ProfileThomas
Portfolio

Where are you from?
New Jersey

Where do you live now?
Georgia

What have you been doing since you graduated?
Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Urban Innovation in the School of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology

What is your current job? In 2 or 3 sentences, can you explain what your position is and what some of your responsibilities are?
Postdoctoral Fellow. The position entails me teaching one course a semester in the School of Public Policy. The majority of my time is spend on research. I am currently working in two areas. First is a study of the coworking industry. The other is a case study of an Internet of Things (IoT) deployment in Atlanta.

Can you tell us about a recent project you’ve worked on that you were really excited about?
I am most excited about the coworking research as it provides a site and domain that stretches the ideas I began touching on in my dissertation—design as organizational practice; the sociocultural performance of work aspirations.

How do you think the program helped prepare you for your life after Georgia Tech?
Beyond what I learned during my Masters and PhD, I had wonderful mentors and professors. Those who I worked with in the department provided guidance and feedback on my work so that could move forward as career academic.

Do you have any advice or words of wisdom you would like to impart to current or future Digital Media students?
There is a tendency in academic work to try to seek out some prime example of what it is you are looking for, whether that is a type of media artifact or sociocultural practice. The only advice I have is keep an open mind to what you know and have access to. Some of the best insights come from paying attention to what it around you.