Caitlin Kalinowski facts for kids

Caitlin Kalinowski is an American product designer and mechanical engineer. She helps create and build new technology products. Since 2024, she has been leading projects related to robotics and consumer hardware at OpenAI, a company known for its advanced artificial intelligence. Before this, she was in charge of hardware at Oculus VR, a company that makes virtual reality (VR) technology.

Early Life and Education

Caitlin Kalinowski grew up in New Hampshire. She later moved to the west coast of the United States. She attended Stanford University to study product design, which is about creating new products. Her parents were both university professors. Today, she lives in San Francisco, California.

Caitlin is very involved in groups that support and encourage women in technology. She works to help more women get into and succeed in tech fields. She is on the board of Wogrammer, a project that shares stories of women engineers. She also advises Lesbians Who Tech, a group that helps people from diverse backgrounds in technology.

Career Highlights

Caitlin Kalinowski started her career after three years at Stanford University. She began working at a company called OQO. There, she helped design the OQO model 02, which was a small computer.

Working at Apple

Later, Caitlin joined Apple. At Apple, she was a technical lead. This meant she helped guide the design of laptops in the popular MacBook series. While working part-time at Apple, she went back to Stanford. In 2007, she earned her bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering.

Moving to Facebook and Oculus

After Apple, she worked at Facebook. There, she helped with the Facebook Bluetooth Beacon project. When Facebook bought Oculus VR, Caitlin joined Oculus. She became the head of product design for their virtual reality products. In 2018, she took on the role of acting head of hardware for Oculus. She worked on exciting VR devices like the Oculus Go, the Santa Cruz prototype, and the Oculus Rift.

Recognition and New Ventures

In 2018, Business Insider recognized her as one of the most powerful female engineers. She was also a featured speaker at the WISMP Summit in San Francisco that same year. In 2021 and 2022, she was listed on the Fast Company Queer 50 list, which highlights influential LGBTQ+ leaders in business.

In November 2024, Caitlin Kalinowski joined OpenAI. She now leads the company's efforts in robotics and consumer hardware. This means she helps create new robots and tech gadgets for people to use.