IU scholar invited to contribute to Microsoft Research labs in Mass.

IU Associate Professor of Communication and Culture Mary Gray has been invited to join Microsoft Research’s laboratories, which are located in Cambridge, Mass., to contribute as a senior researcher.

Gray also has appointments in the departments of American studies and gender studies.

She said she will accept Microsoft’s offer to conduct research, but will return to Bloomington periodically to continue her teaching, according to a press release.

“It’s such an unprecedented opportunity for social research,” she said in a press release. “It’s a basic research think tank, much like Bell Labs and Xerox PARC. But Microsoft Research is absolutely committed to bringing people together from an even broader range of disciplines. “They want to reshape the future of communication technologies in society and bring critical, humanist scholars, like me, to the table. It’s a very special place.”

Microsoft Research New England recently announced it has invited Gray to join an environment where more conventional computer-science research occurs alongside social-science research to reflect how people use technology.

“I’m thrilled that I’ll be able to bring students I work with from our department, as well as others from across campus who work on digital media questions, to the lab to share their research,” Gray said in a press release. “IU is a pretty humble place, and it is a hidden gem. I love it here. I think we are doing some of the most innovative work in this area.

“To be able to bring what IU has to offer to the Microsoft Research lab setting is pretty
exciting.”

Prior to Gray’s arrival at IU, she studied anthropology and received her doctorate in communications at the University of California, San Diego in 2004.

Her research interests include how the use of technolofy as well as media access influence and shape people’s lives, according to  a press release.

— Michael Majchrowicz