Labs (France Telecom) where he was part of an R&D group focused on mobile devices and emerging web technologies. For the past several years he has been researching trends in technology, designing user experiences, and hacking together prototypes. At the Mobile Experience Lab he has worked on various projects, most notably the Open Locast framework. His academic interests involve the relationship between mobile applications, user-generated content, and the urban environment.
Leonardo Benuzzi works primarily on the Green Home Alliance between the Fondazione Bruno Kessler and the MIT Mobile Experience Lab. The role of Scouting and Coordination is intended to bridge the two research’s center with the concrete aim of building a 1:1 prototype of the Connected Sustainable Home. He is also in charge of dealing with the company that wants to become partner of the Alliance. Leonardo has a degree in Economics, and has been working in the lab for the past two years. Before joining the Mobile Experience Lab, Leonardo worked as the Personal Assistant of the President of Trentino Sviluppo, a local development agency based in North Italy.
Professor of Architecture and Media Arts and Sciences William J. Mitchell, Professor of Architecture and Media Arts and Sciences at MIT, held the Alexander W. Dreyfoos, Jr. (1954) Professorship and directed the Media Lab’s Smart Cities research group. He was the director of the MIT Design Lab, and co-founder of the MIT Mobile Experience Lab. He was formerly Dean of the School of Architecture and Planning and Head of the Program in Media Arts and Sciences, both at MIT. http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2010/obit-mitchell http://www.media.mit.edu/people/remembering-bill-mitchell
