Yury Gitman
Part-time Assistant Professor
Profile
Yury has taught at Parsons since 2003 — first as a working artist, then as a product designer, and now as an open-source hardware developer. Throughout, he has had the pleasure of teaching Major Studio, Physical Computing, Wireless Toy Design, Web Basics, Mobile App Development, Making Wireless Toys, and Toy Concept Development.
After graduate school at NYU's ITP, he was an Artist-in-Residence at Eyebeam and received the Ars Electronica Golden Nica for Net Vision. That work led to Banana Design Lab (2005–2015), where he created products like My Beating Heart — a plush toy that mimics a human heartbeat to induce calm. In 2011, he co-founded World Famous Electronics and created PulseSensor, an open-source heart rate sensor now used in classrooms, makerspaces, and research labs worldwide.
His work has appeared in Newsweek, New York Times, BBC, CNN, Discovery Channel, and the Wall Street Journal.
Degrees Held
Master's Degree — New York University, Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP), 2002.
Bachelor of Science — Technology and Culture, Georgia Institute of Technology, 1999.
Current Courses
Making Wireless Toys — PSAM 5320, Spring 2026.
Toy Concept Dev & Des — PSAM 3845, Spring 2026.
Recent Publications
Heartbeat Sensor Projects with PulseSensor: Prototyping with Arduino and Pulse Sensor Amped. Yury Gitman & Joel Murphy. Apress, 2023.