Biography

Ian Morris Nieves is an interaction designer, computer scientist, and entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, California.

As an early partner, Technical Adviser, and interaction design lead at Untangle, he helped revolutionize the network security industry by creating a truly simple and attractive graphical user interface which customers enjoyed using. His work focused on inventing the award-winning virtual network rack and virtual network appliance user interface, which earned him his first US patent in 2008. Untangle is now well on its way to becoming the leader in network gateways for small and medium businesses.

Ian has over 10 years of experience writing software, and focuses mostly on building mission critical user interfaces, innovative interfaces, and interfaces simple enough for children. Prior to becoming an Untangler, Ian held positions at Lego Systems A/S, Apple Inc., and several CMU research organizations focused on user interface in educational and public school settings.

He is a huge fan and graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, holding an M.S. in Software Engineering and a B.S. Double Major in Computer Science and Economics, with College Honors. While at CMU, he found a passion for mobile robotics which led to a 3rd and later 2nd place finish in the annual Mobot autonomous robotics competition. His efforts in constructing robots from Lego building blocks fueled a desire to build a Lego-based 3D software tool which would allow for fun and rapid prototyping of 3d models formed from connectable elements. His unique research interests gained university recognition through three CMU Research Grants and a prized CMU Research Fellowship, after which he did an 1 year internship at Lego Systems A/S in Denmark to work in the team of the inventor of Lego’s proprietary connectivity algorithm. That project later became Lego’s acclaimed Digital Designer software for allowing children to build 3d models.

As a legacy to CMU, Ian founded the Student College at CMU in 2001, also known as StuCo. StuCo enables students to share their unique knowledge and backgrounds with the rest of the academic community through developing and teaching their own course. With the support of SCS Dean Mark Stehlik, Assistant Vice Provost for Education Janet Stocks, Vice Provost for Education Indira Nair, and the University, Ian started a new course number (98-xxx) and built an executive committee that would provide a platform for StuCo to operate. StuCo has not only demonstrated sustainability without Ian at the helm, but has grown tremendously with the number of courses designed and taught in the hundreds and the number of students taking these courses in the thousands. Because of a rigorous application process and course monitoring, CMU enthusiastically grants course credit to the students and teachers in StuCo, and both CMU and U.S. News & World Report cite StuCo as a major organization within the University.

As an official side project, Ian has started Waffelicious.org, an underground breakfast club in Silicon Valley focused on innovating in the up and coming culinary market segment known as waffles. The project aims to go non-profit, benefit the homeless and hungry in San Francisco, and do something that few organizations can do: create a thriving online community that also converges on a physical location. Ian resides in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, California, where he enjoys the area’s creative energy, Golden Gate Park, and Amoeba Records. He enjoys logo design and graphic design as hobbies.

Ian resides in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, California, where he enjoys the area’s creative energy, Golden Gate Park, and Amoeba Records. He enjoys logo design and graphic design as hobbies.