Instructors
Nicole Starosielski
Lead Instructor: NWMEDIA 131 — Digital Infrastructure 101: The Hidden Foundations of the Internet
Co-Instructor: NWMEDIA 132 — How to Build a Global Internet: Digital Infrastructure Projects from Subsea Cables to Data Centers
Professor of Film and Media at the University of California-Berkeley and the Berkeley Center for New Media, Starosielski conducts research on global internet infrastructure, with a focus on the subsea cables that carry almost 100% of transoceanic internet traffic. Starosielski is author or co-editor of over thirty articles and five books on media, infrastructure, and environments, including: The Undersea Network (2015), which chronicled the history and present of the subsea telecommunications cable network from the 1800s to today.
Over the past several years, Starosielski has been working with the SubOptic Association and Foundation to develop research and educational programs to support the subsea cable industry. Starosielski is also a co-convenor of the SubOptic Association’s Global Citizen Working Group and a Principal Investigator on a SubOptic project to enhance the strategic resilience of subsea cables in the Caribbean. Starosielski's most recent project, Sustainable Subsea Networks works to enhance the sustainability of subsea cable infrastructures. The project has developed a catalog of best practices for sustainability in the subsea cable and a carbon footprint of a subsea cable.
Starosielski launched the Certificate in Global Digital Infrastructure in 2025.
Erick Contag
Lead Instructor: NWMEDIA 132 — How to Build a Global Internet: Digital Infrastructure Projects from Subsea Cables to Data Centers
Erick Contag (President – Board of Trustees | SubOptic Foundation; Founder – CEO | StratWorks, Inc; Independent Board Member | Padtec; Co-Founder & Board Advisor | Seafields Solutions, Ltd; Former CEO and Executive Chairman | GlobeNet Cabos Submarinos) is a seasoned strategist driven by his passion for building and managing sustainable digital infrastructures. With over twenty-five years of executive management, entrepreneurship, marketing & sales, and business development experience, he specializes in building high-performance teams, fostering growth, and scalability.
Mr. Contag has been responsible for managing C-level relationships and telecommunications / high-technology projects for start-up enterprises through large multi-national and Global 100 companies. He has proven success in starting, building, and operating telecommunications / subsea networks, and colocation / data centers infrastructure and high-tech businesses. Mr. Contag was awarded three times the Global Telecoms Business Power 100 Award, an honor bestowed upon the most powerful 100 executives in the telecom industry.
Mr. Contag has held executive positions in the U.S. and Latin America and serves on the Board of Directors of several companies and industry associations. He believes in giving back to society through education and research programs.
Mr. Contag holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Tulsa, U.S. and an Executive Engineering Management certification from Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Administración (IESA). More recently, he attended the Executive Program at Singularity University.
Iago Bojczuk
Course Designer: NWMEDIA 133 — Tech Wars: Security, Geopolitics, and Resilience of Digital Infrastructures
Research Associate at the UC Berkeley Center for New Media, Iago holds a PhD in Sociology (Science and Technology Studies) from the University of Cambridge. His dissertation, Southern Clouds, examined Brazil’s data center ecosystems, analyzing their political economy, territorial inequalities, and vulnerability to climate risk within broader Global South debates. His current research agenda lies in three core areas: global digital infrastructures and sustainability, science and technology policy, and the governance of large-scale complex systems.
Iago’s writing has been published in Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies; Media, Culture & Society; Global Media and Communication; e-flux Magazine; SubTel Forum; SubOptic Foundation; book chapters; and official UN publications. For the past seven years, he has been involved in research projects on broadband and 5G networks, fiber-optic subsea cables, data centers, and satellite systems, and has held consultancy and internship positions with the World Bank’s Vice Presidency for Infrastructure, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
Most recently, Iago was a visiting scholar in the Department of International Relations and the Center for Computational Social Science at Koç University in Istanbul, Türkiye. Originally from Brazil, he holds a Master of Science in Comparative Media Studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a Bachelor of Arts in Media Studies from the University of Oregon.
Lennox Kairos
Course Designer: NW MEDIA 135 – From Code to Carbon: Leading a Sustainable Digital Infrastructure Revolution
Lennox Kairos is a multidisciplinary executive, advisor, and educator working at the intersection of technology, sustainability, people systems and organizational leadership. He is the Founder of Kairos Think Group and has held senior leadership roles across high-growth technology and climate-focused companies, including Chief People Officer at Tailscale, Vice President of People at Rondo Energy, Chief of Staff to the CEO at Volta Charging, and Head of Leadership Development at Cruise.
