- City Science
Matti Gruener is a graduate student and research assistant in the City Science group at MIT Media Lab. He draws on a background in computer science, computer graphics, and visual storytelling to study how people interact with augmented reality and AI. His work pairs spatial computing with conversational agents and data visualization to build new ways of reading and acting on information, with applications in decision-making and public education. He also builds small, single-purpose hardware that brings computing into everyday objects, often as physical interfaces to XR systems.
Before MIT, Matti spent a decade in visual effects, contributing to films including Harry Potter and Iron Man and shows including Game of Thrones and The Mandalorian.
Matti holds a B.Eng. in Audiovisual Media from Stuttgart Media University and an M.Sc. in Computer Science from the University of Stuttgart. Before Cambridge, he lived in several countries across three continents.