Next-generation Mobile UI

In his role as Chief Scientist, Ben is leading the charge to build Zumobi for every phone you have…or will have! Ben brings a decade’s experience building innovative mobile user interfaces to Zumobi. Ben, who holds three degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and New York University, is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of Maryland, College Park. He also is past Director at the University’s Human Computer Interaction Lab at the Institute for Advanced Computer Studies. Ben’s research and patents concentrate in the areas of mobile computing, human-computer interaction, computer vision, robotics, information visualization, digital libraries and electronic voting. Ben has published more than 100 articles in conferences, journals and magazines and recently authored a book entitled, “The Craft of Information Visualization.” His most exciting current university project is the International Children’s Digital Library (www.childrenslibrary.org).

John SanGiovanni has more than eight years of experience as a wireless strategist and mobile user interface designer. He is to blame for Zumobi’s obsession with design and to-the-nanosecond interest in technical and cultural trends. Before Zumobi, John was Technical Evangelist and Program Manager for Microsoft Research, where he managed external academic research funding in the areas of mobile technologies and user interfaces. In this role, he filed several patents concerning information visualization, hardware interfaces and interaction techniques for next-generation mobile devices, some of which provide the foundation for Zumobi’s core user experience. Before joining Microsoft, John worked on the Advanced Technology Learning Solutions team at PPI/Knowledge Universe and worked in Studio Entertainment for the Walt Disney Company. John has a Bachelor of Science in Advertising and a concentration on Computing from the University of Florida.