Hello there!

Full Bio

I like to observe, like to make things. Trained in science, self-taught in design. Work is never done, only iterations are. Curious about most things, thinking and doing are the only way. Like to meet new people, like to meet new animals.

Tools of choice: pen, paper, humans, code, circuits, video, materials, power tools, living organisms, physics, stories, travel, poetry and sometimes mouth. In constant search for truth and beauty. Pronounced as DARE-yeah DAND. Feel free to make your own version.

Nice to meet you. Nicer in person.


Awards / Lists

2016 Forbes 30 under 30 : Manufacturing and Energy

2015 Forbes 30 under 30 : Design

2015 ELLE 20 names to know

2015 Vogue Cool People

2015 Future of Storytelling Fellow

2014 WIRED Innovation Fellowship : Innovators that'll have a significant impact on the world

2014 INK Fellow : Young, global and cross-disciplinary path-breakers

2014 The Smithsonian Top 20 designs globally nominated for the People's Choice Design Award

2013 Globe Top 25 innovators

2013 Most Contagious Ones to watch in Technology

2009 IBM’s The Great Mind Challenge Top 20 out of 13,000

2009 Texas Instruments International Design Challenge 1st Prize

2009 Technonvanza Best Exhibit, Award for Innovation


Exhibitions

2015 London Victoria & Albert Museum Shoes : Pleasure and Pain

2015 New York SpaceGabi Peace Clock

2014 Cambridge MIT Media Lab icon - a wearable tool to facilitate remote collaboration

2013 St. Andrews UIST Obake – shape-shifting 2.5D elastic display

2013 Cambridge Mirai, MIT Human Augmentation – programmable hair, moustache antennas, on-demand muscles

2013 Cambridge The other other festival The Nostalgia Room – What was your life like?

2013 Paris CHI Cheers – Alcohol aware strobing ice cubes + Radical Kitchen – An augmented tangible kitchen

2013 Barcelona TEI SuperShoes – Facilitating urban rediscovery

2012 Atlanta ICTD ThinkerToys – Converting eWaste into educational fun toys

2012 Singapore Singapore Arts House Coucou – physical social networks for kids

2009 Mumbai Victoria & Albert Museum Digital interactive art form embodying the history of Mumbai

2009 Kanpur Indian Institute of Technology Horizon – Hand gesture device

2009 Mumbai Innovative Technologies in Manufacturing Expo GestureWheelChair


Talks

2018 Trondheim, Norway Norwegian University of Science and Technology Upcoming

2017 New York AIF 'Everyday Inventing'

2016 Gateway TEDx Upcoming

2016 Klagenfurt TEDx 'D=U'

2015 Beijing Tencent 'Future?'

2015 Pittsburgh CMU School of Design 'The art of looking sideways.'

2015 Seattle John Boylan's Conversation Series 'Art and Design, Fabrication and Technology'

2015 Hamburg TEDx 'Love, See, Do. Repeat.'

2015 Los Angeles 72andSunny 'Masterclass'

2015 Toronto ICA+Contagious Future Flash 'Media-Mediums'

2015 London Second Home 'Letting go'

2014 London WIRED 'Learning and Education in a wearable age'

2014 Mumbai INK Talks 'So far..'

2014 Goa Kyoorius Design Yatra 'Life is an omelette'

2014 Shanghai Tencent's WeSummit 'Walking'

2014 Mumbai INK Salon ‘Superhuman in making’

2013 Cambridge MIT Museum ‘Hacking the body’

2013 Shanghai W3C Annual Meet ‘Internet of wearables’

2013 Boston Architecture Boston Expo Keynote ‘SuperShoes : facilitating urban rediscovery’

2013 Tokyo Tokyo Design Week ‘SuperShoes : facilitating urban rediscovery’

2013 Cambridge Research@ML, MIT Media Lab ‘Wearables and the art of getting lost’

2012 Cambridge MIT Media Lab, Cambridge ‘Made in China : Manufacturing with the designer at the center’

2011 Singapore Singapore Arts House ‘What if we could convert all the eWaste in the world into toys?’


Teaching

Fall 2015 Interaction Design X Spaces Guest lecturer, CMU School of Design

Spring 2015 Experience Design Graduate Level Course, Art Institute of Seattle

Fall 2014 Interaction Design Graduate Level Course, Art Institute of Seattle


Workshops

2014 Interaction futures : how may we interact with people, objects and spaces through our computers MIT Media Lab DI

2013 Hacking ‘Culture’ : reimagining our culture for the 21st century MIT Media Lab DIy

2010 New modes of Interaction IndiaHCI

2010 Prototyping Techniques ExpoiD


Experience

ODD Industries 2014 - Present
Principal : futurist factory X lab creating new science, experiences and design

