After an extensive search, ATLAS announced today that Laura Devendorf will join the rostered faculty in January as an assistant professor, with a tenure home in the Department of Information Science in the College of Media, Communication and Information. She completes her PhD at University of California, Berkeley this summer, supervised by Kimiko Ryokai. Her personal website includes the following description of her research and interests:
My work explores human relationships with technology. Specifically, I am interested in relationships where the human may not be in control. I create technologies that make room for the user to be challenged, provoke collaboration with machines and materials, and leave ample room for accidents or even failure. I believe that beautiful experiences emerge when we lose control and let ourselves be affected rather than affect. I’ve found that building technologies that shift away from a model of user-in-control give rise to poetic and enchanting moments in everyday life. I have undergraduate degrees in studio art and computer science from UC Santa Barbara and continue to practice art in parallel with my academic research.
In his email communicating the news to the community, Director Mark Gross concludes, “We’re fortunate, indeed, to have Laura join our community.”