Many good stories start in medias res, so I'll begin with where I am now before returning to the beginning.
I'm currently in my final year as a doctoral candidate in the School of Information at the University of Michigan. I'm a fellow in the National Science Foundation IGERT program on Socio-Technical Infrastructure of Electronic Transactions (STIET) and an IBM PhD Research Fellow.
In general, my research focuses on sociotechnical questions related to
For more information about my dissertation project, see the page on Current News.
Now, on to the backstory...
I attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison for my undergraduate education. It was a fantastic experience, and I came out of it with a bachelor's degree in Slavic Languages and Literature. I also worked as a research assistant at the University of Wisconsin Center for Neuroscience.
Fast forward several years, and I came to realize that if I wanted a career as an academic, I should get on track and go for a graduate degree. The plan at the time was to concentrate on Human-Computer Interaction, so the University of Michigan School of Information was the natural choice. I was accepted into the Master of Science in Information program, and completed it in 2004. Along the way, I also entered the masters program in statistics but decided to leave after I had mastered the techniques I needed for my research. During my years as a doctoral student, I have also completed graduate programs at the Center for the Study of Complex Systems; the Program in Science, Technology, & Society (STS); and the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching.
I will complete the PhD in the summer of 2010. The goal is to become a professor at a large research institution. Ideally, I'd like to be at a university with a strong dedication to interdisciplinary and boundary-crossing research initiatives, basing myself in an information school, business school, or STS (Science and Technology Studies) program.