alex berke




Currently at the MIT Media Lab

Research focus: Cities and sustainability, decentralized systems, data privacy, democratizing benefits of large datasets while preserving privacy.



Past Technology Work


Working at the intersection of technology and social impact; experienced in designing and deploying new software, and working with large distributed systems.

Most recently as a software engineer at Google, on a team tasked with fighting disinformation within Google Search.


My book was recently published by the MIT Press


Beautiful Symmetry: A Coloring Book about Math

A coloring book as an illustrated introduction to group theory, both online and on paper.

Interactive online: beautifulsymmetry.onl



Published by the MIT Press

Get the print copy to color on paper: mitpress.mit.edu/books/beautiful-symmetry



Media Lab Projects

media.mit.edu/people/aberke


Crypto Voting + US Elections: Reality

On the security of blockchain, internet, and end-to-end verifiable voting systems, including the cryptography behind how they work.

medium.com/mit-media-lab/crypto-voting-us-elections-reality-554214b5c843

Crypto Voting + US Elections: (Science Fiction) Short Stories From Potential Futures

These stories consider two potential futures for US democracy, branching from our present. One is dystopian, the other utopian.

medium.com/mit-media-lab/crypto-voting-us-elections-science-fiction-fb1e4af2d13a

Income, Race, Bikes

aberke.github.io/income-race-bikes

Is the placement of bike-share docks equitable?


[bike] swarm

media.mit.edu/projects/bike-swarm

A decentralized system of synchronized lights to coordinate urban mobility swarms


Algorithmic Crypto-trading & Arbitrage

About winning an algorithmic cryptocurrency trading competition at MIT

medium.com/celohq/arbitrage-and-winning-a-cryptocurrency-trading-competition-at-mit-32e183766e42

How to Make (Almost) Anything

MIT Fall 2018







Past Side Projects


Fractals

aberke.github.io/fractals

#SyncWithUs

syncwithus.org

Crowd funding to support women's health.

L0v3 Bot

l0v3bot.com

Created at the 2017 Stupid Hackathon.

NY Farmers Markets

Advancing access to healthy and sustainable eating, with a focus on low income families.

Previously @ farmers-markets.nyc

github.com/aberke/eat-healthy-NYC


Past Talks & Exhibitions


  1. 02.2019 | Invited Speaker to Rutgers STEAM @ Rutgers University, NJ
  2. 06.2018 | Mathematical Lecture and Color Workshop @ NYC Salon, Manhattan NY
  3. 06.2018 | Guest Speaker @ New Rochelle’s IDEALab ‘Creative Conversation’
  4. 06.2018 | Art Installation: WALLPAPER @ Google NYC office, Manhattan NY
  5. 06.2018 | Technical Talk: Building Art @ NYC HTML5, Manhattan NY
  6. 06.2018 | Math Lecture & Workshop @ Babycastles, Manhattan NY
  7. 05.2018 | Solo Exhibition: WALLPAPER @ Babycastles, Manhattan NY
  8. 02.2018 | Presentation @ Creative Coding NYC, Manhattan NY
  9. 01.2018 | Mathematical Discussion and Workshop @ The Recurse Center, Manhattan NY
  10. 01.2018 | AngularNYC Technical Presentation, Manhattan NY
  11. 10.2017 | Moderated Panel @ Grace Hopper Conference (x2 due to popular demand)
  12. 06.2017 | HackNY Panel, Brooklyn NY
  13. 06.2017 | Art Exhibition @ Pioneer Works, Brooklyn NY
  14. 02.2016 | Code Driven NYC @ First Mark Capital, Manhattan NY
  15. 01.2014 | NY Tech Meetup, Manhattan NY


Other Writing


  1. Contributed to a linear algebra & computer science textbook at Brown University: "Coding the Matrix: Linear Algebra through Applications to Computer Science"
  2. Published a 3 part series about bitcoin on the Huffington Post: (1) (2) (3)
  3. Medium blog