Lydia Stamato is a PhD candidate advised by Dr. Foad Hamidi in the Human-Centered Computing program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and a graduate research assistant in the Designing pARticipatory futurEs (DARE) lab. 

I am on the lookout for post-doc opportunities to continue research and transition to science and technology policy. Kindly reach out with any leads. I will gladly return the favor or pay it forward.

My work seeks to understand how people in intentionally inclusive and more-than-human contexts approach emerging technology in anticipation of more just and equitable futures. I employ ethnographic and action research methods in a community biology laboratory in Baltimore, Maryland to articulate the foundations of how community lab-based art and science produce technology and culture and how these intersect with movements for environmental justice. Outcomes of my research focus on implications and strategies for democratic engagement and design. My peer reviewed research has impacted audiences in human-computer interaction, sustainable computing, learning science, and public health. Previously, I was an English teacher at a post-secondary vocational school for people with disabilities in Guangzhou, China, after which I studied Child and Adolescent Health and Development at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. I have an amateur interest in web development and design, enlivened by my three years as the wiki subteam mentor for the East Coast BioCrew high school iGEM team based at the Baltimore Underground Science Space.