Dr. Coleen Carrigan is a Copenhaver Associate Professor in the Department of Engineering and Society at the University of Virginia. Using ethnography, her research advances knowledge on the allocation of resources, opportunities and respect in US engineering and computer science. She shares the findings from her research to foster welcoming environments in technological fields and help strengthen alliances between liberal arts scholars, engineers, scientists, activists and policy makers. Her commitment to justice in technology also includes holding institutions of science and technology accountable to commonweal values and democratic oversight.

A recipient of a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award, Carrigan’s research investigates gender, race and social values in computing. In 2025, Carrigan received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). Prior to joining the University of Virginia, she was an Associate Professor of Anthropology and STS at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. She was also a senior manager in the high-tech industry before on-ramping into academia.  Her book, Cracking the Bro Code, is available from MIT Press.

Dr. Carrigan’s work is funded by the National Science Foundation, the Public Interest Technology University Network, the Luce Foundation, and the American Association of University Women (AAUW) and has been featured in WIRED, Prism, USA Today, Science, The Seattle Times, LA Times, and Inside Higher Ed.  

→ We are pleased to announce the publication of the Fall 2023 (Vol. 9 No. 2) issue of Catalyst: Feminism, Theory, Technoscience, featuring a Special Issue on Interdisciplinary Collaborations, edited by Caitlin Wylie and Coleen Carrigan.

→ See Current Projects in The Carrigan Lab

→ See the press release of ‘Cracking the Bro Code’