I use technology to promote making and creativity around the world, especially in environments of scarcity.

I'm a researcher, designer, and developer in IBM Research's Social Computing Group, where I contributed to the development of a platform for hosting and developing mobile applications for basic phones in emerging markets. I currently design and develop the user interface for doctors to use Watson to diagnose and treat patients. I recently demoed prototypes for AP and Technology Review.

I am the Editor-in-Chief of Makeshift, a quarterly magazine and multimedia website focused on street-level ingenuity and invention around the world. Makeshift was inspired by research I conducted on informal systems of innovation in Kenya, published in the book Making Do.

Previously I founded A Better World by Design, an annual student-run conference at Brown University and RISD dedicated to design and technology for social impact, and the Brown Noser, Brown's satirical news empire. I also co-founded the Center for Entrepreneurship at the Met charter high school, a program and building designed to help at-risk students learn business skills and launch small enterprises.

I am a Sandboxer, aspiring global nomad, and advisor to various social innovation projects. I love all kinds of music and have toured in eight countries as a jazz trumpeter. I'm also pretty good at snowboarding, play too much Donkey Kong, and have a discerning palate for pork dumplings.

Photo by Tim Mitchell for Makeshift.

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