Mehdi Salehi had to leave Afghanistan in 2001. He gained admission to the University of Thessaly in Greece in 2003 to study Architecture, graduating in 2011 with an MS. Mehdi has had many different leadership roles, including head of the digital fabrication lab at U of Thessaly. He has won numerous awards and honors, including a current mention for his project HexSense, which was featured in the Italian version of Marie Claire in June 2013. Mehdi's passion for where he came from and perseverance toward his vision of the future lead him to be working constantly on creating interactive environments.

Kristen has a diverse background which includes undergraduate degrees in Anthropology, Fine Arts, and a graduate degree in Neuroscience and Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. For the past five years Kristen has worked in various positions that involve education, technology and design. These positions have included her two years as a Teach for America corps member in Denver, her experience as an Account Executive at Groupon, and more recently as a UX Designer and Curriculum Developer for the PET Lab at Parsons the New School for Design and a Research and Design Lead at LearnerX.