PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Eric Paulos

Eric Paulos is a computer scientist whose early internet telepresence projects explored how people interact through robots. He earned a PhD in EECS from UC Berkeley and developed Personal Roving Presence (PRoPs) there in the 1990s; he coined “Urban Computing” in 2004. At Carnegie Mellon, he led the Living Environments Lab and worked on phone-based environmental sensing; he returned to Berkeley in 2012 and became Faculty Director of its Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation in 2023. In 2026, he was elected to the ACM CHI Academy; as of October 2026, he is a Berkeley EECS professor and founder and director of the Hybrid Ecologies Lab.

Born
1969
Links
Website and Google Scholar

Years link to their sources.

Timeline

  1. 1990s

    A Berkeley PhD and PRoPs

    At UC Berkeley, he earns a PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. In the 1990s, he develops Personal Roving Presence (PRoPs), an early internet telepresence project.

  2. 2004

    Urban Computing

    He coins the term “Urban Computing” in 2004.

  3. By 2006

    Carnegie Mellon lab director

    By 2006, he is a faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University and directs the Living Environments Lab.

  4. 2009

    Environmental sensing by phone

    In 2009, as an assistant professor in Carnegie Mellon’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute, he works to equip everyday phones with sensors for carbon monoxide, ozone, particulate matter, and pollen, supporting citizen science.

  5. 2012

    Returning to UC Berkeley

    In 2012, he returns from Carnegie Mellon to UC Berkeley as an Assistant Professor of Digital Media Arts in the Center for New Media and the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department.

  6. July 2023

    Jacobs Institute director

    In July 2023, he becomes Faculty Director of the Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation at UC Berkeley, alongside his professorship in EECS and affiliation with the Berkeley Center for New Media.

  7. 2026

    ACM CHI Academy

    In 2026, ACM SIGCHI elects him to the CHI Academy for contributions to human-computer interaction and interactive technologies.

  8. As of October 2026

    Professor and lab director

    As of October 2026, he is a professor in UC Berkeley’s Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences and founder and director of the Hybrid Ecologies Lab. He also directs the Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation and CITRIS Invention Lab, co-directs the Swarm Lab, and recruits PhD students to join the lab in 2027.

  1. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI from 1961 to 2025, with a year-by-year chart.
  2. The United States employs an estimated 53% of people in our data with a known employment countryOur estimates of where AI careers are concentrated now and how countries’ shares of dated positions changed over time.
  3. 46% of living people in our data with known birth and employment countries work outside their birth countryOur estimate of cross-border careers in AI, from country of birth and the country of each current organization.
  4. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionOur estimates of where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led, from education records in cited biographies.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Eric Paulos yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Critical making comes to campus engineering.berkeley.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  2. Eric Paulos | EECS at UC Berkeley www2.eecs.berkeley.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  3. Eric Paulos :: Bio paulos.net. Checked 19 October 2026.
  4. Citizen Scientists cmu.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  5. BCNM Welcomes New Faculty Member Eric Paulos bcnm.berkeley.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  6. Professor Eric Paulos Named Faculty Director of Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation at UC Berkeley jacobsinstitute.berkeley.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  7. Eric Paulos elected to the ACM CHI Academy eecs.berkeley.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  8. Eric Paulos paulos.net. Checked 19 October 2026.