In alphabetical order:

Shane Burrell is a Ph.D. student in the School of Journalism and Communication. Shane’s research is on the relationship users of virtual reality have with their virtual characters. Shane investigates this through the critical and post-positivist lens, using a mixed methods and grounded approaches. For his Ph.D. proposal, he wants to explore the different variables that make up character identification and investigate the possible variables that contribute to virtual reality effects through experimental study.

Onder Can is a Ph.D. student in the School of Journalism and Communication. Onder’s research is on the political economy of esports where he investigates issues of labor, gender and affect using ethnographic methods. For his PhD proposal, he wants to explore global infrastructure technologies by focusing on the ways in which esports is constituted in Turkey.

John Clithero is Assistant Professor of Marketing in the Lundquist College of Business. His expertise includes neuroeconomics, consumer neuroscience, and judgment and decision making. Clithero’s research on these topics has been published in journals including the Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Neuroscience, PNAS, and Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization.

Amanda Cote is Assistant Professor of Media Studies/Game Studies in the School of Journalism and Communication. She explores the industry and culture of video games, with a particular emphasis on gender, identity, labor, and representation. She recently published her first book, Gaming Sexism: Gender and Identity in the Era of Casual Video Games (NYU Press, 2020).

Tara Fickle is Associate Professor of English and the author of The Race Card: From Gaming Technologies to Model Minorities (NYU Press, 2019, winner of Before Columbus Foundation’s American Book Award). Her research and teaching interests include Asian/Asian American literature, Game Studies, the Digital Humanities, and Comics Studies.

Maxwell Foxman is Assistant Professor of Media Studies/Game Studies in the School of Journalism and Communication. His primary research focus is on how play manifests in non-game contexts—including social media, emerging media, politics and journalistic institutions. His first book, with Dr. David Nieborg, is forthcoming from MIT Press.

Jared Hansen is a Ph.D. student in the School of Journalism and Communication. Jared’s research interests center on video game nostalgia, communities, and virtual worlds. His dissertation involves the study of abandoned MMORPGs and how dedicated fans are maintaining these pirated servers to continue playing them. He is fascinated by archaeogaming and is constantly trying to use archaeology as a method to study video games and history.

Brandon Harris is a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Journalism and Communication. Brandon’s research interests lie at the intersections of cultural, game, fan, and platform studies. His dissertation examines how the labor of influential content creators shapes the digital platforms they operate on. Brandon’s work considers the roles that social media influencers take on amidst the platformization of cultural production.

Waseq Rahman is a Ph.D. student in the School of Journalism and Communication. Waseq’s research interests focus on psychological processes associated with playing video games. His work examines how game mechanics and gameful elements shape players’ motivation and behavior. His dissertation looks at how emergent narratives in games for social change influence player appreciation of complex subject matters.

Henry Wear is Assistant Professor of Sports Communication in the School of Journalism and Communication. He researches fans, branding, and communication, with a particular focus on how sports organizations communicate to their stakeholders. Henry has collaborated with numerous sports organizations across the US, Australia, India, and the EU including the MLB, NASCAR and FIFA and brings a critical academic perspective to industrial issues.

Andrew Wilson is a Ph.D. student in the School of Journalism and Communication. Broadly, Andrew’s research interests exist at the intersection of game and critical/cultural studies. Specifically, he examines the influence of hegemony and power in virtual spaces, and how gamers and their respective communities challenge these forces in the games they play. He has presented projects at conferences hosting interest groups in these spaces, including: PCA/ACA, WSCA, and BAUCRC.