people

As a Canada Research Chair in Digital Media and Innovation, Professor Mazalek works at the forefront of trends in computing and interaction design that support a tighter integration of the physical and digital worlds. She designs and develops tangible and embodied interaction systems that enable people to be more creative across both science and art disciplines. Her research interests include the design and application of emerging physical sensing and digital media technologies to areas such as narrative expression, abstract thinking, and scientific modeling, as well as the study and use of embodied cognition as a framework for tangible and embodied interaction design. Professor Mazalek received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the MIT Media Lab and a Hon. B.Sc. in computer science and mathematics from the University of Toronto.

Roozbeh Manshaei is a senior bioinformatician with expertise in clinical/genomics/proteomics data analysis and visualization. He specializes in analyzing large-scale data problems by using linear/nonlinear modelings and network theory which employs the concepts and methods from machine learning, optimization, signal processing and network science.

Aneesh Tarun is a postdoc at Synlab. His research interests include developing toolkits for cross-device interactions and designing spatial and embodied interactions for novel technologies. In his doctoral work, he designed and developed Paper Computer prototypes including a flexible tablet pc, a flexible stackable mobile device, and a wearable computer.

Gabby Resch is a postdoc at Synlab where he carries out research on spatial reasoning in immersive digital environments. His doctoral research focused on new modes of interacting with data, including 3D-printed tangible data representations. He is broadly interested in the use of data/information graphics for public communication.

Anitha Nathan is a recent graduate of RTA's New Media program. Her work focuses on the use of code and technology as a medium for cultivating empathy, producing generative art, and creating a more interactive and immersive digital environment. This semester, she is leading the Tangible Augmented Reality Archives (TARA) team.

Alexander Verni is in his third year of studying New Media at Ryerson University. His work focuses on tangible and embodied interaction, digital/physical fabrication, and game development. Alex is assisting the Synlab course this semester, and is equipped to help any team with technical support for the platforms they are working with.

Miranda Shou is an undergraduate student of RTA's New Media program. Her research interests are at the intersection of computational art, digital & physical fabrication, material science, and synthetic biology. Her work focuses on the nuanced relationships between technological objects and non-human living subjects.