People
The Project Team
Dr. Janet Vertesi (PI, Princeton University) holds a Ph.D. in Science and Technology Studies from Cornell University, and a first class distinction Masters in History and Philosophy of Science from Cambridge University, UK. Her dissertation research involved extensive ethnographic research with the Mars Exploration Rover team. Vertesi’s published work in the history and sociology of science ranges from scientific imaging, to subway maps, and culturally-embedded computing; she has also published in the field of human-computer interaction. Vertesi is currently a Link-Cotsen Fellow at Princeton University’s Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts, with a lectureship appointment in Sociology, 2010-2013. Dr. Vertesi began working with the Cassini team in 2009.
Professor Paul Dourish (Co-I, University of California, Irvine) is Professor in Informatics, with courtesy appointments in Computer Science and in Anthropology. He has conducted research for almost twenty years at the intersection of computer science and social science, most notably in the area of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work. Dourish has been especially concerned lately with questions of methodology and epistemology, particularly with respect to ethnographic investigation and technological work. These interests are currently being pursued along with an interdisciplinary set of colleagues on the UCI campus and beyond through the Center for Ethnography, on whose board he sits. Professor Dourish’s extensive experience in the HCI community as well as his fluency with qualitative methods will contribute greatly to data analysis and translation into design concepts.
Dr. Melissa Mazmanian (Co-I, University of California, Irvine), Assistant Professor in Informatics, earned a PhD in Organization Studies from the MIT Sloan School of Management in 2009 and also holds an MSI in Information Economics, Management and Policy from the University of Michigan School of Information. Dr. Mazmanian’s interests revolve around the experience of communication technologies in-practice within organizational contexts, specifically in relation to identity projection and the nature of personal and professional time in the digital age. Her work enrolls ethnographic and qualitative research methods to examine the individual experiences and social dynamics that emerge when people enact and adapt to using new ICT’s in organizational settings. Dr. Mazmanian’s expertise in organizational studies and institutional work within technologized environments are invaluable in developing understandings of mission organization and community development.
Student Researchers
Marisa Cohn (Ph.D. Candidate, University of California, Irvine) research focuses on the development of software code in organizations. Her Ph.D. research with the Cassini mission team examines the use of a variety of scripts and softwares for compiling spacecraft commands, and how they are managed within a network of social and institutional relationships at Cassini.
Mauricio Lanio (Class of 2011, Princeton University) is a senior in the Sociology Department, Mauricio’s thesis involves developing quantitative analysis techniques in mapping the Cassini social network and bibliometric data. Mauricio’s thesis seeks to characterize how organizational and institutional factors and disciplinary conventions are reflected in publication networks.