Sascha Meinrath | |
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Born | New Haven, Connecticut, Connecticut, U.S. |
Education | Yale University University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |
Occupation | Director, Open Technology Initiative New America Foundation |
Employer | New America Foundation |
Sascha Meinrath is the Director of the New America Foundation's "Open Technology Initiative"[1] and heads the "Internet in a Suitcase"[2][3] effort to create ad-hoc mesh wireless technologies. In 2007, he founded the Open Source Wireless Coalition, "a global partnership of open source wireless integrators, researchers, implementors and companies dedicated to the development of open source, interoperable, low-cost wireless network technologies."[1] Meinrath is also the co-founder and executive direct of the CUWiN Foundation, a non-profit launched in 2000 that aims to develop "decentralized, community-owned networks that foster democratic cultures and local content."[4]
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Sascha received his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Yale University, where he was a Sterling Scholar, in 1997. His undergraduate thesis "The Effects of Academic Grouping on Students' Perceptions of School Climate,"[5] received first place for "Best Graduate or Undergraduate Research and Presentation" from the Society for Community Research and Action.[6] He received his Masters of Arts in Social-Ecological Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where his thesis was titled: "Reactions to Contemporary Activist-Scholars and the 'Midwestern Mystique': A case study for utilizing an evolving methodology in contentious contexts." He is currently a doctoral candidate at the Institute of Communications Research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois focusing on wireless networks and participatory networks.[7]
In 2004 Sascha moved to Washington DC to work as a policy analyst for Free Press, a national media reform organization. He joined the New America Foundation to become the Research Director of the Wireless Futures Program in 2007.[8]
Sascha launched the Open Technology Initiative in 2009. The Open Technology initiative is currently working to build community wireless networks with local community organizations in Philadelphia and Detroit.[9]. Another project of the Open Technology Initiative is Measurement Lab, an open source platform that supports broadband research tools and speed tests. In 2011, the State Department announced funding for Commotion, a project of OTI, to develop technology to lower barriers for building distributed communications networks.[10]