Prof. Alex “Sandy” Pentland, director of the MIT Connection Science and Human Dynamics Laboratories, was named by Forbes in 2012 as one of the “seven most powerful data scientists in the world.” His research focuses on ways to use Big Data and “reality mining” to extract patterns that predict human behavior. His 2014 book Social Physics postulates that “the newly ubiquitous digital data that is becoming available about all aspects of human life” can be used to build “a predictive, computational theory of human behavior” that can in turn be used to engineer better social systems.

But these new capabilities raise obvious questions about privacy and personal autonomy; so alongside his research work, Pentland helps to devise guidelines to preempt future privacy disasters through his work as academic director of the Data-Pop Alliance, a New York think tank promoting democratic and humanitarian uses of Big Data, and co-leader of the World Economic Forum Big Data and Personal Data initiatives.

Pentland is also the co-founder of Sociometric Solutions, a Boston startup that uses a “Sociometric Badge” device to analyze work in complex organizations. He has been called “The Godfather of Wearables” by The Verge for his work in the 1980s and 1990s to build highly portable displays, health monitors, cameras, and interface devices. Pentland’s former student Thad Starner went on to lead the Glass project at Google.