Lisa Messeri

Lisa Messeri is an anthropologist of science and technology. Her first book, Placing Outer Space: An Earthly Ethnography of Other Worlds came out in 2016 with Duke University Press. It is an ethnography of contemporary planetary scientists, including Mars scientists and astronomers searching for and studying planets orbiting other worlds. Her current research concerns the re-emergence of Virtual Reality and the ways different communities (engineers, scientists, entertainers) imagine this technology’s potential and embed these desires in VR products and experiences. What new worlds and futures are being made, by whom, and for whom? Messeri has published in American Ethnologist, Social Studies of Science, Technology and Culture, Environment and Society, and elsewhere. She has written about her research for The New York Times, Slate, and Motherboard and articles about her research have appeared in Wired and The Guardian. Prior to coming to UVA, she was an assistant professor at the University of Virginia and a postdoctoral teaching fellow at the University of Pennsylvania. Her Ph.D. Is from MIT’s program in History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology, and Society.