Laura Forlano

Summer 2011 Fellow

Laura is a writer, researcher and consultant based in New York City. Currently, she is a Postdoctoral Associate in the Interaction Design Lab in the Departments of Communication and Information Science at Cornell University. In the fall she will be an Assistant Professor of Design at the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Forlano’s research is on the role of information technology in supporting open innovation networks in urban environments with a specific emphasis on the use of mobile, wireless and ubiquitous computing technologies to support collaboration. She is co-editor with Marcus Foth, Christine Satchell and Martin Gibbs of From Social Butterfly to Engaged Citizen: Urban Informatics, Social Media, Ubiquitous Computing, and Mobile Technology to Support Citizen Engagement, which is to be published by MIT Press in 2011. Forlano received her Ph.D. in Communications from Columbia University in 2008. Since 2007, Forlano has been an Adjunct Faculty member in the Design and Management department at Parsons and the Graduate Programs in International Affairs and Media Studies at The New School where she teaches courses on Innovation, Technology and the City, New Media and Global Affairs, Service Design, and Design and Everyday Experience. She serves as a board member of NYCwireless and the New York City Computer Human Interaction Association. Forlano received a Master’s in International Affairs from Columbia University, a Diploma in International Relations from The Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelor’s in Asian Studies from Skidmore College. Forlano’s blog can be found at http://www.lauraforlano.org.