she/hers
RPI Degree Program: Critical Game Design, Ph.D.
Area of Research / Interest: voice acting + performance in video games, video game localization, the materiality of digital space
Undergraduate Studies: Spanish and Mandarin Chinese (double major), Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick
Graduate Studies: Science Technology and Society MS, Drexel University
Biography: Biography: Scholar. Actor. Gamer. Nerd. As a lover of all things international, and a trophy-hunting video game completionist, when Janine is not screaming her lungs out for whatever horror podcast she’s currently working on, she’s researching how dramatic video game voices and performances are localized for international audiences. With a background in social science research, language study, and about a decade of administrative experience in the fields of healthcare, academia, and nonprofit, she’s excited to see how far her South Jersey roots can take her.
Research Highlight: Serving as co-editor and article writer for a special issue of the Journal of Interdisciplinary Voice Studies with her advisor Kate Galloway, PhD Playing with Voice: Listening for Audio-Visual Expressions and Representations of Voice, Vocality and Speech Acts in Games (2024). Janine’s chapter, titled ‘How liberating it is to leave the past behind’: Perceiving authenticity in the vocal performances of Assassin’s Creed: Origins discussed the historicity of vocal performances in historical narrative.
Hometown: West Deptford, NJ, USA
Email: bowerj6@rpi.edu