Linnda Caporael

Biography

Linnda R. Caporael is a Professor in the Department of Science and Technology Studies (STS) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She researches biology from a cultural perspective and culture from a biological perspective. She has written on a variety of topics including cooperation, group coordination, social identity, and the attribution of human characteristics to animals and machines. Her most recent interests are in design research and theory, from both an evolutionary and Science and Technology Studies perspective. In addition to teaching courses in human evolution and culture and cognition, she also teaches in the Interdisciplinary Programs in Design and Innovation (PDI) and serves on its Steering Committee. Professor Caporael studied human ethology as a Fulbright Scholar at the Institute of Child Development, University of London. She also has been a Visiting Scientist in the departments of Invertebrate Biology and Anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History, New York City, and a Fellow at the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research in Altenberg, Austria. She is an associate editor for Biological Theory: Integrating Development, Evolution, and Cognition, on the editorial board of Psychological Review, and a fellow of the Association for Psychological Sciences (APS). Linnda Caporael was awarded a five-year Ford Foundation Fellowship for graduate study and received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Research Interest

design research and theory, from both an evolutionary and Science and Technology Studies perspective.