Thomas A McGonagle

Tom is a 2005 graduate of the MSIT program at Bentley College. While there he served as the President of GITMA and developed the Watch City Wireless project which started as a graduate research project, but thanks to an interesting self-funding business model was operated for two years from 1/2005 - 1/2007.

Tom works full time on a large FAA technology contract as a Senior Technical Analyst. The system Tom works on is one of the largest Linux installations in the World. The system requires 24x7 support and Tom works 4PM-12AM.

Tom is actively involved in the Boston Wireless movement. He has worked as the organizer for the Boston WAG, and during the Summer of 2007 he submitted as Principle Investigator a large NSF wireless grant, which aimed to provide wireless networks and information technology training to teenagers and housing developments in Cambridge and Boston. The grant was well received by the NSF, and was thought to be incredibly innovative. The grant was ultimately not funded, but Tom plans on reapplying in 2008.

Since graduating from Bentley Tom has been teaching Linux Systems administration and networking engineering courses at the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology and IT101 and an advanced course on LAMP programming at Bentley College.

Tom is almost done with an MS in Software Engineering at Brandeis University and has begun an MA in Media Arts with a concentration in Media Studies at Emerson College. Tom is extremely interested in mobile phones and mobile technology as a platform for media distribution, and looks forward to studying this on a global scale.

Tom is also very interested in other cultures, global business and travel. As a graduate student Tom has traveled to and studied emerging technology markets and cultures in Eastern Europe, India, and in Jan. 2008 Tom will be traveling to and studying commerce and culture in China.

This Spring Tom will be presenting at the Fourth International Conference on Technology, Knowledge and Society. The paper and presentation is titled How Open Source Software and Wireless Networks are Transforming Two Cultures: An Investigation in Urban North America and Rural Africa. In March Tom will be presenting at the URI 2008 Interdisciplinary Graduate Student Conference. He will be presenting a paper on presence in the age of mobile technology. The paper is tentatively titled "Forget Big Brother, We're Broadcasting Ourselves".