Principal Computational Media Faculty

Nathan Altice

Associate Teaching Professor

Elin Carstensdottir

Assistant Professor

Katherine Isbister

Professor

Michael John

Teaching Professor

Sri Kurniawan

Professor

David Lee

Assistant Professor

Michael Mateas

Professor

Melcer, E Headshot

Eddie Melcer

Assistant Professor

Photo of Kate Ringland

Kate Ringland

Assistant Professor

Photo of Magy Seif El-Nasr

Magy Seif El-Nasr

Professor

Adam Smith

Assistant Professor

Photo of Norman Su

Norman Makoto Su

Associate Professor

Noah Wardrip-Fruin

Professor

Jim Whitehead

Professor

 

 

 

      
 

Collaborating Faculty

 

micha cárdenas

Assistant Professor

Digital Art & New Media

Michael Chemers

Professor

Theater Arts

A. M. Darke

Assistant Professor

APGM

Robin Hunicke

Associate Professor

Digital Art & New Media

Soraya Murray

Assistant Professor

Film & Digital Media

 

 

Susana Ruiz

Assistant Professor

Film & Digital Media

 

 

Warren Sack

Professor

Film & Digital Media

 

 

Elizabeth Swensen

Assistant Professor

Digital Art & New Media

 

 

Mircea Teodorescu

Associate Professor

ECE

  

 

Current Students

Name Contact Program Advisor
Abramov, David dabramov@ucsc.edu PhD Forbes
Acharya, Devi dacharya@ucsc.edu PhD Wardrip-Fruin
Aljammaz, Rehaf raljamma@ucsc.edu PhD Mateas
Arevalo Escobar, Stefany stgareva@ucsc.edu Masters Forbes
Baltaxe-Admony, Bre bre@ucsc.edu PhD Whitehead
Bateni, Bahar bcchao@ucsc.edu Masters Forbes
Calderwood, Alex acalde24@ucsc.edu PhD Mateas
Chaudhary, Akash achaud10@ucsc.edu Masters Forbes
Conde, Samantha sconde@ucsc.edu PhD Kurniawan
Crosby, Alison arcrosby@ucsc.edu PhD Kurniawan
Cuerdo, Marjorie mcuerdo@ucsc.edu PhD Melcer
Dagan-Peled, Ella edaganpe@ucsc.edu PhD Isbister
Diez, John Dominic jdiez@ucsc.edu Masters Melcer
Duplantis, Tamara tduplant@ucsc.edu PhD Altice
Eagle, Tessa teagle@ucsc.edu PhD Whittaker
Ehrlich, Drew deehrlic@ucsc.edu Masters Forbes
Fey, James jfey@ucsc.edu PhD Isbister
Fowler, Montana mocfowle@ucsc.edu PhD Forbes
Gonzalez, Kyle kgonza63@ucsc.edu PhD Forbes
Habibi, Rëza rehabibi@ucsc.edu PhD Seif El-Nasr
Hakimshafaei, Milad mhakimsh@ucsc.edu PhD Forbes
Jawad, Abdul abjawad@ucsc.edu PhD Whitehead
Jewett, Celeste rjewett@ucsc.edu Masters Altice
Ji, Chen cji40@ucsc.edu PhD Isbister
Johnson-Bey, Shi ismajohn@ucsc.edu PhD Mateas
Joslyn, Maxwell mjoslyn@ucsc.edu Masters Mateas
Junius, Nick njunius@ucsc.edu PhD Carstensdottir
Karth, Isaac ikarth@ucsc.edu PhD Smith
Kashanimoghaddam, Atieh atkashan@ucsc.edu PhD Seif El-Nasr
Keehl, Saya okeehl@ucsc.edu PhD Melcer
Kleinman, Erica emkleinm@ucsc.edu PhD Seif El-Nasr
Kuznetsov, Maxim maakuzne@ucsc.edu PhD Kurniawan
Larsen, Bjarke balarsen@ucsc.edu PhD Carstensdottir
Lei, Kehua klei4@ucsc.edu PhD Lee
Lietz, Rebecca rlietz@ucsc.edu PhD Whittaker
Maram, Sai Siddartha samaram@ucsc.edu PhD Seif El-Nasr
Mishra, Achala amishra1@ucsc.edu Masters Kurniawan
Osborne, Anya akolesni@ucsc.edu PhD Isbister
Otto, Jasmine jtotto@ucsc.edu PhD Forbes
Palea, Dustin dpalea@ucsc.edu PhD Lee
Paranjape, Ishaan iparanja@ucsc.edu PhD Whitehead
Pettitt, Jared jpettitt@ucsc.edu PhD Altice
Rivera, Veronica veariver@ucsc.edu PhD Lee
Stolee, Mirek mstolee@ucsc.edu Masters Altice
Taber, Lee ltaber@ucsc.edu PhD Whittaker
Thang, Tiffany tthang@ucsc.edu PhD Kurniawan
Tsai, Chiatien ctsai31@ucsc.edu Masters Smith
Weatherwax, Kevin keweathe@ucsc.edu PhD Takayama
Weekley, Jeff jweekley@ucsc.edu PhD Forbes
Yang, Chun-Liang cyang108@ucsc.edu Masters Kurniawan
Zhou, Henry hzhou55@ucsc.edu PhD Forbes

