I am a Visiting Fellow at RAI Institute (The Robotics and AI Institute) (Cambridge, Mass.), on the Robotics, Ethics, and Society team. I am also Professor of Anthropology at Olin College of Engineering (www.olin.edu), where I teach courses in anthropology, design, engineering, and entrepreneurship. 

I was Dean of Faculty at Olin from 2021-2023. I am the author of two books: Retirement on the Line: Age, Work, and Value in An American Factory, and Juki Girls, Good Girls: Gender and Cultural Politics in Sri Lanka's Global Garment Industry. I am also producer of the documentary film, "My Name is Julius.” I received my Ph.D. and M.A. in cultural anthropology from the University of Chicago and my B.A. in anthropology from Bates College.

My research and teaching passions include examining the dynamics of work and cultural values (with a focus on technology, aging, and gender) as well as the culture and political economy of manufacturing and technology. I am committed to understanding social behavior in global contexts and I am devoted to encouraging students to use qualitative methods to think critically about the world around them. I strive to expose engineering students to critical and ethical analysis and identification of the needs and opportunities in our aging world. One outlet for these efforts is my interdisciplinary service-learning course “Engineering For Humanity.” 

I am currently working on several projects:

• 1) With colleagues at RAI, projects on robotics and society, including a) a focus on labor, safety, and robotics as well as b) a focus on aging, care, and technology in the United States, considering the potential role of robotics in eldercare;

• 2) With Olin colleagues, a NSF-funded project that aims to develop and implement an innovative educational program that immerses engineering and computing students in real-world contexts while addressing societal challenges. The program focuses on equipping students with the necessary skills to develop and deploy AI technologies responsibly by integrating social sciences perspectives and fostering a holistic understanding of AI's potential benefits and harms;

• 3) A book project focusing on a 150-year-old New England textile factory, in which she examines questions of outsourcing, precarious labor, technology, gender, and business competition.