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CREATIVITY · TECHNOLOGY · DESIGN

· Consciousness

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HCI Researcher, UX Designer/engineer

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CV | LINKEDIN | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM

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I'm a PhD student and Research Assistant at the Fluid Interfaces Group, MIT Medialab. I graduated from MIT with a Masters in Media Arts and Sciences and helped running VR/ARatMIT as a co-president. I hold a Multimedia Engineering degree from LaSalle University, Barcelona, Spain and I have a Computer Science background and Design focused on UX, UI and filming. I previously interned as a Human Computer Interaction (HCI) researcher at Microsoft Research and at R&D at URL Barcelona developing Augmented and Virtual Reality experiences and at the Google Creative Lab as a Creative Technologist. I was fortunate to be receive a 2016 Facebook Graduate Fellowship, 2015 Lego Foundation sponsored research, being a 2016 Finalist Innovation by Design Awards and receive the 2017 Scent Innovator Award by the Cosmetic Executive Women (CEW) and IFF (International Flavors and Fragrances). If you are interested in my research papers you can check them out here. I sometimes give talks with a strong Spanish accent like this one or this one. I don't update this website pretty often, so if you want to check out some of my latest work, you'll need to meet me in person. I am currently working on sleep interfaces for dream & sleep alteration.

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MY RESEARCH VISION:

Human-computer interaction (HCI) has traditionally focused on designing technologies and observing the ways in which humans interact with computers. However, in our daily life, a lot of our behavior and decisions we take are the result of unconscious processes rather than rational decision-making. We used to perceive the computer as a tool which we consciously interact with. Nevertheless, with the rise of Social Networks, advances in Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence and increased computational power we are seeing a change in how technologies are been designed over the last decade. These user interfaces are using marketing techniques to target the unconscious mind of users, passively tracking our decisions and predicting our behavior to make profits. In the last 5 years, we are seeing how the miniaturization of biometric devices allow for continuous, comfortable and even remote monitoring of body signals. Such information can be used by computers to dynamically adapt and present a customized output that matches our personality, habits, health or biometric information. My current research explores the possibilities, ethical concerns and positive outcomes of presenting this information in an unconscious manner. I propose an updated model of HCI, where not only computers interact with the unconscious mind, but  humans interact unconsciously with computers (e.g, during sleep).

 

I always had an interest in consciousness and perception since it shapes an individual's reality. My main area of research is HCI with the aim of making the user experience more seamless, natural and integrated in our physical lives as if it was an extension of our bodies, minds and behavior. I am currently exploring how to create multi-sensory technologies that react and evoke different states of mind and can be used in different states of consciousness (sleeping, awake, dreaming, meditating, etc.). I am particularly interested in the unconscious and how to design technologies that fall in the intersection of HCI, Psychology, Neuroscience, Design and Art. For my PhD I am working with a variety of sensory inputs and technologies such as olfactory and audio-visual cues using Mixed, Augmented and Virtual Reality, Brain Computer Interfaces, physiological signals. I want to create technology that enhances all the senses and that extends human capabilities for better learning, communication and wellbeing. 

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MY PHILOSOPHY

If I could create the future, it would definitely be a world where everyone got to live with what they're passionate about. If everyone could find something that they are passionate about and spent all the day doing that, that's the way I would love to see it. Why I do this? not because " I have to" but "I love to, this is what I love to do". Curious and always thinking, "How do I make this better". Always focused on aesthetic beauty and simplicity. I want to discover and go beyond the boundaries of technology and its conventional interfaces. I love to mix technology and design-arts rather than choose one or the other. I love brainstorming with different types of people to create new and radical ideas and build them, mixing the "real" and virtual world. I am inspired by kids, scientists and artists like Salvador Dali and Chema Madoz.

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MY other life

Ski instructor, amateur guitar player, after hours, I love to travel, dance salsa, photography, yoga, meditation and hike (cliché). Born in a small village in the Catalan Pyrenees called La Pobla de Segur (Spain). I was most of the time in my grandparents farm, playing with animals as if I was Heidi, always having an inner force that lead me to go outside the village and explore the world. Always wondering what was out there, and how we perceive our realities. Always fascinated by Art and Science, struggled to find the way to combine them.

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