 

 

Ph.D. Alumni

Name Year Dissertation Title Advisor Post-Graduation Placement
Kreminski, Max 2022 Narrative Instruments: AI-Based Playable Media for Storytelling Wardrip-Fruin & Mateas Faculty, Santa Clara University
Duval, Jared linkedin 2022 Playful Health Technology: A Participatory, Research through Design Approach to Applications for Wellness Kurniawan & Isbister Faculty, Northern Arizona University
Aytemiz, Batu linkedin 2022 Design Out Helplessness: AI Interventions for Game Inclusivity Smith Agentic
Thomas, Manu linkedin 2022 Neural Reconstruction for Real-time Rendering Forbes Intel
Altarriba Bertran, Ferran linkedin 2021 Situated Play Design: Co-creating the Playful Potential of Future Technology Isbister Post-Doc, Tampere University
Elor, Aviv linkedin 2021 Development and Evaluation of Intelligent Immersive Virtual Reality Games to Assist Physical Rehabilitation Kurniawan Meta & Immergo Labs
Nascimento Ferreira, Lucas* linkedin 2021

Controlling Neural Language Models for Affective Music Composition

 Whitehead Post-Doc, University of Alberta
Cottrell, Peter linkedin 2021 Supporting Self-Regulation with Deformable Controllers Isbister  
Anderson, Barrett linkedin 2020 Searching Within and Across Games Smith Google

Mobramaein, Afshin* linkedin

 2020 Natural Language Interfaces for Procedural Content Generation in Games Whitehead Sauce Labs
Behrooz, Morteza* linkedin 2019 Curating Interest in Open Story Generation Jhala FAIR (Meta AI)
Compton, Kate* linkedin 2019 Casual Creators: Defining a Genre of Autotelic Creativity Support Systems Mateas Self-Employed
Compton, Ryan* linkedin 2019 Social Role Temporal Dynamics and Interactions in Online Communities: How are Leaders and Members Different? Whittaker Quantiply
Leece, Michael* linkedin 2019 Learning Hierarchical Abstractions from Human Demonstrations for Application-Scale Domains Jhala Facebook
Mazeika, Stella* 2019 Hierarchical Style Modeling: A Generative Framework for Style-Centric Generation of 3D Models Whitehead Gallim Artistic Services
Santarra, Trevor* linkedin 2019 Communicating Plans in Ad Hoc Multiagent Teams Jhala Unity
Smith, Sean-Ryan* linkedin 2019 ACSAS: A Web-Based Ambulatory Cognitive Self-Assessment System for Older Adults Kurniawan  
Springer, Aaron* linkedin 2019 Accurate, Fair and Explainable: Building Human-Centered AI Whittaker Google
Murray, John* linkedin 2018 Telltale Hearts: Encoding Cinematic Choice-Based Adventure Games Wardrip-Fruin Faculty, University of Central Florida
Osborn, Joseph* 2018 Operationalizing Operational Logics Mateas Faculty, Pomona College
Ryan, James linkedin 2018 Curating Simulated Storyworlds Mateas BBN Technologies
Summerville, Adam* 2018 Learning from Games for Generative Purposes Mateas Faculty, Cal Poly Pomona
Tearse, Brandon* linkedin 2018 Skald: Exploring Story Generation and Interactive Storytelling by Reconstructing Minstrel Wardrip-Fruin Google
Kaltman, Eric* linkedin 2017 The Stabilization, Exploration, and Expression of Computer Game History Wardrip-Fruin Carnegie Mellon University
Reed, Aaron* linkedin 2017 Changeful Tales: Design-Driven Approaches Toward More Expressive Story Games Wardrip-Fruin Spirit AI
Rubin, Zachary* linkedin 2017 Development and Evaluation of Software Tools for Speech Therapy Kurniawan Faculty, Renton Technical College
Adams, Dustin* linkedin 2016 Facilitating Independence for Photo Taking and Browsing by Blind Persons Kurniawan Indeed.com
Gingold, Chaim* linkedin 2016 Play Design Mateas Hack Computer
Mawhorter, Peter* 2016 Artificial Intelligence as a Tool for Understanding Narrative Choices Mateas Faculty, Wellesley College
Samuel, Benjamin* 2016 Crafting Stories Through Play Wardrip-Fruin Faculty, University of New Orleans
Lewis, Chris* 2013 Motivational Design Patterns Whitehead Google
Slater, Mark*  2013 Academic Knowledge Transfer in Social Networks Whitehead Google
Treanor, Mike* linkedin 2013 Investigating Procedural Expression and Interpretation in Videogames Mateas Faculty, American University
Arteaga, Sonia* 2012 Design and Evaluation of Game Application Requirements to Promote Physical Activity in Teenagers Kurniawan Faculty, Hartnell College
Hullett, Ken* linkedin 2012 The Science of Level Design: Design Patterns and Analysis of Player Behavior in First-Person Shooter Levels Whitehead Kabam
McCoy, Josh* linkedin 2012 All the World's a Stage: A Playable Model of Social Interaction Inspired by Dramaturgical Analysis Mateas Faculty, UC Davis
Sali, Serdar* linkedin 2012 Playing with Words: From Intuition to Evaluation of Game Dialogue Interfaces Mateas Tagged
Smith, Adam* linkedin 2012 Mechanizing Exploratory Game Design Mateas Faculty, UC Santa Cruz
Smith, Gillian* linkedin 2012 Expressive Design Tools: Procedural Content Generation for Game Designers Whitehead Faculty, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Sullivan, Anne* linkedin 2012 The Grail Framework: Making Stories Playable on Three Levels in CRPGs Mateas Faculty, Georgia Tech
Weber, Ben* linkedin 2012 Integrating Learning in a Multi-Scale Agent Mateas Zynga

