Katherine Buse
Assistant Professor
Department of Cinema and Media Studies and the College
Katherine Buse uses methods from science and technology studies, science fiction studies, and the environmental humanities to study how science shapes and is shaped by its cultural milieu. Her current book project, “Speculative Planetology: Science, Culture, and the Building of Model Worlds,” describes planetary world building, or speculative planetology, as a set of shared practices built up between planetary and climate scientists, creators of speculative fiction, engineers, and policymakers since the middle of the 20th century. She also studies and designs video games, and participated on the design team for Foldit: First Contact, a new narrative version of the citizen science video game Foldit. Buse is affiliated with the Committee on Environment, Geography, and Urbanization.
Her research has been published in Foundations of Digital Games, Configurations, Design Issues, Green Letters, and Practices of Speculation: Modeling, Embodiment, Figuration.
Buse graduated summa cum laude with a BA in English from Duke University. She then earned an MA with distinction in science fiction studies from the University of Liverpool, followed by an MPhil in criticism and culture from the University of Cambridge. She completed a PhD in English from the University of California, Davis.