Prof. Alex (Sandy) Pentland

Selected Recent Press

Honest Signals

Honest Signals (video)

Reality Mining

Reality Mining (video)

Collective Intelligence &

Sense Networks

Entrepreneurship

Selected Recent Awards

Breakthrough Ideas 2009,

Harvard Business Review

A Technology that will change the World, Technology Review, 2008

Future Health Technology Award

Carlos Ghosn Award for Automotive Interface Design

Mobile Commerce Projects

We have invented the technology of reality mining, which analyzes sensor data to extract subtle patterns that predict future human behavior. These predictive patterns begin with biological "honest signals," human behaviors that evolved from ancient primate signaling mechanisms, and which are major factors in human decision making in situations ranging from job interviews to first dates.   By using data from mobile phones, electronic ID badges, or digital media to track these honest signals, we can create a `gods eye' view of how the people in organizations interact, and even `see' the rhythms of interaction for everyone in a city.

Management insights based on Honest Signals were named a `Breakthrough Idea of 2009' by Harvard Business Review, and Reality Mining was declared `a technology poised to change the world' by Technology Review. This new view of human nature, organizations, and society is the subject of my new book `Honest Signals,' published by MIT Press.

My recent HBR Breakthrough Idea of the Year talk at Davos

My recent talk on Honest Signals at the Googleplex

Please contact the Leigh Bureau for speaking engagements

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Biography

Professor Alex (“Sandy”) Pentland is a pioneer in organizational engineering, mobile information systems, and computational social science. Sandy's focus is the development of human-centered technology, and the creation of ventures that take this technology into the real world.

He directs the Human Dynamics Lab, helping companies to become more productive and creative through organizational engineering, and the Media Lab Entrepreneurship Program, which helps translate cutting-edge technology into real-world impact around the world. He is among the most-cited computer scientists in the world, and in 1997 Newsweek magazine named him one of the 100 Americans likely to shape this century.

VIDEOS CV RESEARCH PAPERS