Brian Neltner is an entrepreneur and artist in Somerville, MA working out of the Brickbottom Artists building where he has been doing collaborative LED artwork since 2007 in his studio. Most recently, Brian developed the Hallucinatorator, a box that causes vivid visual hallucinations using the MyKi LED light, and heavily contributed to art projects at Burning Man, Apogaea, Firefly, Steer Roast, and MAPS.

Brian went to MIT for physics and materials engineering as an undergraduate, and completed his Ph.D. in materials engineering in 2010 studying the use of genetically engineered viruses to produce fuel-cell ready hydrogen. In 2010, he moved to Boulder, CO to do a postdoc in chemical engineering studying the use of solar power for fertilizer manufacturing to reduce our dependence on fossil fuel based agriculture.

Upon returning to Boston, Brian has been involved with starting two companies other than SaikoLED. The first is Microreactor Solutions, dedicated to developing more energy efficient ways to manufacture chemicals and nanomaterials. The second is Ambri, a company revolutionizing grid storage by developing ultra-cheap, high energy density liquid metal batteries, where he is a principal scientist. He also is actually a level 8 ninja, and teaches Karate at the MIT Shotokan Karate Club.

Daniel Taub is an interaction designer, software engineer, and lighting enthusiast who finished his Master’s in EECS at the MIT Media Lab in 2009. He started light design and light board operation concurrently with acting in 1998 and has since controlled lights with desktop software, web applications, shell scripts, joysticks, touchpads, touch screens, accelerometers, remotes, and, indeed, microphones. Most recently, he was contracted by Philips Color Kinetics to develop an interface to control the newly-colorful facade of the Empire State Building.  Previously, he helped to found the CEMI Electronic Media Institute, ran the Blueway project on the Rose-Kennedy Greenway in Downtown Boston, and assisted with the Lightbridge project for the FAST arts festival for MIT’s 150th anniversary.  

Daniel has been a freelance developer for more than 10 years, and has consulted for SaikoLED since its inception. He is the father of two young children who also love to play with lights.