About the Course Instructors

Francesco Peri, MS 
Francesco Peri received his diploma in electrical engineering from the Leonardo Da Vinci Institute, Florence, Italy, his B.S. in computer science and physics and his M.S. in computer science from UMass Boston.  He is currently the marine technical manager in the Department of Environmental, Earth, and Ocean Sciences at UMass Boston with responsibilities for managing all technical aspects of department research projects, developing data management systems, designing and constructing electrical and mechanical components and systems for scientific instruments, and managing research cyber-infrastructure.  He is a certified ship captain and operates and maintains the fleet of UMass Boston research vessels.  Prior experience includes appointments as a software engineer with the Softrax Co., owner and operator of Marciana Marina Boat Services, and head technician, project manager, master electrician, and testing surveyor with various marine research companies in Florence, Italy.  

Michael Pollard, BS
Michael Pollard is currently UMass Boston’s associate registrar for systems, development and technology.  He was the founding director of the Center for Coastal Environmental Sensing Networks (CESN) at the University of Massachusetts Boston.  For over a decade, Mr. Pollard served as the Director of Laboratories for the University Of Massachusetts Psychology Department.  His areas of expertise include design and deployment of embedded wireless mesh networking sensor systems; Integration of heterogeneous real time data; programming embedded microprocessors, “smart” sensor design, computer-based data acquisition; integration and networking of digital and analog electronics, custom design and fabrication of experimental apparatus and unique instrumentation; remote digital video acquisition and processing; Mr. Pollard is also a qualified Windows, Linux, and Mac OS administrator. Mr. Pollard earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Massachusetts in 1993.  Pollard is currently working on a Master of Science in Applied Physics.  

Robert Stevenson, PhD
Dr. Robert Stevenson received his B.S. in Civil Engineering from Tufts University and both his M.S. in Wildlife Biology and his Ph. D. in Biophysical Ecology from the University of Washington. Currently he is an associate professor in the Biology Department at UMass Boston. During graduate school he built a portable weather station and multipurpose interface board with data logging by a Rockwell AIM 6502 single board computer for environmental sensing in the field. Rob taught an instrumentation course which emphasized computer control of instruments at UMass Boston for five years. Rob was one of the original founders of the CESN group. Recently he has started the ETAG project that provides data management services for researchers and citizen scientists using RFID technology to monitor animal activity.  

About CESN
The Center for Coastal Environmental Sensor Networks brings together University researchers, Massachusetts business and industry leaders, and state and federal decision-makers, to provide an integrated framework for developing environmental sensor networks, especially in coastal areas. This research center allows partners to 1) develop and test new environmental sensors and transfer them to commercial markets, 2) develop "smart" sensor networks for observing complex interactions of coastal systems including "hotspots and hot moments", 3) develop discrete and agent-based models to rapidly analyze and visualize complex and non-continuous data streams, and 4) support environmental decision-making processes. CESN is unique in its development of integrated land-water sensor networks, thus crossing the land-water interface, in focusing on "smart" networks, networks that are not simply automated, but can also "shift attention" to objects and events of interest, and in applying networks to urban environments. A diverse set of applications range from ecological to military to recreational.