Eric Reynolds Brubaker

I am a complex systems engineer, designer, design researcher and educator currently leading the Discovery phase of the Convergent Aeronautics Solutions project at NASA.  

After a decade doing hardware development, teaching design, and co-developing organizations in the U.S., India, and Zambia, I went back to school and completed a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering (Design) at Stanford University. There I was part of the Center for Design Research, Center for Work, Technology & Organization, and Center for African Studies with funding from the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship program. 

My research examines how people co-design across group boundaries. I build from theories in engineering design, the learning sciences, complex systems, sociology, psychology, critical studies and other transdisciplinary scholarship. My research involves ethnography and mixed methods in partnership with communities and organizations. 

My family and I are based in Chapel Hill, NC, USA.