Eric Paulos

Eric Paulos is a Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the founder and director of the Hybrid Ecologies Lab, Director of the Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation, Director of the CITRIS Invention Lab, Co-Director of the Swarm Lab, and faculty in the Berkeley Center for New Media (BCNM). He was also the founding Director of Berkeley's Master of Design (MDes) program. His research spans critical making, design research, urban computing, sustainability, social telepresence, robotics, physical computing, interaction design, persuasive technologies, and intimate media; the current research profile also lists AI, human-AI interaction, new media arts, digital fabrication, and epidermal and wearable electronics. The official profile records that he coined the term “Urban Computing” in 2004 and helped develop some of the first internet telepresence robots in the early 1990s.

Previously, he held the Cooper-Siegel Associate Professor Chair in Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science, with faculty appointments in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute and courtesy appointments in the Robotics Institute and Entertainment Technology Center. At CMU he founded and directed the Living Environments Lab. Before CMU, he was a Senior Research Scientist at Intel Research Berkeley, where he founded the Urban Atmospheres research group.

• Current | University of California, Berkeley | Professor, Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences
  • Founder and director of the Hybrid Ecologies Lab; Director of the Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation and CITRIS Invention Lab; Co-Director of the Swarm Lab; faculty in BCNM.
• Former | Carnegie Mellon University | Cooper-Siegel Associate Professor Chair; faculty in HCII
  • Held courtesy appointments in the Robotics Institute and Entertainment Technology Center and founded the Living Environments Lab.
• Former | Intel Research Berkeley | Senior Research Scientist
  • Founded the Urban Atmospheres research group, which explored urban life and the future of public technologies.

• PhD | University of California, Berkeley | Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

• Primary sources: UC Berkeley Research faculty profile, UC Berkeley EECS faculty page, and Jacobs Institute appointment announcement.
• Lab and research link: Hybrid Ecologies Lab.
• Public-source verification date: 2026-09-23.