Our Team

Marty Culpepper, a Professor of Mechanical Engineering, is MIT's first Maker Czar. He is passionate about all aspects of making and breaking as demonstrated in his 2.72 class where the student teams spend the semester building desktop lathes. Professor Culpepper is the recipient of an NSF Presidential Early Career Award, two R&D 100 awards, a TR100 award and a Joel and Ruth Spira Teaching Award. He is not one to be afraid of getting his hands dirty. His favorite maker tools are mills and waterjets, though he's become fond of glass blowing.

Jonathan is the Associate Director and Maker IT Guru on MIT's Project Manus. He has 20 years of IT leadership experience and is in his happy place when making solar panel jewelry, circuits or anything with his kids. He earned his Bachelors in Electrical Engineering from MIT and is responsible for managing the IT components including Mobius app development and data collection. His favorite tools include small mills, laser cutters and 3D Printers.

Saana serves Project Manus as its Senior Program Manager. She is a jack-of-all-trades who is a self-confessed workaholic. She is busy keeping everything running smoothly but manages to find time to be a manuscript editor for a scientific journal and to teach Finnish at Harvard. Although her Husqvarna sewing machine is by far her favorite tool, she cannot wait to master the waterjet.

Conor serves as the Video and Digital Content Specialist for Project Manus. He wears many hats, and is our in-house webmaster, filmmaker, photographer, audio editor, social media manager and more. Before his time at MIT, Conor worked in private high school education. He was a Digital Arts teacher at Vermont Academy and Assistant Director of Multimedia Strategy and Production at Peddie School. Conor uses his iMac and Adobe software for most of his making, but is excited to delve into the world of 3D printing.

Laura is a long-time MIT employee and happy to be part of the Project Manus team. Always eager to help out, she’ll jump into to any project that needs an extra hand. Laura was a creative kid and loved making things (especially when it involved chocolate chips). She earned an MFA in sculpture and spent many hours in the woodshop and printmaking studio. Her favorite tools are an X-Acto knife and cutting mat.

Seth Avecilla specializes in delivering skills to students to shorten the path between their wildest ideas and reality. He is a Maker Technical Specialist for Project Manus. Having studied architecture and sculpture, he built large scale mixed-media installations, both for artists and high-end wayfinding signage, before running the fabrication shop for MIT's Program in Art, Culture and Technology. People come to him for welded metal fabrication, precision or unusual casting and moldmaking, and electronics. Sometimes you will find Seth dancing as though to shake his soul loose.

Kathy Yeo joins Project Manus from a widely varied and colorful background as a musician, artist, homeopath, nanny, and dog-mom to the world’s best-dressed Vizsla, Erwin. Hailing from Flin Flon Manitoba, Canada (it’s a real place) Kathy lived in Minneapolis prior to finding her way to Cambridge. As a musician, Kathy plays the clarinet, kinda sorta the piano, and will occasionally strum a few notes on an acoustic guitar. In her free time, she loves to knit, putter in the kitchen making new delicious creations, take photos of her dog, ride her bike, and daydream of all the places she wants to visit in this lifetime.

Eric is the Flameworking Instructor in MakerLodge & beyond excited to be working with the MIT Project Manus team. He has been behind the torch creating his art for 17 years and before that working at his father's company installing sheet & auto glass. Since 2005, Eric has taught over a thousand students how to safely melt glass with fire at his studio in Somerville, MA, the Sharon Arts School in NH and at various locations around the country. His favorite tools are lapidary wheels, glass lathes & of course his glass blowing torch. In his spare time, he loves seeing live music, bicycling, & spending time with friends & family.

Rob Klein is an environmental health and safety professional and Certified Industrial Hygienist with 30 years of experience in the field, primarily with higher educational institutions and national labs. He is a Lecturer at the Yale University School of Medicine and the principal of Coastal Safety, LLC, an EH&S consultancy. Until 2014, Rob was the Deputy Director for the Office of Environmental Health & Safety at Yale University. Rob has published numerous peer-reviewed articles on applied EH&S issues facing higher education, and is a frequent presenter at national and international meetings. In his spare time, he enjoys hiking, bicycling, and woodworking.