XPRIZE Foundation 2016 - Present
Advisory Board

Concept Lab 2014 - 2016
Researcher + Designer : rethinking, building and designing everyday experiences for a future of 3-5 years from now

Art Institute of Seattle 2014 - 2015
Visiting Lecturer : teaching courses on experience and interaction design

Fluid Interfaces Group, MIT Media Lab 2013 - 2014
Researcher : working on wearables, shape changing displays, learning across distances, tools for culutral exchange

MIT Media Lab Initiatives 2013-2015
Founding Director : overlooking the activities of MIT Media Lab Initiatives, building connections, fundraising

Rekimoto Lab, University of Tokyo 2014
Visting Researcher : working on augmenting senses

EXPEC-ARC, Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia 2013
Amateur Geologist : developed new concept ‘MediumX’ – smarter tools for geologist

Fabrication in China, Shenzhen 2013
Fellow : travelled extensively in Shenzhen, learnt industrial fabrication at scale, designing for scale, logistics, business practices

Information Ecology Group, MIT Media Lab 2012 - 2013
Researcher : worked on sensory augmentation, learning, wearables

Keio – NUS CUTE Center + Mixed Reality Lab, Singapore + Tokyo 2010 - 2011
Researcher : created open source toys made from eWaste and emotionally intelligent robots

Play and Learn Lab, Industrial Design Center 2010
Research Associate : created new devices for kids with cerebral palsy

Open Culture Research Group, EYEBEAM Art + Technology Center, New York 2010
Research and Development Intern : designed cultural installations

Lokshahi, India 2008 - 2010
Co-founder : mGovernance startup serving rural India, userbase of 400k when sold

Physical Computing Lab, Industrial Design Center 2010
Research Assistant : created interactive learning aids for kids

Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Harvard University 2009
Research Intern : created tools to study the effect of the Internet on democracy

Google 2008
Developer : created extensions and libraries for abstracting maps


Education

MIT Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Masters in Media Arts and Science

Victoria Jubilee Technological Institute
Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science, minor in Interaction Design

Microsoft Research
Summer school on ICTD and computer networks


Grants

MIT MISTI-Hayashi 2014

Fabrication in Shenzhen 2013

MIT 2012

Keio-NUS CUTE Center + National Research Foundation 2011

Berkman Center for Internet and Democracy 2009

Google 2008


Publications

D. Dand 'icon : a wearable tool to facilitate remote collaboration' graduate thesis published at MIT in August 2014

D. Dand, R. Hemsley ‘Obake : shape-shifting elastic 2.5D display’ at UIST 2013

D. Dand ‘Cheers : Alcohol aware strobing ice cubes’ at CHI 2013 (Extended)

D. Dand, C. Erwin, D. Nunez, L. Perovich, R. Hemsley ‘Radical Kitchen : an augmented tangible kitchen’ at CHI 2013

D. Dand, H. Holtzman 'SuperShoes : Facilitating urban rediscovery' at TEI 2013 (WIP)

D. Dand 'ThinkerToys : Creating interactive toys from eWaste' at ICTD 2012 (Short)

P.Pearson, D.Dand, A. Cheok, M. Inakage 'LinkU : Dynamic social networks in Fourth Places' accepted at WiCom 2011 (Full)

D. Dand, S.Mehta 'Handicap Assistance Device for Appliance Control Using User-Defined Gestures' at ISMS 2010 (Full)

D. Dand, R. Poovaiah 'Jellow – An emotional communication device for the cerebral palsy kids' at ICCP 2010 (Full)

S.Mehta, D.Dand 'A Simple Wearable Hand Gesture Recognition Device Using iMEMS' at SoCPaR 2009 (Full)

D. Dand ‘Jellow – An emotional communication device for the cerebral palsy kids’ undergraduate thesis published 2010