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I am a researcher / designer / artist / educator. Currently, I am also a PhD candidate in Information Science at Cornell University and a Research Fellow with the Critical Infrastructure Lab at the University of Amsterdam.
I investigate the ecological, social, and political implications of computing technologies and infrastructures. In my work, I use qualitative and design methods to understand how to cultivate sociotechnical practices for livable and equitable futures. My work has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Coalition for Networked Information, Co-Risk Labs, and the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability.
My dissertation project is on the impact of climate change on networked infrastructures in southeast Louisiana. I use ethnographic and design research approaches to understand the work of maintenance, repair, and anticipation by residents, utility workers, and policymakers to keep the Internet on amidst a shifting and dynamic landscape. The aim of my work is to consider pathways towards socially and environmentally just network infrastructures and computing practices.
I also work on projects that re-frame and re-imagine how digital tools are used for understanding relations with the environment. This research includes studying the development of digital agriculture networking infrastructure and designing environmental sensing tools to support more-than-human forms of knowledge production.
CV is available here (last updated August 2024)
My email is jenliu @ infosci.cornell.edu
~* Some recent news:*~
April 2025: Some environmental sensors I designed are part of the Interspecies" exhibit currently on display at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Lisbon, Portugal! The exhibit opened on April 3 and will be up until August 31 2025.
April 2025: My piece "From Sugarcane to Data Centers" is out with Data & Society's "The Cloud is Dead" series on climate and technology. I examine previous economic booms in Louisiana to understand what new efforts in building data centers for AI across the state might entail.
April 2025: My collaborator Monique Verdin and I just published "Networking a Network", a short piece about SwampNet project in the most recent issue of Open Rivers: Rethinking Water, Place, & Community.
April 2025: Our workshop "Datafication of Climate Change: From Prediction to Participation" was accepted to the Aarhus 2025 conference on critical computing, with co-authors from U of Toronto, Georgia Tech, and Aarhus University. Hope to share more soon :)
March 2025: "Data Beyond Disaster," co-authored with Hannah Friedrich, Geography PhD student at Arizona State University was accepted to a panel on "Building and Infrastructuring Disaster-STS" for the 4S conference in Seattle this fall. Looking forward to attending my first in-person 4S conference!
February 2025: I joined the research advisory board for a Aotearoa (New Zealand) based project studying Internet infrastructures and climate resilience. The project is led by researchers at Brainbox Institute and is supported by the Internet Society.
December 2024: I presented parts of my dissertation research as an invited virtual panelist for a Digital Infrastructure and Society Consultants (DISC) Meeting.
November 2024: I am an invited panelist a session on Regenerative Infrastructures as part of the Sustainable and Equitable Internet Infrastructure Dialogs and Debates , hosted by Critical Infrastructure Lab, the Green Web Foundation, and Mozilla Foundation.
November 2024: SwampNet received a Feminist Tech Infrastructure Grant from the Numun Fund!