Sophia Brueckner

Sophia Brueckner is an artist and engineer who researches how technology shapes us. As a software engineer at Google, she designed and built products used by tens of millions. At the Rhode Island School of Design and the MIT Media Lab, she researched the simultaneously empowering and controlling aspects of technology with a focus on tangible and social interfaces. Since 2011, Brueckner has taught Sci-Fi Prototyping, an internationally renowned course combining science fiction, extrapolative thinking, building prototypes, and technology ethics at MIT, Harvard, RISD, Brown, and the University of Michigan.

Brueckner prototypes alternatives to the tech industry’s limited visions for how we live with technology. She makes both physical and digital artifacts combining code, digital fabrication, and electronics with traditional media. Brueckner’s work has been featured by Artforum, SIGGRAPH, NPR, The Atlantic, Portugal’s National Museum of Contemporary Art, Leonardo, ISEA, Eyeo, and more. She was an artist-in-residence at Autodesk Pier 9 and Nokia Bell Labs E.A.T. She is currently an associate professor at the Stamps School of Art and Design and directs the Center for Ethics, Society, and Computing (ESC) at the University of Michigan. Her ongoing objective is to combine her background in design and engineering with the perspective of an artist to inspire a more positive future.

https://sophiabrueckner.com/