Dr. Julie Albright is a Sociologist specializing in digital culture and communications; She has a Masters Degree in Social and Systemic Studies from Nova SouthEastern University and a Dual Doctorate in Sociology and Marriage and Family Therapy from the University of Southern California. Dr. Albright is currently a Lecturer in the departments of Applied Psychology and Engineering at USC, where She teaches master’s level courses on the Psychology of Interactive Technologies and Sustainable Infrastructure.
Dr. Albright’s research has focused on the growing intersection of technology and social / behavioral systems: She was the Co-PI and Project Lead for the Behavioral Component of a $121 million Smart Grid Demonstration Project with LA Dept of Water and Power, the USC Information Sciences Institute (ISI), the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) and UCLA, funded by the U.S. Dept. of Energy.
She is also a sought after keynote speaker for her insights, and has given talks for major data center and energy conferences including SAP for Utilities, IBM Global, Data Center Dynamics and the Dept. of Defense. She has appeared as an expert on national media including the Today Show, CNN, NBC Nightly News, CBS, the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, NPR Radio and many others.
Her book on the impacts of mobile – social- – digital technologies on society – Left to Their Own Devices: How Digital Natives Are Reshaping the American Dream – will be published Fall 2018 from Random House/ Prometheus. Her next book on our increasing reliance on digital infrastructure will be co-authored with Mr. Dean Nelson (responsible for the digital infrastructure at PayPal/eBay, Uber, and others).
