Elizabeth Petrick received her PhD in history and science studies from the University of California San Diego in 2012. She also has a BS in computer science from the University of Michigan. She studies the history of computer technology, the relationship between technology and users (particularly, users with disabilities), and how technology relates to civil rights.

Petrick’s first book, Making Computers Accessible: Disability Rights and Digital Technology, was published by the Johns Hopkins University Press in 2015. It was the winner of the 2017 Computer History Museum Book Prize. Her current research involves the history of tablet computers and how ideas behind what tablets were good for drove their development within multiple companies and research groups since the 1970s. She also runs a digital humanities project, the Annotated Patent History Digital Archive, at patenthistory.org.

Elizabeth Petrick reviewed an early draft of Who’s in Charge? Information Technology and Disability Justice in the United States.