Thomas Burns
  • Work
  • About

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
Thomas Burns builds computer creatures
in Tbilisi, Georgia, and Amherst, Massachusetts.
2025
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