MEHDI SALEHI

Drone Experience Designer

[email protected]

EDUCATION

Parsons School of Design, The New School, 2012- 2014, New York

Program: Design and Technology, Masters (MFA)

University of Thessaly, 2004- 2011, Volos, Greece

Program: Architecture Engineering, Bachelor’s of Science (B.Sc),

and Masters of Science (M.Sc)

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Online courses, 2018

• Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) – Key Concepts
• Aviation Maintenance
• Sustainability in the Aviation and Aerospace Industry

EXPERIENCE

Adjunct Drone Faculty, 2018- present

– Communications Department, College of Arts and Sciences, Adelphi University

• Introduction to Drones

Adjunct Drone Faculty, 2014- 2019

– MFA Design and Technology, Parsons School of Design

– School of Constructed Environments, Parsons School of Design

• Drones and the 3rd dimension
• Drones and the environment
• Good Drones

Research Fellow, 2019

– Levermore Global Scholars, Adelphi University

• Drones for good

Founder, Drone Labs (Good Drones LLC), www.dronelabs.co

Design and building drones, aerial 2D/3D mapping, R & D, aerial data collection and analysis.

October 2014- present, New York

Consultant, Drone Engineer (Third party contracts)

United States Army, Design and build training drones, Thermal imaging, NJ, 2017

SeeTree, Design/ build & deployment, Agriculture, Aerial sensing, California, 2017

Elsight, Assembly & flight test on M600, Multichannel live video transmission, 2017

Easy Aerial Inc, Design and build drones, Security, NJ, 2017

Design and Technology Lab, Manager

Design and Technology, Parsons School of Design,

September 2015- September 2016, New York

Digital Fabrication Technologist, Production Manager

Fabberz Lab, Startup, September 2014- August 2015, New York

Digital Fabrication Technologist

School of Constructed Environments (SCE), Digital Fabrication Lab,

Parsons School of Design. February 2012- August 2014, New York

Facilitated rapid prototyping workshops and operated and maintained 22 fabrication machines including: Objet24 3D printer, Zcorp 3D printer, Mcore Iris 3D printer, Universal laser cutters, Makerbot Replicator, NextEngine 3D scanners

SKILLS

Design & building drones, Drone 2D/3D mapping, FAA Part 107 pilot (Apprx. 900 hours), Pix4D, Agisoft Photoscan, Pixhawk, DroneDeploy, Rhino, Arduino, AutoCAD, SketchUp, Adobe (Premier, Illustrator, Photoshop, Lightroom), Mission Planner, User Experience Design, Rapid prototyping, Aerial sensors (Seqouia, SlantRange, Lidar, Flir IR thermal)

AWARDS

• Parsons School of Design, Dean’s full scholarship, New York, 2012
• University of Thessaly, Dean’s full scholarship, Greece, 2004
• Tishman Environment and Design Center, New York, 2016
• Propoelify Innovation, Top 10 Startup Humanity Heroes, New Jersey, 2018
• Michael Kalil award for Smart Design, New York, 2014
• The New Challenge, New York, 2014
• William Hearst award, New York, 2014
• Crash Fest, Greece, 2006
• Belle Arte Lamia, Greece, 2006

CLIENTS (Drone Services)

The Weather Channel, New York Post, Accenture, FOX, WNYC, U.S. Army, L’Oreal, Fjord, Walmart, FedEx, HGTV, Extended Stay America, Reconstruct Inc., Uplift Data Partners, Fantasy, Viktor & Rolf, Walters Homes, Javits Center, The New School, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Socialure, Designity, CBRE Group, Elsight, SeeTree, Easy Aerial, Adelphi University, Chulalonggkorn University (Bangkok)

DRONES FOR SOCIAL GOOD (projects)

• Drones for Refugees, Greece, 2016
• Drone workshops for schools, Kabul Afghanistan, 2016
• Drones for disaster relief, Texas, 2017

MEDIA (Drones for Refugees, www.dronesforrefugees.com)

BBC, Business Insider, Deutsche Welle, AFP, Vocativ, USA Today, HighTech, TV5 Monde, WNYC, Yahoo News, Greek Reporter, SpaceDaily, Popular Science, China Daily, Science Daily, Silicon Valley, Voice of America, Tribune de Geneve

LANGUAGES

• English, Fluent
• Greek, Fluent
• Persian, Native

CONFERENCES (Public engagements)

• Columbia University, Drones for Refugees, Speaker, 2018, New York
• UNICEF, Drones for Good, Speaker, 2018, New York
• SAMSUNG Next, Integration of design and fashion tech in drone industry, Speaker, 2018, New York
• Parsons School of Design, Consequences and Ethics of Drone Technology, Guest lecture, 2018, New York
• Podcast, How Do We Fix It?, The promise and problems with drones, May 2018, New York
• AEC Next, Technology expo + conference, Drones and the 3rd dimension, 2018, Anaheim California
• SPAR 3D, Expo and conference, Drones and the 3rd dimension, 2018, Anaheim California
• Tishman Environment and Design Center, Drones for Refugees, 2017, New York
• Eugene Lang College, Humanitarianism and the politics of doing good, Drones for Refugees, 2016, New York
• School of art and design history and theory, Parsons, Do drones have DNA?, 2016, New York
• University of Thessaly, Interactive Environments, 2010, Greece
• Sparks & Honey, Communications Drone, Speaker, Product demo, 2016, New York

PORTFOLIO

PAST PROJECTS AND EXPERIENCE

Participatory City / City Forward : IBM

2012, New York, User Experience Researcher and Visual Designer

• Conducted density and air pollution research of Canal Street in New York City in order to investigate the future of public spaces through the development and implementation of physical and digital interfaces for community participation.
• Collaborated with visual designers, technologists and architects from Columbia University to create a proposal for the client IBM.
• Integrated research and proposal into the City Forward web-based platform for analyzing and visualizing data from cities around the world hosted by IBM.
• Developed exhibition visual and physical materials and facilitated presentation to the client as well as other interested parties.

