March 7, 2007

2:30 pm – 3:45 pm

Mike Hawley is always looking at ways in which technology can make our lives better. Sure, as a long-time faculty member at MIT's MediaLab he's got the bona fides of a serious technologist, but he's also just as comfortable seated in a corporate boardroom, or in front of a concert piano, or in an outdoor schoolroom in rural Cambodia. And as a wearer of so many hats, he tends to see the potential for technology a little more clearly than the rest of us, be it to solve specific problems or as a tool to unleash our natural abilities and creativity. Mike joins us at the conference to share some of his perspectives on how to combine the best elements of digital and human capacity to improve peoples’ lives, from the scale of the individual to the entire planet.

Dr. Michael Hawley was on the faculty at the MIT Media Lab for nearly a decade, where he co-founded “Things That Think,” a groundbreaking research program that explores the limitless ways digital media infuses everyday objects. He also created the “Toys of Tomorrow” program that engages many of the world’s leading toy companies to invent wonderful new playthings. His research career has involved psychology and human-computer interfaces, computer music, and pioneering work in digital cinema at Lucasfilm. Mike worked intimately for two years with Steve Jobs at NeXT, where he developed the world’s first library of digital books, including digital editions of Shakespeare and Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. He helped develop digital and computer film technology at LucasFilms, and is a pioneer of ‘expeditionary technology’—taking the newest technologies into the field to do leading-edge science and education. For example, he developed the first wireless plant sensor network, an early self-organizing mesh network.

Outside of the lab, Mike founded Friendly Planet, a nonprofit organization dedicated to children’s education in developing countries. He won the 2002 Van Cliburn piano competition - the world's top prize for an amateur pianist. In 2003 he was the first to produce fine-art quality photographic prints on a very large scale using digital photographic technology; his photo book of the nation of Bhutan was named the World’s Largest Published Book by Guinness World Records. Mike is on the board of directors of Eastman Kodak. He is also a former luge racer, a member of the United States Bobsled Federation, and a one-time Duncan Yo-Yo champion.