Students with * by name studied under other programs, but were supervised by Computational Media faculty.

 

M.S. Alumni

Name Year Thesis/Project Title Chair Post-Graduation Placement
Chao, Bryan 2021 Improving VR Social Interactions With Architectural Spacing Strategies Forbes  
Mui, Wilson 2021 Generating Images With Free-Form Text Grids Smith  
Oliver, Elisabeth 2021 Crosston Tavern: Modulating Autonomous Characters Behaviour through Player-NPC Conversation Wardrip-Fruin  
Yang, Chun-Liang 2021 Mood Improvement with Empathetic Chatbot in Relaxing Virtual Environment Kurniawan  
Frost, Sarah linkedin 2020 Machine Learning for Social Good Forbes UC Irvine
Mayben, Alexander 2020 Tabletop Role-Playing Game Design Through a Pattern Language Software Model Wardrip-Fruin  
Fernandes, Sean 2020 Supporting Collaboration in Social VR Isbister  
Gooranorimi, Hadiseh 2020 Expansion upon a Speech Therapy Mobile Game for Children with Cleft Palate to Help Them to Pronounce Sounds Whitehead  
Dubey, Mahika linkedin 2019 Interactive Style Transfer for Data Visualization and Data Art Forbes Tesla
Focht, Cyril linkedin 2019 Sonder: An Examination of How Choice Creates Meaning and the Narrative Effects of Agency Wardrip-Fruin Self-Employed, Interaction Design Consultant
Junius, Nick linkedin 2019 Puppitor: Building an Acting Interface for Videogames Wardrip-Fruin MFA Student
Rothfeld, Dylan linkedin 2019 Examining User Interaction and Performance When Taking the Trail Making Test on Different Mediums Whitehead  
Zhang, Zooey linkedin 2019 Navigating Moments in Videogames Smith  
Zhou, Jimmy linkedin 2019 Astaire, a Collocated Physical Virtual Reality Game Isbister Epic Games
Fitch, Ruben* linkedin 2018 Parallelizing Wave Function Collapse Smith  
Jhaveri, Samvid linkedin 2018 Supporting Social Activities in VR Isbister Baker Hughes, a GE Company
Robinson, Raquel linkedin 2018 All the Feels: A Twitch Overlay that Displays Streamers' Biometrics to Spectators Isbister PhD Student
Yin, Yi linkedin 2018 FxMaster: A Music Game Prototype for Visual Direction Whitehead Zoosk
Pang, Joshua linkedin 2017 World Game: An MS Thesis on Engineering Buckminster Fuller's Unfinished Computer Game Mateas The Estate of R. Buckminster Fuller
Bhatnagar, Saumya* linkedin 2016 Developing a Web Platform to Strategically Evolve Corporate Social Responsibility Kurniawan Involvesoft
Buschmann, Luke* linkedin 2015 Virtual Modified Constraint Induced Movement Therapy for Stroke Survivors with Hemiparesis Kurniawan IBM
Holloway, Alexandra* linkedin 2015 System Design and Evaluation of the Prepared Partner: A Labor and Childbirth Game Kurniawan NASA JPL
Parrish, Jennifer* 2014 HikeFinder Application Kurniawan Faculty, De Anza College
Heller, Dan* linkedin 2013   Kurniawan Ontera (fka Two Pore Guys)
LeBron, Larry* linkedin 2013 Dynamic Stakes Management for Video Games Wardrip-Fruin Playabl Studios
Liu, Ronald* 2011 Timing Typing: Evaluating Effects of Various Time Models in a Natural Language Interface Wardrip-Fruin  
Jennings-Teats, Martin* linkedin 2010 Polymorph: Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment Through Level Generation Wardrip-Fruin Trion Worlds

Students with * by name studied under other programs, but were supervised by Computational Media faculty.

 

Computational Media Program Contacts

Sri Kurniawan
Graduate Director

skurnia@ucsc.edu

Engineering 2, Room 371

831-459-1037

 

Crystal Navarro
Graduate Advisor

cm-gradadvising@ucsc.edu

Engineering 2, Suite 595

(831) 459-3609

**Schedule Appointment**

Walk-in hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday from 1:00-3:00pm.