Brenda Laurel is a designer, writer, researcher, and performer.

From 2002 to 2006, she chaired the Graduate Media Design Program at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. She was also a distinguished engineer at Sun Microsystems Labs from 2005 to 2006.

Since 1976, her work has focused on experience design, interactive story, and the intersection of culture and technology. In 1990 she cofounded Telepresence Research, developing technology and applications for virtual reality and remote presence. She cofounded Purple Moon in 1996 to create interactive media for girls (acquired by Mattel in 1999). The company was based on four years of research in gender and technology at Interval Research Corporation.

Other employers include Activision, Apple, and Atari. She edited The Art of Human-Computer Interface Design and authored Computers as Theatre and Utopian Entrepreneur. Her latest book is Design Research: Methods and Perspectives.

In addition to public speaking and consulting, she is a member of the boards of advisors of several companies and organizations, including Cheskin, the Communication Research Institute in Australia, and the Comparative Media Studies program at MIT.

She is active in the digital storytelling movement, the international game developers association (IGDA), the AIGA, and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).

Chair and professor, CCA Graduate Program in Design

PhD and MFA, The Ohio State University

Bachelor of Arts, DePaw University

www.tauzero.com/Brenda_Laurel