Jason Jesurum Jay

139 West Newton St. #3

Boston, MA 02118

jjay [at] mit [dot] edu

EDUCATION

Graduate study: MIT Sloan School of Management Cambridge, MA

· Ph.D. in Organization Studies expected 2010; secondary emphasis in System Dynamics.

· Coursework completed: system dynamics, qualitative and quantitative research methods, organizational theory, enterprise architecting. GPA 4.0

· Founding member of Sustainability@MIT, a student-led organization working to bring principles of economic, social, and environmental sustainability into the curriculum, research, and operations of MIT.

Graduate study: Harvard Graduate School of Education Cambridge, MA

· M.Ed. in Technology in Education received in June, 2003. GPA 3.96.

· Coursework on leadership, adult development, distance education, the role of media and culture in learning, and qualitative research methods in schools and communities.

Undergraduate study: Harvard College Cambridge, MA

· BA in Psychology 1999, with Cum Laude honors distinction. GPA: 3.85.

· John Harvard Scholarship for academic excellence all four years.

· Coursework: Psychology, Computer Science, Biology, Neuroscience, Mathematics, Economics, and Statistics.

· President and instructor of Harvard Kokushi-Ryu Jujutsu Club; Captain of Mather House intramural crew team.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Research Assistant, MIT Center for Collective Intelligence, Cambridge, MA. Summer, 2006.

· Developed literature review to serve as background for the Center’s emerging research agenda.

Independent Consultant, September, 2005 – Present.

· Facilitator of Systems Thinking workshops and System Dynamics analysis for a major multinational corporation (through Dialogos International).

· Strategic advisor and facilitator for Harvard’s Division of Continuing Education, helping develop university-wide strategy for online learning.

· Advisor and leadership coach for senior executive team of a small corporation with worldwide sales in the artificial turf and construction industries.

· Coaching and advisory relationships with young entrepreneurs.

Consultant, Dialogos International, LLC, Cambridge, MA. October, 2003 – September, 2005.

· Consultant at MIT-affiliated, global consulting and action research firm. Projects focused on leadership and organizational development. Clients include BP, the World Bank, Pittsburgh Public Schools, WK Kellogg Foundation, and two financial services companies.

· Designed and co-facilitated four-part leadership training for 39 people from 19 agencies serving high-risk youth in the greater Boston area.

· Project manager for senior consultants engaging with Fortune 500 companies and international institutions.

· Director of information technology at the firm.

Intern, Certificate in Technologies of Education program, Harvard Extension School, Cambridge, MA. January, 2003– June, 2003.

· Consulted CTE director Dr. Catalina Laserna on program design and strategy.

· Coordinated partnerships between Boston-area public schools and Harvard's Certificate for Technologies of Education.

· Designed database for school profiles, collaborative research, and professional development projects.

Research intern, Boston Evening Academy, Boston, MA. October, 2002 – June, 2003.

· Consulted on technology strategy and “distance learning” program design in Horace Mann charter school serving urban population.

· Developed inquiry science curriculum for students engaged in part-time independent study.

· Tutored part-time students in math, science, and language arts.

Kindergarten Teacher, Boulder Journey School, Boulder, CO. November, 2001 – August, 2002.

· Co-taught kindergarten classroom in Reggio Emilia-inspired preschool.

· Designed and co-taught K-3 summer program.

· Assisted with school’s strategic planning and educational technology selection.

· Built “Bibliotecha” database system for archival, discussion, and guided construction of pedagogical documentation

Founder and President, Little Engine division of Knowledge Universe, LLC, San Francisco, CA. May, 2000 – February, 2001.

· Developed concept and business plan for technology startup attempting to improve the quality of early childhood education.

· Secured $750K seed funding from Milken team.

· Built nine person engineering, content, and marketing team.

· Coordinated development of Java/XML/XSL-based Early Care Assistance System for web-based assessment of young children and automated suggestion of developmentally appropriate activities to parents and early childhood educators.

· Responsible for all strategy, business development, and operations of company.

· Carried out shutdown and asset distribution when the 2000 stock market crash eliminated possibilities of further funding.

Knowledge Management Specialist, Knowledge Learning Corp. division of Knowledge Universe, LLC, San Rafael, CA. Summer 1999-April 2000.

· Designed and managed development of database-driven web site for nationwide early education provider.

· Produced Flash-based Virtual Tour of a school.

· Wrote new framework for preschool science curriculum, built database-driven web application for construction of science lesson plans, migrated five years of text-based curriculum to new platform.

· Designed, built, and supported customer lead tracking system.

Undergraduate Researcher, MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, MA. Winter, 1999 – Summer, 1999.

· Designed and prototyped “Firefly” interactive music toys

· Built breath interface hardware and Java-based software for Contemplative Multimedia project.

· Submitted paper on Firefly toys for Computer Human Interface conference.

Intern, Synectics, Inc. Summer, 1998 – Summer, 1999.

· Contributed to strategic planning, information technology, and research in mid-sized consulting firm dedicated to enhancing dialogue and creativity in organizations.

· Helped design and develop Synectics InSync, a Java-based software package for creative group collaboration over the Internet.

Research Assistant, Visual Cognition Lab, Harvard University. Summer, 1998 – Summer, 1999.

· Designed, prepared, and conducted 2 studies on spatial navigation in virtual reality. Constructed 4 virtual worlds using commercial computer game. Recruited, ran, and analyzed data for 25 college-aged subjects.

Undergraduate Researcher, Santa Fe Institute. Summer, 1997.

Designed and conducted artificial life simulation in Swarm to run on Sun workstations. Examined effects of natural and sexual selection on behavior in organisms with simple neural network control systems.

PUBLICATIONS

Author: JasonJay.com web site, including several hundred pages of travel logs and reflective writing about topics in education, spirituality, and politics.

Co-author: Weinberg, G., Lackner, T., and Jay, J. (2000) "The Musical Fireflies - Learning About Mathematical Patterns in Music Through Expression and Play". Proceedings of XII Colloquium on Musical Informatics 2000. A'quila Italy.

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

Academy of Management, student member since 2006

System Dynamics Society, student member since 2005

RELATED SKILLS AND ACTIVITIES

Management:

Facilitator of brainstorming sessions, dialogue and conflict resolution, and creative problem solving in diverse teams.
Project management with digital PM and groupware tools.

Technology design and implementation:

Architect, implementor, and facilitator of systems for online learning and collaboration.
Multimedia scribe, using digital mind mapping tools for fluid collaboration and rapid publication.
Competent producer and editor of dynamic web sites, digital video, and interactive multimedia.
Programming in ColdFusion, HTML, XML/XSL, Flash, Java, C, C++, LISP, Scheme, and Objective C on UNIX, Macintosh, and Windows.

International:

Native-level speaker of Italian.
Fluent knowledge of French.
Able to communicate in Bengali and Spanish.
Extensive travel in Europe, India, and the Middle East.

Additional activities:

Music: Accompaniment, improvisation, and composition with silver and bamboo traverse flutes and percussion instruments. Electronic music hobbyist (DJ and composition).