Her research focuses on peer production of content online. She studies how to create a motivating and supportive context for creation and sharing, and learning through this process. Bruckman received her Ph.D. from the MIT Media Lab's Epistemology and Learning group in 1997, her M.S.V.S. from the Media Lab's Interactive Cinema Group in 1991, and a B.A. in physics from Harvard University in 1987. In 1999, she was named one of the 100 top young innovators in science and technology in the world (TR100) by Technology Review magazine. In 2002, she was awarded the Jan Hawkins Award for Early Career Contributions to Humanistic Research and Scholarship in Learning Technologies.