Ando is a PhD student at the School of Information at UC Berkeley, fellow at the Global Policy Lab, U.S. National Science Foundation, Mozilla Technology Fund and Microsoft Research AI for Good Lab. Ando’s current research focuses on using big data and machine learning to understand and ameliorate human impacts on ecosystems. His work is situated at the intersection of environmental justice, deep learning and sustainability. Ando develops geospatial machine learning methods and applies them to solve real world policy problems related to environmental degradation, resource extraction, socio-economic development and climate change mitigation & adaptation efforts.
He has worked as a sytems engineer, mixed-media artist, virtual reality pioneer, entrepreneur and filmmaker in past lives. Trained as a chip designer, he spent his formative years working in silicon valley designing hardware to optimize video streaming and off-grid renewable energy systems for communities in east Africa. He created one of the first 360 video capture cameras, created and directed multiple live-action and interactive VR experiences selected at Cannes Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival and Geneva International Film Festival. He co-created the world’s first underwater camera trap and software identification system that was used to automatically identify individual manta rays. Ando was the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Ballast Technologies, and he created the field of aquatic virtual reality to study the effects of ‘virtual nature’ on the human brain, and build empathy for the ocean. He holds multiple patents in these fields and has been featured in the New Yorker, CNET, The BBC, Forbes, Discovery, Digital Trends, MIT Technology Review, WIRED, and Freethink amongst others.
Sand Mining Watch
"These awardees are leading the way in demonstrating how open source AI can be used to help, not harm, the environment.”
Mehan Jayasuriya, Senior Program Officer at Mozilla
The path towards a cleaner, friendlier, more just, open and amazing planet, not just for humans, but for the entire ecosystem is through building empathy, towards greater compassion
Highlights
Publications
“Marine Biodiversity Credits: Technical Framework for Protection Credits”. Ando Shah, Maureen Fonseca, Page Lewington; Louisa Durkin, Margaux Filippi, Martin Wainstein. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10182712.
Sand Mining Watch: Leveraging Earth Observation Foundation Models to Inform Sustainable Development. In NeurIPS 2023 Workshop On Tackling Climate Change with Machine Learning (2023). Ando Shah, Suraj R. Nair, Tom Böhnel, Joshua E. Blumenstock
“Mapping Construction Grade Sand: Stepping Stones Towards Sustainable Development”. KDD 2023 Fragile Earth Workshop / ACM COMPASS 2023.
Ando Shah and Suraj R Nair
Marine ecosystems credits: Advanced credit class design to scale ocean conservation finance (2022). doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8271241
Margaux Filippi, Martin Wainstein, Ando Shah, Axel Constant, Maureen Fonseca, Louisa Durkin
Carbon Pricing Oracle - coming soon!
“Systems, Methods, and Devices for Providing Virtual-Reality or Mixed-Reality Experiences with Special Effects to a User in or under Water.” Ananda Shah, Alkis Roufas, Stephen Greenwood, Jim Mayfield, Kyle Mayfield, DE Hannah, Keenan Mayfield. 2023. US Patent 11,714,483
“Coordination of Water-Related Experiences with Virtual Reality Content.”. Greenwood, Stephen, Ananda Shah, Alkis Roufas, and Allan Evans. 2022. US Patent 11,262,583
“Coordination of Water-Related Experiences with Virtual Reality Content.”. Greenwood, Stephen, Ananda Shah, Alkis Roufas, and Allan Evans. 2020. US Patent 10,782,525 B2
“Memory subsystem for counter-based and other applications”. 2014. Nazar, Shadab, Mainak Sen, Wing L. Ho, and Ananda Shah. 2014. United States US8850137B2.
