Catarina Mota

Catarina is a maker of things, a research scholar, and an open source advocate. She co-founded the Open Building Institute (open source eco-housing), Open Materials (do-it-yourself smart materials) and AltLab (Lisbon's hackerspace). She researches, designs and teaches hands-on workshops on low-cost eco-house building with the goal of encouraging people to actively participate in the creation of their living environment. Previously, she co-chaired the Open Hardware Summit 2012, served on the board of directors of the Open Source Hardware Association, taught as an adjunct faculty member at ITP-NYU, was a fellow of the National Science and Technology Foundation of Portugal and a member of NYC Resistor. Catarina holds a PhD in communication sciences and her research focuses on the social impact of open and collaborative practices for the development of physical goods and technologies. She is currently the executive director of the Open Building Institute, Research Chair at the Open Source Hardware Association, and a TED Fellow. In 2013 Catarina married TED fellow and open source advocate Marcin Jakubowski.