Where are you from?
I grew up in Grove City, Pennsylvania and then spent seven years in Buffalo, New York.
What is your educational and/or professional background?
I earned a BA and an MFA from SUNY Buffalo’s Department of Media Study.
What activities are you involved with on campus?
I’m currently active in the ADAM Lab and the GT Game Studio.
Describe your interests in the digital media field.
I’m primarily interested developing Buddhist approaches to designing and understanding games.
What has been your favorite project you’ve worked on so far? Why?
I’m currently working on some very exciting projects in both the ADAM Lab and the Game Studio, but nothing that’s ready to discuss openly yet. I’ll say that we’re engaging with some very unique problems for the Game Studio project.
Why did you choose Digital Media at Georgia Tech?
When it comes to game studies, there are few PhD programs to choose from and there are even fewer that compare to Tech’s Digital Media program. It’s very easy to consider DM the best place to study games at the PhD level.
What are your ambitions after finishing the Digital Media program?
The idea right now is to continue as a game designer in some capacity, and remain in the academic world as well (partly because teaching is a great passion of mine). Digital Media professor Ian Bogost is clearly an extraordinary role model in this regard.
Why would you recommend the Digital Media program to others?
The professors are amazing, and there is a culture of both creating and analyzing media, which lends itself to an unusually complete literacy within the field.