Subalekha Udayasankar

Subalekha Udayasankar is an Adjunct Professor at The Cooper Union, specializing in human-centered design, technology, and social impact. She integrates design, computer science, and social entrepreneurship to develop solutions addressing societal challenges such as disaster recovery, education, and cultural engagement.

Education:

• Master of Fine Arts, Design & Technology, Parsons the New School for Design (2009)
• Master of Science, Computer Science, Miami University (2006)
• Bachelor of Engineering, Electronics & Communication Engineering, University of Madras (2004)

Research & Projects: Co-led Project Lantern, a decentralized disaster recovery network awarded the NSF/Mozilla Grand Prize. Developed an AI platform for early education and designed the card game Bycatch to address surveillance and drone warfare ethics. Her work emphasizes empathy-driven technology and systems-thinking.

Awards & Recognition:

• National Science Foundation / Mozilla Grand Prize for Project Lantern

Additional Contributions: Consulted on urban tech projects with Paper & Equator and Playful London. Advocates for cultural trauma discourse and AI ethics through speaking engagements and media features like IBM's Code & Response.