Awards & Honors
I’m a resident fellow at the AI For Good Lab - Microsoft Research in Nairobi from July 2024 to Jan 2025🎉! I will be working with the geospatial machine learning team 🛰️
I am honored be chosen as a National Science Foundation (NSF) fellow for the Digital Transformation of Development (DToD) program - AY 2024-2025. 🙏
Sand Mining Watch is funded by Mozilla Technology Fund (MTF), and Suraj, Josh and myself are fellows for the MTF’s AI for Environmental Justice 2024 cohort
2023 ACM Compass DMC Fellowship Recipient
2022 Berkeley I School Quigley/Heffernan Family Environmental Fellowship Recipient
2022 H2H8 Explorer Grant Recipient
Berkeley Haas Blockchain Initiative Grant Recipient, 2021-Present
Winner, University of California & Binance LIFT Big Ideas Contest, 2022-
Official Selection at Cannes Film Festival 2016 and 2017
Official Selection at Sundance Film Festival 2020
Official Selection at New Images Festival 2020
Official Selection at World VR Forum 2017 and 2019
Finalist in multiple categories at the VR Awards 2019 & VR Awards 2020
Finalist at the Webby Awards 2019
Best Live-Action Experience Award (Jet Lag) at the Kaleidoscope VR Film Festival
Official Selection at Geneva International Film Festival 2016
Official Selection and Winner of Best Immersive Experience Award at Festival du Nouveau Cinema 2016
Artist-in-Residence at the Société des Arts Technologiques [SAT], Montreal 2016 and 2017
Official Selection at the European Film Market at Berlinale 2017
Design Winner - A Solar Charging Station for the Developing World, Stanford 2011
Press Coverage / Talks
All About Blockchain - Podcast interview with Ripple Impact, 2023
UBRI Connect 2023 - Sustainability Panel
Tuesday Discussions at The Rachel Carson Center, 2021
Unlike sex, VR is crazy better when you do it underwater - Interview in CNET 2020
VRSlide covered by The BBC 2018
Article about DIVR in The New Yorker 2019
VRSlide covered by the MIT Technology Review 2018
VRSlide article in The Verge 2018
VRSlide covered by Digital Trends 2018
“Nature is Good for You. What About VR Nature?” - Interview in Freethink 2019
Interview by Design Week UK about the VR in theme parks 2019
The Magical Combination of Water and Virtual Reality, Part I & Part II - Academy of International Extended Reality (AIXR)
“Making Dreams Real” - Interview in the Independent Magazine, 2021
DIVR and Spaced Out in Futurism
Patterns selected for the Berlin Film Festival 2017
Jetlag wins at Kaleidoscope Film Festival on Wired Magazine 2016
Review of Jetlag and Vibrations on VR Focus
Coverage of Spaced Out at Sundance by The Verge 2020
Coverage of Spaced Out at Sundance by Indie Wire 2020
Sundance coverage on Variety, 2020
Review of Jetlag on L’Express (French)
VRSlide covered by Blooloop
Partnership with Vodafone
Patterns covered by VICE Canada 2017
Podcast interview with the Spaced Out team on Voices of VR
Forbes on the future of immersive entertainment 2020
Podcast interview with Ocean Allison
Coverage of Ballast on VR in themed entertainment in Forbes 2019
Spaced Out at Sundance in VRScout 2020
Patterns coverage by Mettle (Adobe) 2017
Patterns as covered by Le Devoir 2016
Jetlag at Cannes, on L’Express 2016
Jetlag, winner at Kaleidoscope on WIRED 2016
Jetlag, winner at Kaleidoscope on CNET 2016
Patterns at Berlinale, VR Film Review 2017
Coverage of Jetlag and Vibrations on VRFocus 2015
Profile of Patterns by SAT Official 2016
Patents & Papers
Coordination of water-related experiences with virtual reality content - 1 (US 10,782,525 B2)
Coordination of water-related experiences with virtual reality - 2 [US 11,262,583 B2)
Memory subsystem for counter-based and other applications (US 8,850,137 B2)
Coordination of tactile feedback and biosensing with water-related virtual reality experiences [Pending]
The Effect of Water Immersion on Vection in Virtual Reality - Nature [acknowledgements]
