His research interests span information and communication technologies and development (ICTD), human-computer interaction, networks, and systems. He was recognized by MIT Technology Review with a TR35 Award in 2014 for his work on The Village Base Station (VBTS), a low-cost, low-power system for providing small-scale, locally-owned cellular networks in rural communities that lack existing cellular coverage. After building the one of the first community cellular networks in a small village in Papua, Indonesia in 2013, Kurtis co-founded a startup company, Endaga, to commercialize the technology and bring VBTS to more communities around the world. Endaga joined Facebook in 2015. Kurtis has also worked in the areas of Crowdsourcing (Umati, the crowdsourcing vending machine) and single display groupware (Metamouse).