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 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'm now the Senior Hardware Engineer 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

Awards & Exhibition

  • Winner  /  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