Laura Maria Gonzalez is an Assistant Professor and Director of the Microbial Assemblies Lab. Her work investigates how living systems can be integrated into architecture through computational design, additive manufacturing, and synthetic biology. Her research explores new fabrication strategies, using biology, and material science to design engineered living materials. Laura’s work engages how living matter can participate in design, opening up new possibilities for sensing and responsiveness in the built environment.

Prior to joining FAU, Laura was a Visiting Lecturer in the Department of Design Technology at Cornell University, and an instructor at Genspace in Brooklyn. She has also worked as a research collaborator at the MIT Media Lab, as a Teaching Fellow at MIT, and as an architectural designer at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM). She holds a Master of Science in Architecture Studies from MIT and a Bachelor of Architecture from Carnegie Mellon University.

Her research has been published in Nature Biotechnology, Designboom, STIRpad, and Casa Vogue, and exhibited in academic and public venues including the MIT Keller Gallery (2023), the CCA Novack Gallery (2025), the Bibliowicz Family Gallery at Cornell University (2025), NYCxDESIGN at Cornell Tech (2025), and the London Design Biennale (2025).