Summary
Omar Khan is a refugee advocate and former award-winning software engineer with 15 years of experience blending technology, community organizing, and creative practice. Based in Toronto, he has spent the last four-plus years helping refugee newcomers settle, opening pathways to education, licensing, and psychosocial supports while building grassroots capacity in Thorncliffe Park and Flemingdon Park. Earlier in his career he led product efforts at Google (including the Founder Award-winning Desktop and the PowerMeter energy project) and studied HCI at UC Berkeley, giving him a rare mix of technical depth and human-centered design. He connects systems-level advocacy with hands-on program delivery—creating initiatives like Number Buddies and partnering with the MIT Media Lab Refugee Learning Accelerator to support refugee technologists. An active artist and artistic engineer since 2008, he produces interactive installations that fuse data, light, sound and biosensor inputs, bringing experimental media into community contexts. Colleagues describe him as a connector who turns technical skills into practical tools for social inclusion.
15 years of coding experience
8 years of employment as a software developer
MSc, Computer Science: Human Computer Interaction., MSc, Computer Science: Human Computer Interaction. at University of California, Berkeley
BSc, Summa Cum Laude, Computer Science, BSc, Summa Cum Laude, Computer Science at Cornell University