{{Short description|Greek academic}} {{Infobox person | name = Michail Bletsas | image = Michail Bletsas.jpg | caption = | birth_date = 1967 | birth_place = Chania | occupation = Academic and Computer Scientist | spouse = | children = | website = | footnotes = }}
'''Michail Bletsas''' (born March 19, 1967) is a Greek research scientist and the Director of Computing at the MIT Media Lab.
==Early life== Bletsas was born in Chania, Crete. He studied at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and received a master's degree in computer engineering from Boston University.<ref name="ccnc">[http://www.ieee-ccnc.org/2007/ Biography] as a keynote speaker at the Consumer Communications & Networking Conference, 2007, retrieved 2010-06-23.</ref>
==Career== Before joining the Media Lab, Bletsas was a Systems Engineer at Aware Inc.<ref name="ccnc"/> He is one of the founders of the Greek mobile advertising and marketing company Velti S.A.<ref name="ccnc"/> and he was also one of the leaders in an effort to provide wireless networking to the island of Patmos, Greece.<ref>[http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Nortel-Wireless-Mesh-Boosts-Broadband-for-Patmos-Islanders-TSX-NT-881823.htm Nortel Wireless Mesh Boosts Broadband for Patmos Islanders] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615232135/http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Nortel-Wireless-Mesh-Boosts-Broadband-for-Patmos-Islanders-TSX-NT-881823.htm |date=2011-06-15 }}, Nortel, July 23, 2008.</ref><ref>{{citation|title=Patmos, un'isola tutta wireless|journal=Computer World Italia|date=July 25, 2008|url=http://www.cwi.it/news/2008/07/25/patmos-unisola-tutta-wireless/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101222051409/http://www.cwi.it/news/2008/07/25/patmos-unisola-tutta-wireless/|archive-date=December 22, 2010}}.</ref>
Since June 23, 2010, Bletsas is an Independent Non-Executive Director of Hellenic Telecommunications Organization SA (Athens, Greece).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=108533045&ticker=HTO:GA&previousCapId=393661&previousTitle=HELLENIC%20TELECOMMUN%20ORGANIZA |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121003225605/http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=108533045&ticker=HTO:GA&previousCapId=393661&previousTitle=HELLENIC%20TELECOMMUN%20ORGANIZA |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 3, 2012 |title=Stocks |website=investing.businessweek.com |access-date=July 11, 2010}}</ref>
==OLPC== Michail Bletsas is one of the designers of OLPC's XO laptop.<ref> {{US patent|D609703|Laptop computer Patent}} </ref> <ref>{{citation|title=OLPC Exec Addresses Project's Shortcomings|journal=PC Magazine|date=January 18, 2008|first=Brian|last=Heater|url=https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2250490,00.asp}}.</ref> He was one of the principals of the OLPC team <ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070702215441/http://laptop.org/en/vision/people/ Michail Bletsas, Chief Connectivity Officer], One Laptop Per Child</ref> where he made various contributions, including the design and implementation of the first embedded layer-2 wifi mesh stack.<ref>{{patent|US|315042|application}}</ref> From February 2006 to January 2009, he was OLPC's Chief Connectivity Officer and VP Advanced Technology<ref> [http://www.gearlog.com/2008/01/interview_olpcs_michail_bletsa.php OLPC's Interview: OLPC's Michail Bletsas] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100728110111/http://www.gearlog.com/2008/01/interview_olpcs_michail_bletsa.php |date=2010-07-28 }} </ref> and he was member of the group which received the Community category award of the 2007 Index: Award, for the design of the OLPC XO-1 laptop computer.<ref>{{citation|title=World's Largest Design Award, Top 6 Winners Announced|journal=Digital Journal|date=August 25, 2007|url=http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/220663}}.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.indexaward.dk/index.php?option=com_content_custom&view=article&id=151:olpc-xo&catid=13:winners-2007&Itemid=19&Itemid=19 |title=Index:Award > 2007 > WINNERS 2007 > OLPC XO |access-date=2010-07-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721115334/http://www.indexaward.dk/index.php?option=com_content_custom&view=article&id=151:olpc-xo&catid=13:winners-2007&Itemid=19&Itemid=19 |archive-date=2011-07-21 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==Conferences== He was a keynote speaker at the 4th and 5th Annual IEEE Consumer Communications & Networking Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, 2007<ref> [http://www.ieee-ccnc.org/2007/ CCNC 2007] </ref> and 2008<ref> [http://cms.comsoc.org/CCNC_2008/Content/Home.html CCNC 2008 keynote speakers] </ref> respectively, at the 8th International Conference on Computer Based Learning in Science in Heraklion, Crete, 2007,<ref>[http://cblis2007.teiher.gr/sessions.asp CBLIS 2007 program] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110415174925/http://cblis2007.teiher.gr/sessions.asp |date=2011-04-15 }}, retrieved 2010-06-24.</ref> at Disruptions 2007 in Athens, Greece,<ref>[http://www.deloitte.com/view/en_GX/global/industries/technology-media-telecommunications/d3f4dff2d42fb110VgnVCM100000ba42f00aRCRD.htm Meet the speakers], Disruptions 2007, retrieved 2010-06-24.</ref> and at the 4th Balkan Conference in Informatics in Thessaloniki, Greece, 2009.<ref>[http://www.seerc.org/index.php?option=com_entities&view=news&layout=details&id=23 Call for participation], BCI 2009, retrieved 2010-06-24.</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} *MIT Media Lab "http://web.media.mit.edu/~mbletsas/"
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bletsas, Michael}} Category:MIT School of Architecture and Planning faculty Category:1967 births Category:Living people Category:Greek academics Category:One Laptop per Child Category:MIT Media Lab people Category:Aristotle University of Thessaloniki alumni Category:People from Chania