MANISHA MOHAN
Manisha Mohan is a trans-disciplinary scientist, works at the intersection of technology and social issues. Manisha is currently spear-heading 'Saksham: a rural India initiative ' in India to empower women and young girls and fight against the fear of assault and sexual harassment. Manisha also, works at IFF, focusing on HCI applications for digital communication of flavors and fragrances. Prior to joining IFF, Manisha graduated from Living Mobile group at the MIT Media Lab where her research interests included wearable technology for safety and security and biomaterials science for wearables. Her thesis work lived at the intersection of social issues and engineering, with a specific focus on technologies that can create a positive impact on people’s lives and the environment. Her research explored on-body safety via the seamless integration of wearables into users’ existing clothing with a major focus on smells to deter the libido effect. The research solutions address three specific groups: infants and toddlers, college students, and the elderly and disabled.
Her past work also includes microfabrication, inclusive design, and automotive structural design and engineering. Manisha received her bachelor’s degree in automobile engineering from SRM, Chennai, India, wherein 2014 she was one of five India’s Presidential Fellows. Her work related to sexual abuse detection, communication and prevention was recognized at GYTI – Gandhian Young Technological Innovation Awards (2013), NCWTI (2017), Women’s Excellence Achievement Awards (2017), Fast Company(Finalist- Social Impact category, 2018) and many more.