Sarah Williams

Director
sew@mit.edu

Sarah Williams is currently an Assistant Professor of Urban Planning and the Director of the Civic Data Design Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s School of Architecture and Planning. The Civic Data Design Lab employs data visualization and mapping techniques to expose and communicate urban patterns and policy issues to broader audiences. Before coming to MIT, Williams was Co-Director of the Spatial Information Design Lab at Columbia University. Sarah has won numerous awards, including being named top 25 planners in technology and 2012 Game Changer by Metropolis Magazine. Her work is currently on view in the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York.

Carlos Sandoval Olascoaga

PhD Student, Computation Group
csandova@mit.edu

Carlos is an architect that specializes in computational design. Before joining the Design and Computation Group at MIT, he was a research scientist at UC Berkeley, investigating the convergence of design, data science, and social sciences. In the past four years, Carlos has been a Lecturer at UC Berkeley and a Visiting Professor at UNAM, and has taught computational design seminars and workshops in the United States, Italy, China and Mexico. His work has been supported by numerous fellowships, more recently by the IDEA Studio Fellowship at Autodesk, the National Council of Science and Technology, and the Jumex Foundation for Contemporary Arts. He is interested in urban data visualization, histories of computing in urban design tools, and technological platforms for design collaboration.

Michael Foster

Instructor, DUSP
mjfoster@mit.edu

Mike is a GIS/Data Visualization Specialist with DUSP, focusing on high level data visualization, spatial analysis, and cartographic techniques. Mike holds a B.S. in Geography (Cartography and GIS) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Masters in GIS and Computer Science from the University of Minnesota. His thesis work involved interoperability, database design, and volunteered geographic information. Before coming to MIT, Mike conducted data analysis and visualization for a large engineering/consulting firm, with a focus on transportation planning and environmental permitting.