Sightlines: proJECT

Judith is a 2nd year graduate student in the Fluid Interfaces Group at the MIT Media Lab. Her main area of research focuses on Human Computer Interaction with the aim of making the user experience more seamless, natural and integrated in our physical lives. Her goal is to design and develop novel form factors that leverage the full range of sensory capabilities and control modalities of the user. Before joining MIT she graduated as a Multimedia Engineer and worked as a UX Researcher at URL Barcelona. She worked at Microsoft Research and developed interactive prototypes in the areas of mixed and virtual reality. She has explored the use of wearable devices such as head-mounted displays and wearable fashion to create solutions that more naturally extend our minds, bodies and behavior. Judith’s work has been published in top HCI conferences and featured by press such CNN, The New York Times, Fast Company, The Creators Project and The Times.

Xavier is a second year Master student at the Fluid Interfaces Group at the MIT Media Lab. His research focuses on exploring novel interactions between users and objects through the design and implementation of software and hardware prototypes. He is specially interested in HCI, UX Design, IoT, wearable devices, AR and VR. His work has been featured in several international conferences and media such as New York Times, MIT Tech Review and CNN. Before joining the Fluid Interfaces Group, he graduated in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Ramon Llull University (Barcelona).

Kate Smith is Associate Paintings Conservator at the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies at the Harvard Art Museums. Kate received her B.A. in art history from Smith College in 1994 and her Master of Arts in paintings conservation from Buffalo State College in 2001. Until 2008, she was assistant conservator at the Straus Center, focusing on the conservation of the mural cycles at the Boston Public Library. Kate held assistant conservator positions at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, for Gianfranco Pocobene Studio, and at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, before returning to the Harvard Art Museums in 2011, where she specializes in the technical examination of paintings.

Rus Gant is a well-regarded international 3D artist, computer engineer and educator. Currently on the Research staff at Harvard University and the teaching faculty at Tokyo’s Showa Women’s University he is currently pursuing work in the future of real-time 3D computer graphics and virtual reality. He is currently the Lead Technical artist for the Giza 3D project at Harvard reconstructing the pyramids, temples and tombs on the Giza Plateau in Egypt in virtual reality. For more than 40 years he has applied his visualization skills to work in computer science, archaeology and museology for some of the world’s leading museums and universities. As a computer hardware and software engineer he has constantly been at the forefront of the science of computer visualization. As a Fellow at the MIT Center for Advanced Visual Studies and as a Fellow at the Center for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University he has created and developed new techniques in 3D graphics, multimedia computing, virtual reality and digital archaeology. These techniques have often been applied to the reconstruction of the art and architecture of ancient cultures. As a teacher and lecturer he has often brought his wide-ranging expertise in the real world to the university classroom, museums and art galleries. At institutions like MIT, Carnegie Mellon, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, The British Museum and now Tokyo’s Showa Women’s University he has both taught new technology, art and culture and used his technological expertise in advancing the craft of teaching.

Suzanne Wones is the Director of Library Digital Strategies and Innovations for Harvard Library. In this role, she leads the development and implementation of digital strategies for the Harvard Library community by extending Harvard Library’s reach in data management and visualization. She works to identify and examine trends in information technology and digital library development in coordination with multiple departments spanning the Library and Harvard University Information Technology.

In her fifteen years at Harvard, she has held positions as Executive Director, and as Assistant Director for Research, Curriculum, and Publication Support of the Harvard Law School Library, Head of Access and Research Services, and a Senior Reference Librarian at the John F. Kennedy School of Government Library, among others. She holds a MS in Information, Library and Information Services from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, as well as a MA in American History from the University of New Hampshire and a BA in History from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.