Pete Markiewicz divides his time between teaching Interactive and Web Design at the Art Instute of California, Los Angeles, and Indiespace, a new media consultancy he co-founded in 1994. His main interests concern the impact on social trends on technology – in other words, how technology and culture interact. His particular focus is the Millennial generation (also called GenY, Gen Next), consisting of individuals born in the 1980s through the end of the 1990s. His consulting and research temper the prevailing "generation tech" image of young people with a more balanced view of social and generational trends critical to educators, employers, and the entertainment industry.

After graduating with a doctorate from the University of Chicago in Biophysics and Theoretical Biology, Markiewicz spent the 1980s developing vaccines for the U.S. Army. Later, at UCLA’s Molecular Biology division he worked on a powerful method for "molecular engineering" of proteins, wrote scientific software, and was an early user of the Internet.

In 1994, Pete left science to co-found Indiespace, one of the first web-based arts and entertainment companies. Throughout the 1990s Indiespace used emerging Internet technologies to promote and distribute independent arts and entertainment. Today, Indiespace has morphed to a new media consulting firm, with a unique focus on US generations, games and virtual worlds.

In the late 1990s, Dr. Markiewicz was asked by acclaimed generational theorists William Strauss and Neil Howe’s to extend their generational model to incorporate a theory of pop culture. The resulting book, Millennials and Pop Culture (Lifecourse Associates) details the impact the newest US generation (aged 4-24 in 2008) will likely have on society. Pete expanded this material into a lecture series on Millennials in education, as employees and customers. He has written about this generation in publications as diverse as Brandchannel.com (“Who’s Filling GenY’s Shoes”) and Robotics Trends. His clients include major telecommunication companies, entertainment companies, and educational institutions. He has a particular interest in how younger Millennials will use virtual worlds like Second Life as they come of age.

In addition to books and articles on Millennials, Markiewicz is co-author (with Jeannie Novak) of the nationally distributed books Creating Internet Entertainment, Web Developer.com Guide to Producing Live Webcasts, and Internet World Guide to Maintaining & Updating Dynamic Web Sites (Wiley).

Pete has also worked in the area of robotics. He developed a plan for a Robotic Design program for the EDMC), and has published articles in magazines like Robotic Trends and SERVO Magazine. In January 2005, he became Team Leader of a group of Ai-Los Angeles students who bravely entered the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge, with the aptly named Robo Monster. While their robot card didn't win the 2 million grand prize, the attempt generated tremendous student excitement and led some of AiCaLA's best designers and progrmmers into new areas.