via UCSB GradPost:

It’s impossible to pigeonhole Mike North. On his resume, you will find these diverse titles: founder of the nonprofit Reallocate; founder and president of creative agency North Design Labs; creator/host/producer/cameraman of “In the Making” on Discovery Digital; Chief Technology Officer of Nukotoys; host of “Outrageous Acts of Science” on the Science Channel; host of “Prototype This!” on Discovery Channel; co-founder of [freespace], a global network of civic engagement centers; co-founder of the co-living space concept The Embassy Network; and a UC Santa Barbara Ph.D. alum. Now he can add yet another title to that list: guest speaker for the 2014 Graduate Division Commencement ceremony, on Sunday at 4 p.m. on the Faculty Club Green.

There are other words that have been used to depict the multifaceted Dr. North, some of them self-descriptions: inventor; innovator; inspirational speaker; scientist; engineer; collaborator; risk-taker; teacher; mentor; world traveler; Burning Man aficionado; docnorth (his Instagram username); “wild child”; “the black sheep of my group”; and “the Indiana Jones of Technology.” He has gone scuba diving with sharks; built a 30-foot, 90-m.p.h., fire-breathing Viking ship and driven it from Santa Barbara to Burning Man; and lives in an eight-bedroom San Francisco Victorian that some have called a “high-tech commune,” but which North describes as “co-living with intention” with creative “family.”

The Gaucho grad alumnus, born Michael Thomas Northen, holds three degrees from UCSB: a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 2001; a Master of Science in Materials in 2002; and a Ph.D. in Materials with an emphasis in nanotechnology in 2006. His Ph.D. project involved studying the natural adhesive found on the pad of a gecko’s foot and designing and fabricating the world’s first synthetic adhesive that can be turned on and off electronically.

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