Connor Martini

Connor Martini is a PhD Candidate in Religion at Columbia University, where he studies American religion, science, and technology. His dissertation, "The Evidence of Things Not Seen: The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence and the Making of Scientific Religion" explores how scientists looking for life in the universe productively destabilize many of the categorical descriptions of science and religion which constrain the possibilities and promise of both categories. In conducting research for this project, Connor conducted hundreds of hours of participant-observation and interviews with radio astronomers and astrobiologists across the United States.

​

Connor is also a graduate assistant with the Science of Learning Research Institute at Columbia University, where he designs and conducts qualitative research projects aimed at understanding the effectiveness of novel pedagogical techniques in higher-education classrooms. In this work, Connor is particularly interested in understanding the real-world applications of emerging technologies like generative AI and augmented reality.

​

When he's not doing all that, Connor is most likely in the midst of the never-ending project of editing his first novel, Pale Red Dot, an adult science fiction story about climate change and AI and Mars and the social construction of history and capitalism and being in love with your best friend.