“One day, I started hearing colors in my dreams. At this moment I realized that the software and my brain had united.” This is how the color-blind Neil Harbisson recounts the integration of a cybernetic device into his body’s functions. The augmentation provided by the system, which translates colors into audible feedback, has influenced Harbisson’s sensory perception so profoundly that his brain now recreates its sounds even while he sleeps. As a designer deeply invested in technology’s transformative impact, I am intrigued by such profound interconnection of humans with soft- and hardware. I believe that an approach that bridges disciplines and values deployment as the driver of innovation has the power to not only enhance individual abilities, but to redefine them. This philosophy is motivating my professional ambitions and seamlessly aligns with the ethos of the MIT Media Lab.

My passion to explore and advance technology has fueled a journey across continents, marked by the relentless pursuit of acquiring new creative skills and venturing beyond the known. The time I spent working and living in Germany, France, China and Japan has been immensely enriching: My background in Industrial- and Automotive Design has equipped me to envision products as tangible user interfaces. Designing operator cabs of agricultural machines provided me valuable insights into enhancing productivity and work ergonomics. Similarly, my experience in designing passenger vehicles and Quantum Computing devices has sharpened my ability to infuse technology with form and emotion, while rethinking complex systems for better usability. Collaborating with a renowned artist to create contemporary sculptures taught me to craft objects that transcend functionality and connect on an emotional level. Currently, my role in an experimental VR lab integrates these diverse learnings within an unbounded digital platform for creating spatial and immersive experiences.

As the boundaries between disciplines are continuously blurring, I have cultivated versatile skills that bridge digital and tangible domains, create experiential frameworks and balance pragmatism with emotional resonance. While my industry experience highlighted the importance of practical deployment as key to innovation, I believe that our world’s complexity necessitates a design approach that takes a multitude of perspectives into account. Looking ahead, I strive to further expand my understanding of the various areas that intersect with my aspiration of exploring and building technologies that deeply impact our lives. The MIT Media Lab offers an unprecedented setting for these ambitions as it maps the complex realities of our world through its comprehensive collection of scientific disciplines. Merging the creative liberty of an academic research facility with a strong emphasis on practical deployment as a catalyst for innovation, the Media Arts & Sciences program represents the perfect setting for me to advance both my professional and personal growth.

Reflecting upon Hiroshi Ishii’s motto “Be artistic and analytic. Be poetic and pragmatic”, I am reassured that the mission of the MIT Media Lab natively aligns with the ambitions I’ve nurtured in my journey as a designer. I am convinced of the magic that lays in interdisciplinary collaboration and in the vital importance of fostering an environment that encourages risk-taking. As a dedicated maker, I am equipped with the necessary toolkit for both, thinking big and bringing those visions to life. I am thrilled at the prospect of joining the Media Lab, surrounded by fellow innovators who share the passion and drive for technological advancement.

In the following, I outline three potential areas of research interest that align with my trajectory and promise to create a space for positively transforming human experiences, enhancing cognitive processes, and exploring novel methods for emotional interaction and comprehension. These objectives resonate with the work of three Media Lab Research groups, whose innovative visions I deeply admire.

Rather than providing an objective representation of reality, our senses subjectively interpret our surroundings and often place situational focus on specific inputs. Yet, the intricacy of our digitalized world often overwhelms natural sensory abilities, necessitating the use of technical devices to assist. Today’s advanced wireless sensor systems provide the tools to complement biological perception with sophisticated synthetic inputs. Expanding on the research in RF perception, I see great potential in developing artificial sensing systems together with the Signal Kinetics Group. I am therefore driven to enhance the integration of our minds with digital environments, fostering a more seamless symbiosis.

By employing dynamic and goal-specific artificial stimuli, it is possible to elucidate the underlying physiological mechanisms of the senses with customized situational feedback, thereby augmenting an interactive environment with multi-sensory responses. A key area of opportunity in this research lies in vision enhancement, which aligns seamlessly with the X-AR project. While X-AR excels in environmental analysis, I see ample opportunities in enhancing its usability by developing a responsive environment that delivers feedback across multiple sensory dimensions. Through these advancements, I anticipate significant improvements in areas like work safety, productivity, and skill development.

Drawing from my background in spatial interaction design and extended reality, I am well-equipped to build upon the sensory frameworks in place at Signal Kinetics. Guided by Prof. Adib, I aim to explore new potentials of wireless systems for human-centric signal processing.

In the realm of human cognition, dreams represent a uniquely immersive experience. As psychologist Allan Hobson suggests, dreaming is “a virtual reality experience with a remarkably predictive simulation of external reality”. Unfortunately, the profound perceptions of the sleeping state remain largely inaccessible during waking hours. Even the phenomenon of lucid dreaming, characterized by robust awareness during sleep, merely persists as a memory in our minds. At the Fluid Interfaces Group, I see great potential in investigating dream visualization as means to deepen our understanding of the human mind.

I aim to facilitate custom generative AI models as the synthesizer of individual dream memories and bio-data collected through Consumer Sleep Technology (CST). Through taking both into account, subjective dream narratives and objective measures, I seek to construct a holistic biopsychological model of the sleeping mind. This investigation probes into comprehending our behavioral patterns across the entire 24-hour spectrum of thought and covers the cognitive states of awareness, sleep, and beyond. Rendering a personalized interface of the dreaming mind presents numerous possibilities, such as enhanced treatment of sleep disorders by pre-empting diagnostic reductionism. Additionally, a comprehensive assessment of personal factors and CST-tracked bio- data shows promise in informing Targeted Dream Incubation and further behavioral interventions of the sleeping mind. Leveraging evidence that dream journaling improves narrative recall, AI-driven dream extrapolations potentially correlate with different sleep states and their qualities. The prospect of inducing a dream-like state during wakefulness opens avenues for deliberately stimulating brain regions associated with lucid dreaming. This research holds potential to empower individuals to meditate with dreams, facilitating a cross-state fluidity of the mind that blurs the lines between conscious states.

The objects in our possession continuously evolve through accumulated signs of use, such as scratches and wear. These marks transform impersonal items into personal treasures, bestowing them with a unique character and a cherished patina that reflects our time spent with them. Akin to how physical interaction alters an object, our memories are subject to subtle changes during each time they are recalled. These modifications, known as emotional coloring, are however abstract and subconsciously blend into our fluid and constantly evolving mental representation of the past. In line with the Tangible Media Group’s concept of TeleAbsence, I see significant potential in exploring how the subliminal development of memories could be harnessed to strengthen our connection with those who have passed away.

Although the death of a loved one ceases direct communication, memories allow us to revisit shared moments. As our characters are in continuous development, we reinterpret memories of those who passed away through our current understanding and inevitably alter their essence. Consequently, both the bereaved’s persona and their reminiscence are subject to ongoing transformation. Creating a tangible medium that captures these nuanced shifts could facilitate a detailed reconstruction of the evolution of interpersonal-emotional bonds over time. This form of preservation opens a new pathway for sustaining a sense of closeness and extending the legacy of the deceased. Employing this concept as a responsive interface aligns with the idea of radical atoms, and links directly with the vision of TeleAbsence by materializing “the patina of our memories”. This enables profound personal introspection and a means for an illusory communication with the departed. By making the traces of remembering visible, the emotional imprints that shape our memory become tangible relicts that embody our emotional journey.

The Tangible Media Group under the guidance of Prof. Ishii provides a fertile ground for exploring this research domain. I am looking forward to synthesize my diverse cultural perspectives and expertise in creating experiential frameworks with the group’s intellectual dynamics.