Across these roles, Lennox has partnered closely with CEOs, boards, and executive teams to design the operating systems that enable organizations to scale responsibly, while integrating people strategy, governance, risk mitigation, and execution under conditions of rapid growth and constraint. His experience spans technology, AI-adjacent platforms, cleantech manufacturing, and public-company transitions, giving him a cross-functional view of how sustainability, speed, and scale collide in real operating environments.
Lennox approaches sustainability not as a reporting function, but as a leadership and decision-making discipline that requires fluency in tradeoffs across energy, labor, governance, capital, and long-term value creation. In his course, From Code to Carbon: Leading a Sustainable Digital Infrastructure Revolution, he equips current and emerging leaders with practical frameworks to navigate these tensions and build infrastructure systems that are resilient, ethical, and scalable.
He currently advises technology and infrastructure companies on HR/People strategy, leadership development, organizational design, and sustainability integration.
Diane Sanzone
Course Designer: NW MEDIA 139 – The Human Network: Stakeholder Mapping and Engagement for Digital Infrastructure
Dr. Sanzone is an expert in sustainability, impact assessment and permitting, environmental compliance, ecological studies, stakeholder engagement, and environmental and social governance (ESG)— assisting the world’s largest energy, industrial, and telecommunications companies in solving the world’s most complex environmental problems. Diane is currently Director of Digital Infrastructure and Energy Support Systems at Rambøll Group A/S, a Danish based multinational architecture, engineering, and environmental consulting company. Prior to Ramboll she was a Vice President at SubCom, AECOM, and Kleinfelder. Prior to joining the private sector, Diane was the Program Director for the U.S. Department of Interior, National Park Service’s Arctic Long Term Ecological Monitoring Program.
Diane was a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory (University of Chicago) in Woods Hole; MA; and a Fulbright Scholar to Iceland. She received her undergraduate degree from Rutgers University in Anthropology, Biology, and Philosophy; and MS in Conservation Ecology and Sustainable Development, and PhD in Ecology from the University of Georgia. Her scientific and technical expertise have afforded her the chance to work on large complex environmental projects around the world and in most oceans.
Diane is an active member of the CoastX Board of Directors, a non-profit founded to inspire the next generation of ocean innovators by giving students immersive, hands-on experiences in ocean science, engineering, marine art, and ocean entrepreneurship. Diane served on the University of Georgia, School of Ecology Board of Directors and was Affiliate Faculty at the University of Alaska for more than a decade. Diane is an avid cyclist and runner and many mornings you will see her cycling or running along the New England Seacoast at sunrise.
Team
Nicole Starosielski
Director of the Global Digital Infrastructure Program at UC Berkeley
Iago Bojczuk
Research Associate
Federica Tortorella
Program Manager
Federica Tortorella is an Italo-Dominican lawyer with a Master’s in Risk Management and advanced training in Internet governance and digital infrastructure. She currently serves as Program Manager for the Certificate in Global Digital Infrastructure. Previously, she worked on policy and regulatory issues related to domain names. With nearly a decade of experience in Internet governance and multistakeholder engagement, Federica has been engaged in global processes such as the Consultation for the Americas for the Global Digital Compact, fostering collaboration across technical, governmental, and civil society stakeholders to strengthen a resilient and open Internet ecosystem.
Kristina Lapinski
Communications Director
Kristina Lapinski is a strategic communications leader with 15 years of experience in developing high-impact campaigns and amplifying stories across sustainability, social justice, and cultural advocacy. She specializes in storytelling, stakeholder engagement, and program management, leveraging her skills to build partnerships among academia, industry leaders, policymakers, and community organizations.
Kristina is the founder of Heyday Collective, a consultancy and production company serving nonprofits, foundations, startups, and global media brands such as MSNBC and Warner Brothers. Her work has spanned grassroots advocacy initiatives to producing national communications campaigns featuring Governors and members of Congress. She has also programmed large-scale conferences and high-impact forums, including a leadership development summit for C-suite women executives at Microsoft’s Silicon Valley campus.
Kristina leads communications strategy and program management for the Global Digital Infrastructure Certificate. Her work reflects a commitment to social justice and environmental sustainability through innovative communications and programmatic leadership. Kristina holds a B.A. in Political Science from UC Santa Cruz.