Christine Miller is a design educator, researcher, and practitioner working at the intersection of anthropology, design, and business.

Her Ph.D. research integrated anthropology, management/organizational studies, and business in an ethnographic study of process formalization and the relationship between innovation and formalization at a Tier One automotive supplier.

Her research interests focus on sociotechnical systems and the ways in which sociality and culture influence the design and diffusion, adoption, and adaptation of new products, processes, and technologies. She also studies technology-mediated communication, knowledge flows within pluridisciplinary groups and teams, and the emergence of co-located and technology-enabled collaborative innovation networks (COINs).

She is currently a Co-PI on a NSF grant studying the ethics and cultures of STEM research groups. She is exploring how developing context-specific ethical guidelines co-designed by lab and research group members might help cultivate ethical culture. 

She currently teaches at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in Savannah, Georgia. From the fall of 2014 until May 2018, she taught at IIT in Chicago for the Stuart School of Business and in the Institute of Design.

Education

  • Ph.D., interdisciplinary, Wayne State University
  • M.A., United States-Japan relations/contemporary Japanese society, Goddard College
  • B.A., studio art, University of California

Publications

  • “Design Anthropology.” In M. Aldenderfer (Ed.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Anthropology. New York: Oxford University Press, 2020.
  • Reviewer. Annals of Anthropology forthcoming, 2020.
  • With Vinod Kizhakke, Xuanbai Li, Thomas Manjarres, and Anijo Mathew. “Research in and through Design: Prototypes as Forms of Investigation to Explore Energy Efficiency in Low Income Communities.” In Murdoch-Kitt, K., & Sosa-Tzec, O. Decipher 1, 2019.
  • With Laas, K., Brey, E. Hildt, E., and Taylor, S. “Infusing Ethics in Research Groups: A Bottom-Up, Context-Specific Approach.” Advances in Engineering Education (in review), 2019.
  • With E. Hildt, Laas, K, Taylor, S. and Brey, E. “Empowering Graduate Students to Address Ethics in Research Environments.” Cambridge Quarterly of Ethics and Healthcare. (in review), 2019.
  • “Introduction.” Journal of Business Anthropology. Editor, Special Issue, Design Anthropology, Dec. 4, 2018.
  • Design + Anthropology: Converging Pathways in Anthropology and Design. New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis, 2018
  • With Verrilli, J., Jain, T. and Rokop, N. “Enhancing Social and Intellectual Collaboration in Innovation Networks: A Study of Entrepreneurial Networks in an Urban Technological University.” Collaborative Innovation Networks – Building Adaptive and Resilient Organizations. F. Grippa, J. Leitão, J. Gluesing, K. Riopelle and P. Gloor, Eds. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing AG, 2018.
  • “Owning It: Evolving Ethics in Design and Design Research.” Ethics in the Anthropology of Business. Timothy de Waal Malefyt and Robert J. Morais, Eds. Oxfordshire, UK: Taylor & Francis, 2017.
  • “Enchanted Objects, Social Robots, and the Internet of Things: The Role of Imagination and Design in Cultural Change and Innovation.” Cultural Change and Innovation. Maryann McCabe and Elizabeth K. Briody, Eds. Lanham, MD: Lexington Press, 2017.
  • With Gloor, Peter, Fronzetti Colladon, Andre, & Pellegrini, R.  “Measuring the Level of Global Awareness on Social Media.” Designing Networks for Innovation and Improvisation. M. Zylka, H. Führes, A. Fronzetti Colladon, & P. A. Gloor (Eds.), Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing, 2016.
  • “Liminality and the Transitions Inherent in Multiple-disciplinary Collaborative Work.” Journal of Business Anthropology. Special Issue 2, Spring 2016.