Emily Jacobi: Digitizing Democracy

Emily Jacobi is the founder of Digital Democracy (Dd), which empowers marginalized communities to use technology to defend their rights.

Emily Jacobi: Digitizing democracy from PopTech on Vimeo.

Bridging the gap between local groups and top-notch technologists, Dd works with local partners to design both hardware and software solutions. Current projects include indigenous territory mapping in Mexico and designing an early warning system to alert environmental monitors of illegal logging in the Amazon.

Through the Remote Access mobile toolkit, Dd is working to make it easier for users in remote locations to document, manage and share environmental and human rights abuses.

more at: www.digital-democracy.org

Duygu Kuzum: Brain Computing

Duygu Kuzum develops nanoelectronic synaptic devices which emulate synaptic computation in the human brain, then works to interface these synapses with biological neurons.

Duygu Kuzum: Brain computing from PopTech on Vimeo.

Such nanoscale synaptic devices have the potential to lead to interactive brain-inspired computer systems that can learn and process information in real time, bridging the gap between the human brain and digital computers. Kuzum’s work has been featured in Nanotechnology and Nature, among others. This type of hybrid neurological circuit may eventually enable neural prosthetic devices for clinical treatments of neurological disorders such as epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease.

more at: http://web.stanford.edu/~duygu/Duygu_Kuzum/Home.html

Donnel Baird: Energy Financing

Donnel Baird works to create jobs and reduce energy costs for underserved communities.

Donnel Baird: Energy financing from PopTech on Vimeo.

Through his organization BlocPower, Donnel helps churches and community organizations to use their collective power to bargain for discounts on energy-efficient products ranging from insulation to solar panels, which are then installed for lower electricity bills.

A nonprofit arm of BlocPower trains community members to do the construction work for living wages. For Donnel, working with underserved communities in the Bronx and Washington, D.C. offers him an opportunity to bring a sense of community empowerment to communities where such resources are much needed.

more at: www.blocpower.org

Christina Agapakis: Toe Cheese

Christina Agapakis is a biologist who studies the relationships between humans and bacteria at many scales and through multiple disciplines.

Christina Agapakis: Toe cheese from PopTech on Vimeo.

Using synthetic biology, genomics, and art, Agapakis explores the evolution and design of microbial communities in the soil, in our bodies and in cheese. Christina has been listed in Forbes Magazine 30 Under 30: Science and Healthcare and her work has been featured in the Journal of Biological Engineering and Nature Chemical Biology, among others.

Her work shows us how art and design can have a valuable impact on the ways we engage with and practice science.

more at: www.agapakis.com

Carmel Majidi: Soft Robots

“We really need to reexamine the types of materials that we use in robotics.” Carmel Majidi discusses how the robots of the future will be pliable and soft to accommodate the characteristics of the human body.

Anab Jain: Designing the Future

“This sort of speculative work explores the remarkable potential of technology and its new experiential aesthetics.” Anab Jain talks about design in a future world of insect cyborgs, mass surveillance, DNA monetization and guerilla infrastructure.