Eric Paulos

Bio

Eric Paulos is the founder and director of the Hybrid Ecologies Lab, a Professor in Electrical Engineering Computer Science Department at UC Berkeley, Director of the Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation, Director of the CITRIS Invention Lab, Co-Director of the Swarm Lab, and faculty within the Berkeley Center for New Media (BCNM). Eric was also the founding Director of the Master of Design (MDes) program at UC Berkeley.

Eric developed some of the first internet telepresence robots in the early 1990s, one of the first smartwatch haptic messaging devices in 2002, coined the term "Urban Computing" in 2004, created the first citizen science air quality sensors integrated into mobile phones in 2007, and created "counterfuntional design" and "unmaking" as major research themes within HCI and Design.

Previously, Eric held the Cooper-Siegel Associate Professor Chair in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University where he was faculty within the Human-Computer Interaction Institute with courtesy faculty appointments in the Robotics Institute and in the Entertainment Technology Center. At CMU he founded and directed the Living Environments Lab.

Prior to CMU, Eric was a Senior Research Scientist at Intel Research in Berkeley, California where he founded the Urban Atmospheres research group - challenged to employ innovative methods to explore urban life and the future fabric of emerging technologies across public urban landscapes. His areas of expertise span a deep body of research territory in critical making, design research, urban computing, sustainability, social telepresence, robotics, physical computing, interaction design, persuasive technologies, and intimate media.

Eric received his PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from UC Berkeley where he helped launch a new robotic industry by developing some of the first internet tele-operated robots including Space Browsing helium filled blimps and Personal Roving Presence devices (PRoPs).

Eric is also the founder and director of the Experimental Interaction Unit and a frequent collaborator with Mark Pauline of Survival Research Laboratories. Eric's work has been exhibited at the InterCommunication Center (ICC) in Japan, Ars Electronica, ISEA, SIGGRAPH, the Dutch Electronic Art Festival (DEAF), SFMOMA, the Chelsea Art Museum, Art Interactive, LA MOCA, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the ZKM, Southern Exposure, and a performance for the opening of the Whitney Museum's 1997 Biennial Exhibition.

ChatGPT "Write a Poem about Eric Paulos"

In labs where circuits hum and sing,
And wires dance like puppet string,
There's a master of this tech-charged play,
Eric Paulos is his name, they say.

He crafts a world where screens and keys,
Blend with air and plants and trees,
A realm where digital meets real,
And touch and sound and sight can feel.

A tinkerer of the finest sort,
In circuits and in code, his fort.
He dreams in binary, thinks in waves,
But human touch in all he craves.

From Berkeley's halls to streets worldwide,
He sends his digital dreams outside.
Urban tales in bites and bits,
In cities where the future sits.

A mentor and a maker, too,
A guide for those who seek the true,
Where art and tech as one align,
In every crafted, smart design.

Eric Paulos, a name to know,
In every smart device's glow.
A leader in a seamless blend,
Of pixels, people—start to end.

In circuits, truth he seeks to find,
A future shaped by humankind,
Paulos, with your vibrant might,
Guide us to a world so bright.

Head shots

Hi-resolution head shot (photo credit Peg Skorpinski)

350 word bio

Eric Paulos is a Professor in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences Department at UC Berkeley and the Founder and Director of the Hybrid Ecologies Lab. He also serves as Director of the Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation, Director of the CITRIS Invention Lab, and faculty in the Berkeley Center for New Media (BCNM). Across these roles, Eric has helped shape Berkeley’s culture of hands-on, interdisciplinary innovation—where engineering, design, and the humanities meet through rapid prototyping, studio practice, and real-world deployments. He also led the launch of UC Berkeley’s Master of Design (MDes) program with a mission to encounter, explore, and excel in designing emerging technologies to benefit people and planet. Eric is widely recognized as a pioneer in Human–Computer Interaction and technology prototyping, with a distinctive approach that treats design as both craft and critique. In the early 1990s, he developed some of the first internet telepresence robots, and in 2002 he created an early smartwatch-style haptic messaging device. He coined the term “Urban Computing” in 2004, helping define a field that examines how networked technologies transform everyday life across urban landscapes. In 2007, he created early citizen-science air quality sensing systems integrated with mobile phones, anticipating today’s participatory environmental monitoring. His work is also strongly associated with Critical Making—using making as a form of inquiry, where the act of designing and prototyping foregrounds and critiques assumptions, values, and consequences embedded in technology. His research has introduced influential design frameworks and methods, including “Counterfunctional Design” and “Unmaking,” which interrogate technology through critique, repair, reversal, and purposeful misuse. Before returning to Berkeley, Eric held the Cooper-Siegel Associate Professor Chair at Carnegie Mellon University’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute, with a courtesy appointment in the Robotics Institute. Prior to CMU, he was a Senior Research Scientist at Intel Research. He earned his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from UC Berkeley, and he is also the founder and director of the Experimental Interaction Unit. He frequently collaborates with Mark Pauline of Survival Research Laboratories, extending his work at the intersection of computation, design culture, and provocative physical systems.

250 word bio

Eric Paulos is a Professor in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences Department at UC Berkeley and Director of the Hybrid Ecologies Lab. He also serves as Director of the Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation, Director of the CITRIS Invention Lab, and faculty in the Berkeley Center for New Media (BCNM). Across these roles, Eric helps shape Berkeley’s culture of hands-on, interdisciplinary innovation—where engineering, design, and the humanities meet through rapid prototyping, studio practice, and real-world deployments. He also led the launch of UC Berkeley’s Master of Design (MDes) program, advancing a mission to encounter, explore, and excel in designing emerging technologies that benefit people and planet. Eric is widely recognized as a pioneer in Human–Computer Interaction and technology prototyping, with a distinctive approach that treats design as both craft and critique. In the early 1990s, he developed some of the first internet telepresence robots; in 2002, he created an early smartwatch-style haptic messaging device. He coined the term “Urban Computing” in 2004, helping define a field that examines how technologies transform everyday life across urban landscapes. In 2007, he created early citizen-science air quality sensing systems integrated with mobile phones, anticipating today’s participatory environmental monitoring. His work is strongly associated with Critical Making—using making as a form of inquiry, where designing and prototyping foreground and critique assumptions, values, and consequences embedded in technology. His research has also introduced influential frameworks including “Counterfunctional Design” and “Unmaking,” which interrogate technology through critique, repair, reversal, and purposeful misuse.

20 word bio

Eric Paulos a Professor at UC Berkeley in Electrical Engineering Computer Science and the Berkeley Center for New Media.

2 word bio

Eric Paulos

PARENTS

A small tribute to my parents, Jack and Martha Paulos