Ben Fry, the founder of Fathom, will give an overview to his studio's approach to data-driven design and touch on some of the company's projects over the past year. Developers and designers from Fathom will explain the process behind their most recent data visualization work, including iPad apps and interactive installations.

Ben Fry received his doctoral degree from the Aesthetics + Computation group at MIT's Media Lab, where his research focused on combining fields such as computer science, statistics, graphic design and data visualization as a means for understanding information. After completing his dissertation, he spent time developing tools for visualization of genetic data at the Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard. Ben's work has appeared in museums such as the Whitney, the Cooper-Hewitt, and the Museum of Modern Art; in the films Minority Report and The Hulk; and in the journal Nature,New York Magazine, and the New York Times. In 2011, Ben won the National Design Award for Interaction Design and was selected as one of Fast Company's 50 Most Influential Designers in America.

Founded in 2010 and based in Boston, Fathom Information Design helps clients understand and express complex data through information graphics, interactive tools, and software for installations, the Web, and mobile devices. Their clients include the Gates Foundation, GE, Thomson Reuters, and Consumer Reports.