Fellows » Current Fellows » IHUM Fellow: Melissa Stevenson, PhD
Melissa Stevenson received her B.A. in English from Stanford University, and her Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her work explores the evolving relationship between technology and human identity as reflected in the science fiction narratives of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, encompassing tales both literary and cinematic, popular and obscure. Her broader research interests include contemporary literature, cultural studies, film theory, new media studies, short fiction, and children’s literature.
In between episodes of Battlestar Galactica and repeat viewings of Blade Runner, Melissa is currently compiling a book manuscript that addresses how developments in mechanization, computation, robotics, biotechnology, and the virtual have serially changed how we understand what it means to be human.
Originally from Sonoma County, Melissa is thrilled to be back in Northern California and expects to spend a good deal of time over the hills staring at the sea. She refuses to comment about rumors that she herself is either a cylon or a replicant.