Thomas Burns

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 nearly 20 years in the motion picture industry, primarily in the non-fiction genre, but also on the sets of feature films, dramatic episodic television, music videos, and advertising. My focus now is on education: I have taught both undergraduate and graduate students at the University of California Los Angeles and Woodbury University, and more recently developed and co-produced a hybrid-online photography curriculum for the Spéos International Institute of Photography in Paris. These days I run a small computer repair business with my wife in Tbilisi, Georgia, and in my spare time I restore vintage Soviet tech with my daughter Mariam.

My ongoing mission is to inspire transformation in the end user.

Awards

  • Winner  /  Hackaday's "Making Tech at Home" competition
  • Honorable Mention  /  Webby Awards
  • Best Cinematography  /  European Independent Film Festival
  • U.S. Fulbright Scholarship  /  Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia
  • Student Academy Award
  • Website of the Day  /  CSS Design Awards
  • Shortlist, Best Directing  /  Kiev 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, International 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