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Benedetta Piantella Simeonidis

I was born in Parma, Italy. I hold a Master\'s Degree from the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU and a Master\'s degree from CUNY and La Sapienza University, in Rome, in Online Community Management and new forms of Journalism. I have worked for Tinker.it! and Arduino Ltd. in Milan and Smart Design in NY, where I produced prototypes for high-end clients.

In 2008 I co-founded GROUND Lab, an Engineering, Research and Development company specialized in prototyping, field testing and analyzing sustainable solutions for research groups, Universities, Governments, large organizations, NGOs and their unique problem sets. GROUND Lab focuses on open source technologies applied to address and solve humanitarian, social or environmental issues worldwide. While at GROUND Lab, I have built partnerships and collaborations with organizations such as the United Nations, UNICEF, the Earth Institute and the Modi Research Group at Columbia University. I have built prototypes such as a medical data-logger for health clinics in Uganda (in collaboration with UNICEF), a GSM/GPRS logic circuit board for a smart solar system in Mali (for The Earth Institute) and GSM-based lion tracking collars to locate the last remaining lions in the wild in Kenya (for the Lion Guardians). I have field tested projects in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania and previously organized and distributed my own relief efforts after the Tsunami of 2004 in Sri Lanka.