Afghanistan Pavilion for 2015 Milan Expo

2011, Architect, Designer, User Experience

A contemporary interactive monument of Afghan culture and tradition.

Directed the concept development, user experience, design process, architectural model, architectural renders and project proposal.

Architect / Digital Fabrication

Splash House Project: Pool Pavilion for HighBridge Pool and Recreation Center in Washington Heights, NY

Parsons Design and Build studio.

May 2012 – August 2012 New York

• Participated as the architecture team member.
• Erected and accommodated the fabrication of the structure.

Freelance Product and Art Design

2009-2011, Athens and Volos, Greece

• Mapped various existing buildings for renovation and interpretation of new design.
• Created renderings of new designs for presentation to clients.
• Presented renderings and proposed modifications to clients.
• Collaborated with civil engineers, urban designers and architects to gather and calculate GIS data for topography mapping.

Digital Fabrication Lab Developer

Digital fabrication laboratory, Architecture department,

2009- 2011, University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece

• Managed and developed university fabrication lab.
• Supervised, installed and maintained all machines and computer interface programs.
• Facilitated workshops for students about the creation of various products or prototypes using fabrication machines and software.

Visual Designer and Editor

2008 Volos, Greece

• Designed and edited the website and video production for the Fair Planet Humanitarian Organization.

User Experience / Strategy Designer

Maria Papdimitriou : EU- Roma a social impact project with theme the Roma Housing Developments in Europe

January 2007 – June 2009, Volos, Greece

• Collaborated with artists, architects and social scientists from different countries to identify ways to have a positive social impact on Gypsies’ populations’ everyday life in cities such as Rome, Italy and Volos Greece.
• Conducted qualitative user research on Gypsies’ everyday experience through individual interviews, filming activities, participating in social gatherings and meal activities.
• Created visual designs which included maps, illustrations to present to clients and in exhibitions.
• Fabricated and installed exhibition materials.

Architectural Model Designer

Manolis Brahas Architects

February 2003 – July 2005 (2 years 6 months) Volos, Greece.

• Assisted and worked closely with architects to develop renovation of historical buildings.
• Created renderings of architectural models and plans for presentation to clients.

User Experience and Strategy Designer

Going Public 05: Communities and Territories. Research, design and exhibition for the temporary habitation of Pontian-Greek minority in Farkadona. Theme: Emergency-case situations, From typography to Social Scapes.

2004-2005 Farkadona, Greece.

Role: observation, listening, research and identified, proposed solutions, design the showcase

• Gathered and analyzed user research in collaboration with technologists, designers, architects and social scientists about foreign internationals living in Greece.
• Conducted group interviews, ethnographic observation, strategic demographic mapping and filming to identify social interactions of foreign internationals with the local greek communities.
• Designed games, playgrounds and living facilities.
• Created networked communication technology and computers using recycled materials.
• Developed visual design for all exhibition work.

Projects, Public Engagements, Exhibitions

2010, Exhibition and sale of lighting design products, Benaki Art Museum, Athens.

2009, Exhibition, The second Gypsy Roma Traveler Month- Screening, Autograph ABP gallery, London, England, project On_line.

2009, Exhibition EU-ROMA Dwelling, Royal Institute of British Architects, RIBA, London, project On_line.

2009, Exhibition Design 2009: New technologies, new materials, a Challenge for design and thinking, Cyprus House, Cyprus Embassy, project Fink Bubbles Table.

2009, Exhibition Beyond Media, Florence, Italy, project On_line.

2009, Participation, 10th Biennale Lyon, T.A.M.A project, collaboration with artist Maria Papadimitriou, project On_line.

2009, Conference “Between Filoxenia and Xenophobia” organized by Polis 21 and the European Alternatives, Speaker.

2009, Exhibition “Supersurfaces” The Archive_Episode 3, Thessaloniki, project “Remains surfaces”.

2007, Participation, International Annual Movie Festival of Canada CIAFF (Canadian International Annual Film Festival) in Ontario, Movie “Jostojou”.

2004, Represented the Afghan community in the European Parliament in Brussels in the conference of ECRE (European Council on Refugees and Exiles) with the topic of Repatriation of Refugees.

2010, Directed the Transframing workshop “Intensive workshop of parametric design and construction”, Architecture school University of Thessaly.

2009, Project Management, “From Persian to Greek-Crossing the Boundaries”

Performance-Installation in Monastiraki public square, Athens, with: Network Nomadic Architecture and European Alternatives.

2009, Research project- by Cultural Institute of Piraeus, redesigning and renovating historical buildings of Pelion area, collaboration with architect Kostantinos Adamakis.

2007, Project management, prototyper, concept development, at “[Κ]onstruction” investigating the material and structural characteristics of the architectural artifact.

Developed these projects:

• Tensegrities Workshop: spatial geometrical constructions/ sculptures (2007), Architecture Department University of Thessaly
• Shell Workshop: shell/roof design and build with wooden elements, with human experience in mind (2008), Architecture Department University of Thessaly.

Projects workshops and presentation

• Architecture school University of Thessaly, 2008
• Architecture school National Technical University Athens, 2008
• Conference, Architectural Design and Construction Education, Genoa, 2009

Afghanistan Pavilion for 2015 Milan Expo, Proposal

Title: Designer, Architect, Modeler, Concept development