Christina Bonnington
Christina Bonnington (BSEE 10) has tech-written her way to success.
Postgraduation, the University of Mississippi alumna moved to San Francisco, where she started her career in technology journalism as an intern with the tech culture blog Gizmodo. Soon after, Bonnington became an editorial fellow for the product-reviews section of Wired magazine. Then she worked as a contributing editor on Wired’s first annual App Guide and began contributing to Gadget Lab, Wired.com’s consumer technology vertical, before joining Gadget Lab officially as a staff writer in September 2011.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Now, Bonnington is a consumer-technology reporter covering Apple, the mobile space, smart TVs, apps and robotics.
About the latter subject, Bonnington said, “I have some experience there,” referring to her senior design project for which she helped build an autonomous solar-powered robot here at Ole Miss.
Her favorite part of working at Wired is that she’s learning every day, she said.
“I have knowledge in my space, but I’m also reaching out to experts and analysts to answer questions and deepen my understanding of hardware, software and technology in general,” Bonnington said. “I’m also fortunate to have a slew of extraordinarily intelligent, talented co-workers that hail from all sorts of different backgrounds. We may practice journalism, but we’ve got scientists, programmers, entrepreneurs, athletes and others in our midst. And we have a kegerator named Beer Robot, which helps keep things social.”
Bonnington has fond memories of her days as an Ole Miss student.
“I loved that the engineering school was small enough that it had a familial feel but still offered a wide range of resources and opportunities to its students,” she said. “I also loved that the class sizes were small enough to get to know both my fellow students and my professors.”
Even though she’s not practicing engineering right now, Bonnington does occasionally take on do-it-yourself, Arduino-based projects. She hosted a series of DIY electronics videos on Wired’s website in summer 2011.
Bonnington said she found the engineering school’s Electronics Lab, Microprocessor Systems Engineering Lab and Senior Design to be some of the most useful courses to prepare her for doing that series.
“They were also some of the most challenging and most rewarding,” Bonnington said. “Senior Design and Senior Research were also integral in providing real-world problem-solving experiences, particularly with time and resource management.”
But that’s not all her engineering training provided.
“Between Senior Design and surviving junior year of electrical engineering, there’s pretty much no challenge I can face that seems daunting or unduly stressful,” Bonnington said. “It really puts things in perspective.”
Two of Bonnington’s academic and professional achievements include receiving the Tau Beta Pi Laureate award shortly after graduating and appearing as a guest on radio and TV programs, including National Public Radio and “BBC World News.”
The Tau Beta Pi award recognizes a student’s contribution to fostering a liberal arts culture while enrolled in an engineering program.
“It was an honor, and a surprise, to get recognized at that level for continuing to pursue one of my passions while in school,” she said.
Outside of work, Bonnington enjoys exploring San Francisco and its restaurants, hanging out with friends in area parks, visiting the city’s museums and cycling.
Formerly a professional ballet dancer, she hopes to start taking classes and performing again soon.
“My career has taken me from ballet dancer to electrical engineer to journalist, so at this point, part of me just wants to go with the flow and see where life takes me,” she said. “However that works out, I think one day I’d like to get more involved in the engineering and programming space through a startup, either one I co-found or one that I’m passionate about.”
Bonnington said she hopes that she can serve as a model both to young engineers and young women.
“Engineering opens doors in whatever you choose to pursue after college,” Bonnington said. “And the technology sector is a challenging and rewarding field to be involved in.”
