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Background

After studying film and engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Juhan worked for Apple Computer's Education & Outreach program, concentrating on delivering technology to K-12 classrooms. Building off his enthusiasm for design and engineering background, in 1995 he joined the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) as a designer and research scientist. Among his various projects, Juhan created several museum web-based experiences for children and adults. Using his expertise in interface design, product design and storytelling, these projects emphasized a "constructivist" approach to informal learning, fostering positive, highly interactive learning-by-doing experiences among broad audiences.

Juhan next served as the Director of Production for The Media Cafe, a New York-based technology company. He oversaw the production of several projects, including The Ring Disc, an Interactive Guide to Wagner's Ring Cycle which melded the 14.5 hour opera with scrolling libretto, commentary and score on a single CD. Juhan moved to Boston to take the role of Director of Creative Practice at Cinoni, Inc. There he oversaw front-end production which included usability engineering, information architecture, interface design, and formative evaluation.

He managed de-centralized, multi-disciplinary production teams that spanned the globe. Juhan then took on distance learning and visualization projects at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

After completing his work for MIT, Juhan accepted a leadership position at MITRE, a non-profit offshoot of MIT. He led the Open Design Group, a cross-departmental engineering and design service that specialized in interface design, software engineering, human-computer interaction, data visualization, branding, and rapid product prototyping. Their client projects were for large U.S. government agencies, such as Health and Human Services, Department of Defense, Federal Aviation Administration and the Internal Revenue Service. Their work product included large-scale web applications, product architecture and design, visual analytics, interactive installation design, as well as business process analysis and design. Espousing an open source mantra, the team's design and code is kept open and available.

Since 2008, Juhan has been lecturing at MIT on design and rapid prototyping for Course 2.009.

Juhan is the Creative Director of Involution Studios Boston, and is responsible for all product design and service delivery in the shop. He also contributes to overall business management of Boston operations and participates in corporate Involution planning.


Professional Recognition

During his time at NCSA, Juhan led or contributed to projects featured in The Chicago Tribune, Siggraph, ORF and Euro Television, National Public Radio, The Village Voice and Siemens Broadcasting. Some of his installations graced locations such as Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria), Georges Pompidou/IRCAM center (Paris, France), Miller Theater (New York City), St. Louis Science Center, Minnesota Science Center and Illinois State Museum, among others.

The Ring Disc, which Juhan co-produced, has been featured in The New York Times, Newsweek, The Chicago Tribune, BBC International, Billboard Magazine, Opera News and was voted one of PC World's Top 100 CD-ROMs.

Juhan currently serves on the CCHIT Personal Health Records Workgroup and is focused on the upcoming certification of Personal Health Records (PHRs) against usability and design standards. Recently, Juhan has delivered a variety of high-profile presentations about interface design-related topics, including for the Harvard Business School, Ignite Boston, IxDA and UPA.


Personal Interests

Juhan's affinity for aesthetics is reflected in his personal interests. Since his first lessons as a tony tot, Juhan has been a committed violinist. Juhan has been "scratching his fiddle" most recently in the Lexington Symphony since 2001.

He is also an avid photographer who shoots regularly with a Canon 5D and 24-70mm and 70-200mm 2.8L lenses. Juhan documents much of his family and work life on Flickr.

Since 1988, Juhan has served as a loyal member of the Burlington RC Flyers, a radio-controlled airplane club. He has built and flown hundreds of model airplanes over the years. Unfortunately, one of the little-known facts of this hobby is that few planes are able to land safely; as a result, much of Juhan's hard work has ended with an entertainingly spectacular crash, but with few unscathed airplanes to show off his modeling.




 

 About Juhan:

• Biography
• Resume (90kb PDF) • LinkedIn

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    http://www.mit.edu/~juhan    Copyright 2009 © Juhan P. Sonin. All rights reserved.