Conor Russomanno is an entrepreneur, creative technologist, and lecturer, specializing in the development of advanced human-computer interfaces. He is the co-founder and CEO of

OpenBCI OpenBCI is an open-source brain–computer interface platform, created by Joel Murphy and Conor Russomanno, after a successful Kickstarter campaign in late 2013. OpenBCI boards can be used to measure and record electrical activity produced by ...

, a company dedicated to

open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...

innovation of brain-computer interface technologies. Russomanno has also taught graduate level courses at

Parsons School of Design Parsons School of Design, known colloquially as Parsons, is a private art and design college located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhatt ...

and

NYU Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the a ...

Early life

Conor Russomanno was born in

Livingston, NJ Livingston is a township (New Jersey), township in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States census, 2010 U.S. census, the township's population was 29,366, reflecting an increase of 1,975 (+7.2%) from the ...

, but grew up in

Falls Church, Virginia Falls Church is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,658. Falls Church is included in the Washington metropolitan area. Taking its name from The Falls Church, an 18th-century Churc ...

. After attending

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (also known as TJHSST, TJ, or Jefferson) is a Virginia state-chartered magnet high school in Fairfax County, Virginia operated by Fairfax County Public Schools. The school occupies the bui ...

, he was recruited to

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...

to play NCAA college football. After playing college football for a year, he quit and joined Columbia's rugby club, CURFC, serving as the club's president and was voted first-team all-Ivy fullback as a senior.

Career

As an undergraduate at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

, Russomanno studied civil engineering & engineering mechanics while teaching computer graphics and developing

Unity Unity may refer to: Buildings * Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building * Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper * Unity Buildings, Liverpool, UK; two buildings in England * Unity Chapel, Wyoming, Wisconsin, US; a ...

-based virtual environments under NSF funding. He later studied brain-computer interfacing (BCI) as a Design & Technology MFA student at

. After graduating from Parsons, he led two successful

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, K ...

campaigns, raising close to $500,000, allowing him to develop OpenBCI. Russomanno has also worked as adjunct faculty at Parsons School of Design and NYU's Interactive Telecommunication Program (ITP), where he has taught Creative Coding, Brain Hacking, Designing Consciousness, and a number of other courses. He now teaches a course titled "Neuromachina: Man & Machine" at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Russomanno now serves as a "Something In Residence" in the ITP program at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.

Speaking engagements & workshops

* "Brain-Computer Interfaces & Apparel" – Brooklyn Fashion + Design Accelerator (BF+DA) (Brooklyn, NY), February 21, 2017 * "Brain-Computer Interface" – NYU Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) (New York, NY), February 2, 2017 * "AR Human Computer Interfaces" (Panel) – AR in Action, MIT Media Lab (Cambridge, MA), January 17, 2017 * Guest Lecture for Topics in Computational Neuroscience and Neuroengineering: Brain-Computer Interfaces, Columbia University Biomedical Engineering (New York, NY), November 1, 2016 * "An Introduction to BCI" – Columbia University Neuroscience Society (New York, NY), October 24, 2016 * "Dawn of The Neurorevolution" – SuperHuman Summit 2016 (Vancouver, Canada), October 22, 2016 * "The Democratization of Neurotechnology" – NeuroTech NYC 2016 (New York, NY), June 8, 2016 * "An Introduction to BCI" – Xtech & Neurogaming Hackathon 2016 (San Francisco, CA), May 14, 2016 * "DIY Cyborgia" – BodyHacking Con 2016 (Austin, TX), February 20, 2016 * "Neural Interfaces for Makers and Biohackers" – MakerCon Bay Area (San Francisco, CA), May 12, 2015 * "Future of Augmented Reality Panel" – NeuroGaming 2015, (San Francisco, CA), May 8, 2015 * "The Digital Self: Interfacing the Body" – Eyebeam Studio (Brooklyn, NY), April 25, 2015 * "BCIs for the Masses" (panel) – IBT BrainTech 2015 (Tel Aviv, Israel), March 11, 2015 * The Startup Segment – FT Innovate America 2014 (New York, NY), December 12, 2014 * “Out of Your Mind: Rise of The Brain-Computer Interface” – Make Magazine (Vol. 41 Oct/Nov 2014) * "Brain-Computer Interfaces & Serious Gaming" – Nordic Digital Business Summit 2014 (Helsinki, Finland), Sept. 4th, 2014 * "Future of Augmented Reality Panel" – NeuroGaming 2014, (San Francisco, CA), May 5, 2014

References

External links

"Meet the Hackers Who Are Decrypting Your Brainwaves"
Fast Company
"Maker Movement Turns Scientists into Tinkerers"
Scientific American.
"The Cautionary Tale of "No More Woof," a Crowdfunded Gadget to Read Your Dog's Thoughts"
IEEE Spectrum
"New Kickstarter EEG Kit Promises Cheap Mind Reading"
Fast Company.
"Why Neuroscience Needs Hackers"
Scientific American.
"OpenBCI Partners with Voodoo Manufacturing for 3D Printing Production & Kickstarter Fulfillment of Ultracortex Mark IV Headsets"
Scientific American.
"Control DIY Projects With Your Mind"
Popular Science.
"Watch This Short Documentary About the Future of Brain Hacking"

"I controlled a robot arm with my brain, using this high-tech headset"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Russomanno, Conor 1988 births Living people Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni American businesspeople Parsons School of Design alumni Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology alumni