Newsha Ghaeli uses unique data sources to design more responsive and resilient cities.
Why you should listen
Newsha Ghaeli is president and co-founder of Biobot Analytics, a pioneer in wastewater epidemiology. Biobot helps cities and communities track and manage infectious diseases like COVID-19, Mpox, influenza and RSV, as well as public health challenges such as the opioid crisis. In 2021, Fast Company named Biobot the third most innovative biotechnology company (after vaccine manufacturers Pfizer and Moderna), and in 2022, TIME magazine named Biobot one of the "100 Most Influential Companies" of the year.Prior to founding Biobot, Ghaeli was a research fellow at the MIT Senseable City Lab, where she used urban data and the application of sensing technologies in urban systems to design more responsive and resilient cities. She holds an undergraduate and masters degree in architecture from the University of Waterloo and McGill University in Canada. In 2020, she was the recipient of the University of Waterloo's Faculty of Engineering Young Alumni Achievement Medal, and in 2022 she gave the commencement address for MIT's School of Architecture and Planning.
