About Me – DaraghByrne.me

Daragh Byrne Associate Teaching Professor
School of Architecture, Carnegie Mellon University. Core faculty for MSCD and PhD CD.
Courtesy appointments in the School of Design and the Human Computer Interaction Institute.
Afflilated facilty with the IDeATe network, Block Center for Technology and Society, and CyLab.
Co-Lead of the TRACES Lab. Co-founder and platform lead for a2ru's Ground Works.

My co-edited volume with Dan Lockton and several CMU students is now available. You can get 'Spooky Technology - A reflection on the invisible and otherworldly qualities in everyday technologies' as a free PDF or order a physical copy through Lulu.com.

Work with me. I am actively looking for new PhD students, research assistants, and students to join my current projects. If you are interested, get in touch.

About Me

Drawing on my background in computing, my teaching and research involves building systems and technologies to ask questions about emerging media and what it means for human experience. In this work, I value human-centered, arts-integrative and multidisciplinary ways of working and work closely with closely with architects, designers and artists. This work focuses on topics including data and human experience, the maker movement, and the internet of things. I also build capacities through innovative pedagogies and platforms that build communities of practices and to enable others work in these ways.

Recent News

Featured Projects

Sentient Concrete

(2017 - 2019)

Smart Maker Spaces

(2017 - date)

Spooky Technology

(2020 - date)

Active Research

Data and Human Experience

How do we capture and represent experience through computational tools? How can experiential media systems - 'systems that integrate computing and digital media with the physical and social experience' - enable new insights and understanding of personal or collective significance?

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The Internet of Things

What is the influence of IoT on everyday life? Can we design the IoT, and its data, towards more meaningful connectivity between devices and between people? What are the methods to supporting designers conceptualizing and rapidly prototyping complex connectivity in IoT scenarios?

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The Maker Movement

How can hands-on practices of tinkering and material inquiry support STEAM learning? What are the opportunities for critical making (or “a simultaneously conceptual and material critique of technologies and information systems in society” (Ratto,2015)) to engage issues surrounding emerging technologies?

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Selected Publications

  1. Chen, R., Demko, M., Byrne, D., & Louw, M. (2021, June). Probing Documentation Practices: Reflecting on Students’ Conceptions, Values, and Experiences with Documentation in Creative Inquiry. In Creativity and Cognition (pp. 1-1).

  2. Liu, J., Byrne, D., Devendorf, L. (2018) Design for Collaborative Survival: An Inquiry into Human- Fungi Relationships In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’18) Best Paper Award Winner

  3. Byrne D., Davidson C., Camp L., Cheville A., DeGraff M.W., Fasihuddin H., Gandhi S.J., O’Connell B., Padir T., Tacket E., Schneider D.R., White M.M. (2015) MakeSchools Higher Education Alliance State of Making Report, June 2015.


View more on Google Scholar →

Current Teaching

Responsive Mobile Environments

This 15-week course will introduce students to responsive mobile environments and encourages them to explore speculative terrains that intersect art, technology and design and space.

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Designing for the Internet of Things

This 7-week course will iteratively introduce students to the design of connected products. The first 5-weeks is a bootcamp on concepts, code and circuits. The final 2 weeks provides a collaborative group project to apply new skills.

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Advising and Current Students

PhD Advising

  • Sanaz Saadatifar PhD in Architecture-Engineering-Construction Management (AECM) . Secondary Advisor .

  • Emek Erdulo PhD in Computational Design. Committee Member.

  • Manuel Rodriguez Ladron De Guevara - PhD in Computational Design. Secondary Advisor (Primary: Ramesh Krishnamurthy).

Masters Advising

  • Yuchuan Shan Master of Design (MDes). Secondary Advisor.

  • Chengyu Chen Master of Computational Design. Primary Advisor.

  • Malika Khurana Master of Computational Design. Primary Advisor.

  • Stella Shen Master of Computational Design. Primary Advisor.

  • Yanwen Dong Master of Computational Design. Primary Advisor.

  • Zhenfang Chen Master of Computational Design. Primary Advisor.