Laura S. Scherling

Focus Areas: Design, Emerging Technologies, Media Studies, Technology Ethics

Dr. Laura Sang Hee Scherling, Ed.D, is a designer, researcher, and author. Her research is mainly focused on design, emerging technologies, and technology ethics. Scherling completed her doctorate at Teachers College Columbia University. The topic of her doctoral dissertation focused on digital transformation. She has 15 years of experience in product design, marketing, advertising, and higher education and nonprofit management. She is also the co-founder of GreenspaceNYC, a nonprofit sustainability and design collective and the volunteer cybersecurity awareness project Cyber Care Institute. 

Scherling is the author of several books and has published numerous essays and journal articles.  Scherling is the author of The Future of Hacking (Bloomsbury, 2025) and Product Design,Technology, and Social Change (Intellect Books, 2024) She is the co-editor of the books Ethics in Design and Communication: Critical Perspectives (Bloomsbury Academic, 2020) and Digital Transformation in Design: Processes and Practices (transcript publishing, 2024). Her work has been published by Tech Policy Press, Brookings Metro, Design Observer, The Urban Activist, Design and Culture, Spark Journal, Interiors: Design/Architecture/Culture, and in the Futures Worth Preserving Cultural Constructions of Nostalgia and Sustainability.

Scherling’s collaborators and clients have included cultural institutions, tech incubators, non-profit and organizations. Previous collaborators have included Environmental Working Group, Housing Works, Inc., Sesame Workshop, Stanford University, Columbia University, HBO, PBS, The Jewish Museum, The New School, UAL London, Data Driven Detroit, and the NYC Mayor's Office of Data Analytics. Scherling has been teaching at Columbia University since 2017 and she is a director at Columbia University School of Professional Studies. Scherling has taught at Columbia College, Columbia University School of Professional Studies, and Teachers College Columbia University.

Education

• BFA, School of Visual Arts
• MA in Media Studies, The New School
• EdD, Teachers College Columbia University

Honors & Awards

• Columbia SIPA "Top 5" Teaching Award
• Lucylee Chiles Award (Teachers College Columbia University)
• Columbia Climate School Course Support Award
• Grants from the National Science Academy, Society for the History of Technology, Faculty-Student Engagement Fund (Columbia University), Provost's Grant for Professional Development (Teachers College Columbia University)