Director, MIT City Science Group

Kent Larson directs the City Science (formerly Changing Places) group at the MIT Media Lab. His research focuses on developing urban interventions that enable more entrepreneurial, livable, high-performance districts in cities. To that end, his projects include advanced simulation and augmented reality for urban design, transformable micro-housing for millennials, mobility-on-demand systems that create alternatives to private automobiles, and Urban Living Lab deployments in Hamburg, Andorra, Taipei, and Boston.

Larson and researchers from his group received the “10-Year Impact Award” from UbiComp 2014. This is a “test of time” award for work that, with the benefit of hindsight, has had the greatest impact over the previous decade.

Larson practiced architecture for 15 years in New York City, with design work published in Architectural Record, Progressive Architecture, Global Architecture, The New York Times, A+U, and Architectural Digest. The New York Times Review of Books selected his book, Louis I. Kahn: Unbuilt Masterworks (2000) as one of that year’s ten best books in architecture.

Director, CSL@Andorra

Vanesa Arroyo is the Director of Andorra Research and Innovation. She holds a degree in Biotechnology from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, ​​has a master's degree in Biotechnology Management from ALITER, an additional master's degree in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management from the Universitat de Barcelona, and had also completed the Management Development Program from IESE Business School.

She has extensive experience in research and in the technical and financial management of research projects in biotechnology, biomedicine, genomics, and eHealth, both from private companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sector (Sanofi, Oryzon Genomics or Werfen) as well as, public centers such as the CISTIB (Center for Computational Imaging & Simulation Technologies in Biomedicine) of Pompeu Fabra University. She has been the promoter of the creation of the ACTINN Cluster (Innovation and New Technologies of Andorra) of which she was the cluster manager during the first 3 years. She is a co-founder and president of the Biotechnology Association of Andorra. In 2019 she joined Actuatech. Before her position as Director, she was the Coordinator of the Innovation and International Relations Agency of AR+I.

Director, CSL@Hamburg

Gesa Ziemer (Prof. Dr. Phil.) is director of the City Science Lab, a collaboration with the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge/USA and academic lead of the technology and innovation lab UNITAC for the United Nations. She is professor of Cultural Theory at the HafenCity University Hamburg. Her research is focused on Digital City Science, new forms of collaboration and public spaces. She received the Humboldt Foundation grant for the Feodor-Lynen Program at the Harvard Kennedy School, Cambridge/USA and is member of the Scientific Council of Germany.

Prof. Dr. Yongqi LOU is a Vice President and Dean of the College of Design and Innovation at Tongji University in Shanghai, the Board Director of World Design Organization (WDO), and the Vice President of the China Industrial Design Association. Lou has been the pioneer in China for design-driven innovation education, research and practices that connect design, business, and technology. He is the founder of Design Harvests, a design-driven urban-rural interaction project; Tongji-Huangpu School of Design and Innovation, the first design thinking K12 school in China; and She Ji — the Journal of Design, Innovation, and Economics published by Tongji and Elsevier. He is the Editorial Board Member of the journal Design Issues published by The MIT Press. Lou was elected as a fellow of Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA) in 2019.

Marcela Martínez Bascuñán is the Director of City Science Lab Biobio. The laboratory's research focuses on studying the communities that inhabit territories with essential challenges for the city, identifying the impacts of implementing public policies, and achieving a joint vision of the future in dimensions such as housing, transportation, public spaces, safety, and recreation.

Marcela did her studies in Geography, with a Master's degree in Geographic Analysis, all at the University of Concepción, Chile. She also has a master's degree in territorial studies and planning from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain.

Marcela has professional experience in transport systems planning, spatial analysis, and studying the impacts of urban projects and infrastructure. Her research interests include socio-spatial inequality in cities and accessibility/mobility to urban services, contributing to the sustainable development of cities in the south of Chile.

Director, CSL@Guadalajara

Mayra Gamboa is a Professor at the University of Guadalajara and leads the initiative of the City Science lab@Guadalajara. She received a Ph.D in Urban Planning and Sustainability from the University of Guadalajara and has a Masters Degree in Urban Planning from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).  She has been a consultant of the UN-Habitat office in Mexico. Mayra has worked in both public and private sectors and her areas of research focus on understanding the dynamics of informal growth and urban inequality, design of public spaces, and daily mobility.

Director, CSL@Gipuzkoa

Director, CSL@Israel

Merav Battat is the director of NUR – Negev Urban Research Lab based in Be’er Sheva, Israel. She is an architect and urban planner, a graduate of the Bezalel Program in Architecture, and an alumna of both the Azrieli Fellow Program and the Laboratory for Contemporary Urban Design. Merav holds a master’s degree in Environment, Society, and Planning from Tel Aviv University. Recently, she worked at the Ministry of Economy and Industry, where she oversaw the strategic and physical planning of industrial zones in Israel’s periphery. This role involved developing models and conducting research on the relationship between city and industry, with a focus on promoting Eco-Industrial Parks and sustainable development. Merav also teaches at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in the Master's Program in Urban Design and at the Negev School of Architecture. In addition, she is the co-founder and joint editor of the online magazine 'Street Language'.

Director, CSL@Taipei

Dr. Ho-Chiao Chuang is the Dean of the Office of Research and Development and a Distinguished Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the National Taipei University of Technology. He holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Colorado, Boulder, where he developed expertise in Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) and nanoscale manufacturing processes. His research focuses on advanced electroplating techniques, medical instruments, and energy-saving devices. Over the course of his career, Dr. Chuang has held key leadership positions at National Taipei University of Technology, including Dean of International Affairs. He has contributed to numerous research projects funded by DARPA and published extensively in high-impact journals. Dr. Chuang is also an inventor with multiple patents in areas such as external cavity lasers and atom trapping chips, reflecting his innovative approach to engineering challenges.

Director, CSL@Toronto

Hossein's research focuses on Artificial Intelligence, Human-Computer interaction, and the design of privacy-preserved data-driven services. He has written more than 30 publications and received 23 patents. He served as a council member at National Science and Research Engineering Council of Canada and is currently serving on the board of Canadian Science Publishing and the Home Capital Group. In 2012, MIT Technology Review selected him as one of its global TR35 list. In 2017, he was selected as part of Canada's 40 under 40. In addition to his work at Ryerson University, Hossein is also the Founder/CEO of Flybits and a Research Affiliate at the MIT Media Lab.