My mission is one of ambassadorship: to connect users with scientific ideas and discovery in ways that are design-forward and experience first.
Before discovering the world of electronics I worked for 20 years in the motion picture industry, primarily in the non-fiction genre, but also on the sets of feature films, episodic television, music videos, and advertising. I now work in the Manning College of Computer Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I work on a wide range of electronics, and occasionally build a few robots on the side. In my spare time I restore vintage Soviet tech with my daughter Mariam.
My ongoing mission is to inspire transformation in the end user.
Press
- Make: Magazine / "Bridging the Uncanny Valley"
- Hackspace Magazine / "How I Made Alexatron"
- Functionally Imperative Podcast / A Conversation with Thomas Burns
- Georgia Today / Fixing Georgia’s Electronics
- Euro News / Meet the 13-year-old restoring old Soviet tech in Georgia
Awards & Exhibition
- Winner (one of many) / Hackaday's "Making Tech at Home" competition
- Honorable Mention / The Webby Awards
- Best Cinematography / The European Independent Film Festival
- Solo exhibition / "Les Lieux de Mémoire" / The Georgian National Museum
- U.S. Fulbright Scholarship / Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia
- Student Academy Award
- Website of the Day / "Generation Gulag" / CSS Design Awards
- Shortlist, Best Directing / Kyiv International Advertising Festival
- Museum of TV & Radio Doc Pitch Competition / finalist
- Kodak Film Stock Grant
- Enerson Foundation Production Grant
Teaching & Speaking
- Visiting Professor / UCLA School of Theater, Film, and TV
- Visiting Professor / Woodbury University
- Visual media workshop, The Media Diversity Institute / Ziarula de Garda (Moldova)
- Panel moderator, The Int. Journalism Festival / "Innovation in Visual Storytelling"
- Q&A, Zeg Tbilisi Storytelling Festival
- Speaker, PechaKucha Tbilisi
- Speaker, FuckUp Nights Tbilisi
- Speaker, DataFest Tbilisi
- Documentary Cinematography Workshop / MeydanTV
- Documentary Filmmaking Workshop / Chai Khana
- Works-in-progress Lecture / American Councils
- Panel moderator: Careers in TV & Film / Reed College
- Guest Lecturer / Chapman University
- Guest Lecturer / St. Anselm College
- Career Mentor / Academy of Television Arts and Sciences "Meet the Pros" Event
- Guest Lecturer / Baku Slavic University
- Guest Lecturer / Rustam Ibragimbekhov School of Cinema
- Cinematography Workshop / Georgian Public Broadcasting
- Cinematography Workshop / The Baku Media Center
- Masterclass / Georgian Institute of Public Affairs
- Cinematography Workshop / Stanford University
- Speaker, PechaKucha Tbilisi