In profile: Ramesh Raskar
In 2007, Ramesh Raskar was one of the most promising young researchers at the Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs in Cambridge, Mass. Four years earlier, Technology Review had honored him as one of its top innovators under 35, and while he was steadily publishing academic papers, his name was also on dozens of patents, several of which had found their way into Mitsubishi products. The job was lucrative and left him plenty of time for a personal life.That winter, however, he surprised technology observers by announcing that he’d accepted an appointment to the MIT Media Lab for the following spring. Despite a cut in pay, he’d have to work longer hours, piling administrative and teaching duties on top of his research. But to Raskar, the move made sense. “I was having a great time at MERL, but what I realized was that, as great a place as it is, at any...