As a research assistant at MIT's Media
Laboratory, Bernd worked in Neil
Gershenfeld's Physics and Media Group and
the Things-That-Think research consortium.
His research focused on machine-learning
techniques to model string instruments, with
the ultimate goal of building a Digital
Stradivarius. Bernd applied the modeling
techniques in a variety of commercial and
artistic applications including a digital
marching cello and a giant polyphonic
floorboard for the Flying Karamazov
Brothers.
In the fall of 2000, right at the beginning
of the dot-com bust, Bernd and four of his
MIT colleagues co-founded ThingMagic, LLC in
a garage not far from MIT. ThingMagic
initially was run as a technology
development and prototyping firm, but began
to focus on the development of RFID reader
technology within a couple of years of
operation. In 2005, after five years of
bootstrapping, ThingMagic converted itself
into a C-Corporation, hired a full-time CEO,
attracted tens of millions in venture
capital investments, and completed its
transformation into an RFID product company.
The RFID marketplace was booming, and
investors, users, and vendors alike fully
expected to make millions . . . until it
became clear that few users were willing to
spend money on RFID. ThingMagic buckled
down, shrunk, and survived the RFID crisis
as well as the world economic crisis that
followed soon thereafter.
In 2010, ThingMagic sold itself to Trimble
Navigation, a multi-billion dollar,
multi-national, public technology company.
Since then, Bernd has held the role of VP
Business Development, focusing his efforts
on applying RFID within key Trimble
verticals, such as c onstruction and mobile
computing.
Bernd holds a degree in Electrical
Engineering from Rheinisch-Westphaelische
Technische Hochschule Aachen, where he was
Valedictorian of his class, and a degree in
Industrial Engineering from Ecole Centrale
de Paris. He received his Ph.D. from the MIT
Media Laboratory in 2000. Bernd lives with
his wife and baby son in Cambridge,
Massachusetts and New York City.