Dr. Hossein Rahnama
Research Director
Dr. Hossein Rahnama is the Research Director of Ryerson’s Digital Media Zone (DMZ). Hossein leads the DMZ’s market-driven research arm, facilitating and encouraging industry partnerships with DMZ companies and teams. He also leads the DMZ research team, Flybits, where undergraduate and graduate students are working together to break new ground in mobile and pervasive computing.
Hossein has been at Ryerson University for more than a decade, starting with his undergraduate degree and staying through to complete his doctoral degree and postdoctoral work. This long association with Ryerson has given him a deep understanding of the university system, including the academic and scientific research process, which has been invaluable to the DMZ’s development.
A man who wears many hats, Hossein is also the Research Director of the Ubiquitous Computing Group at Ryerson, and an instructor in the University’s Department of Computer Science. He is an advocate for Canadian-European research collaborations in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector, having completed collaborations with more than 14 industry partners across Europe, including close relations with companies in Sweden and Norway.
In the DMZ, Hossein conducts research that combines context-aware computing, artificial intelligence, and online social networking. With special interests in the transit, transport and security industries, Hossein’s Flybits team specializes in mobile software solutions that respond to situational factors and personal information. Their goal is to use mobile devices to enhance interpersonal communications while conserving power and energy.
In 2010, the Flybits team under Hossein’s direction launched the Mobile Transit Companion for the Paris Metro Authority (RATP). This mobile application which is now live in Paris, provides passengers in transit with live, customized, useful data at their fingertips. The app was developed as one piece of a larger research consortium that enabled Hossein to work with industry leaders such as Telecom Italia Research, Telefonica (Spain), Appear Networks (Stockholm) and SINTEF (Norway). Hossein is the recipient of an OCE International Scholarship, Ryerson NSERC Innovation Challenge Award, Apple Inc. student scholarship, and in 2008, he was a semi-finalist for the business plan competition at Harvard Business School. Hossein has more than 15 publications and patents on Ubiquitous and Pervasive Computing.
Prior to starting his doctoral studies at Ryerson, Hossein was a Mobile Applications Architect at Primus Telecommunications in London, England.
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Ryerson Digital Media Zone
Ryerson University's Digital Media Zone is a workplace designed for young entrepreneurs, infused with the energy and resources of downtown Toronto. It's a place where students and alumni come to innovate, collaborate and market their products and services, and where commercial enterprises can turn to for progressive and creative digital solutions.
