Phoebe Sengers is an American

computer scientist A computer scientist is a scientist who specializes in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation. Although computer scientists can also focus their work and research on ...

and

ethnographer Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

, currently a professor at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

with a joint appointment in the Department of Science & Technology Studies and the Department of Information Science. She directs a research group on culturally embedded computing, and also holds affiliations with the Cornell Department of Computer Science, Cornell Institute for Digital Agriculture, and Atkinson Center for Sustainability. Her research concerns

technology and society Technology, society and life or technology and culture refers to the inter-dependency, co-dependence, co-influence, and co-production (society), co-production of technology and society upon one another. Evidence for this synergy has been found s ...

human–computer interaction Human–computer interaction (HCI) is the process through which people operate and engage with computer systems. Research in HCI covers the design and the use of computer technology, which focuses on the interfaces between people (users) and comp ...

, and sustainable computing, particularly focusing on experiences in rural areas, among the working classes, and in the

developing world A developing country is a sovereign state with a less-developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to developed countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreeme ...

Education and career

Sengers studied computer science at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

, graduating in 1990 with a minor in German. She completed a self-defined Ph.D. in artificial intelligence and cultural theory in 1998, at

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

. Her dissertation, ''Anti-Boxology: Agent Design in Cultural Context'', was supervised by Joseph Bates. After postdoctoral research as a

Fulbright Scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the peopl ...

at the ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe in Germany, and at the (now part of the FZI Forschungszentrum Informatik), she came to Cornell as an assistant professor in both the Department of Science & Technology Studies and the Department of Information Science in 2001. She was promoted to associate professor in 2008. In 2020 she reduced her appointment to half-time, and in 2022 she was promoted to full professor, still at half-time. Sengers is engaged in a long-term ethnographic project to study sociological changes brought about by technology in the

Change Islands Change Islands is an Newfoundland outport, outport community in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The community spans two small islands of the same name which lie off the northeast coast of ...

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

, an isolated and tradition-bound fishing community.

Recognition

Sengers was elected to the CHI Academy in 2023. She was named as an

ACM Fellow ACM Fellowship is an award and fellowship that recognises outstanding members of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). The title of ACM Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals ...

, in the 2023 class of fellows, for "contributions to critically-informed human-computer interaction and design".

Personal life

Sengers is one of four children of Dutch-American physicists Anneke Levelt Sengers and Jan V. Sengers.

References

External links

Cornell Science & Technology Studies bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sengers, Phoebe Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American computer scientists American women computer scientists American ethnographers American women anthropologists Johns Hopkins University alumni Carnegie Mellon University alumni Cornell University faculty 2023 fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery