Thad Starner, Ph.D.

Thad Starner is founder and director of the Contextual Computing Group at Georgia Institute of Technology's College of Computing. Before joining the Georgia Tech faculty in 1999, Starner gained international recognition at the MIT Media Laboratory as one of the world's leading experts on wearable computers during his doctoral work `Wearable Computing and Contextual Awareness.'' An advocate of continuous-access, everyday-use systems, Thad has worn his custom wearable computer in such a manner since 1993, arguably the longest such experience. Thad is a co-founder of the IEEE International Symposium on Wearable Computers (ISWC) and co-founder and first member of the MIT Wearable Computing Project. In 1999, Starner was named one of Technology Review's TR100 - 100 individuals under 35 who exemplify the spirit of innovation. Thad has been a keynote speaker or distinguished lecturer at a wide range of scientific, industrial, and academic events, including ACM's Conference for Advances in Computer Entertainment (ACE), Princeton's Distinguished Lecture in Pervasive Computing, the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Fashion Institute of Technology's Faculty Convocation, Interaction, Nicograph, Second Congreso Internacional de Ingenieria Electronica, and Interaction Homme-Machine (IHM). His work has been discussed in national and international public forums, including CBS's 60 Minutes and 48 Hours, The New York Times, New Scientist, Nikkei Science, ABC's Nightline and World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, The London Independent, The Bangkok Post, PBS's Scientific American Frontiers, CNN, BBC, and The Wall Street Journal. Starner has also demonstrated his ideas to numerous industries, ranging from Merrill Lynch and NYSE to BT, IBM, and Motorola. Starner has authored over 100 scientific papers and book chapters and is always looking for a good game of table tennis.