Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

Dr. Jones earned his Ph.D. in Economics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, an MBA from the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration (Rochester), and a JD from University of Albany Law School. His research and public speaking efforts focus on the intersection of finance, law, and economics, including areas related to valuation of financial assets, forensic economics, and copyright law. Dr. Jones writes and speaks frequently on matters relating to the valuation of closely held businesses.

Associate Professor of Music and Media, Rob Hamilton joined the Department of Arts at Rensselaer in 2015, with a secondary appointment in the Games and Simulation Arts and Sciences program. As a composer, performer, researcher and software designer his creative and analytical practice explores the cognitive implications of the spaces between musical systems, interactive game environments, network topographies, artificial intelligence and procedurally-generated sound and music.He holds a Ph.D. in Computer-based Music Theory and Acoustics as well as a M.A.

Currently an associate professor in Science and Technology Studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, I acquired my doctorate from the Department of Science and Technology Studies at University College London (UCL).

In her current art work and multimedia research, Patricia Search designs multimedia installations that explore the aesthetics of space, time, and action in computer interface design. “I work with digital media and create interactive installations that highlight ways to use diverse media, exploration, physical interaction, and social discourse to create immersive experiences for online communication,” Search said. “These multisensory environments create perceptual dichotomies that juxtapose realism and fantasy, logic and emotion, continuity and transition.

Nicholas Mizer's research sits at the intersection of anthropology, interactive design, phenomenology, and gonzo ethnography. From this position, Mizer investigates questions of how collaborative imagination shapes the human experience of worlds, especially how imagining other worlds together can serve as a way to re-enchant and re-make our own world.

Nathan Meltz uses collage, printmaking, animation and other graphic arts to comment on the infiltration of technology into every facet of life, from politics and food to family and war. In his visual vocabulary, the contemporary world of nanotechnology and genetic modification are retrofitted with images of analog mechanical parts. Nightmarish industrial creations are set against pictures of grand mechanical constructions to create an off-kilter vision of technology. “I create narratives and relationships between mechanical humanoids and automated animals,” said Meltz.

Professor Nancy Campbell is the Department Head in the Department of Science and Technology Studies. She is a historian of science, technology, and medicine who focuses on legal and illegal drugs, drug science, policy, and treatment, harm reduction, and gender and addiction. Her most recent book is OD: Naloxone and the Politics of Overdose (MIT Press, 2020). “How have ideas about drugs and drug addiction changed over time? What do we know about drug addiction, and how do we know it? Why do we have the drug policies that we do?” said Campbell.

Dr. Mahmoudi joined the faculty of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Fall 2019. She received her Ph.D. in Economics from University of Nevada, Reno in 2017 with research focused on applied macroeconomics.

I joined the faculty of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as an Assistant Professor of Economics in Fall 2018. I study innovation and economic growth in the context of an interconnected global economy. My current work focuses on policy issues related to the international protection of intellectual property. Examples include analyses of the international market for counterfeit products, technology transfer to developing economies through multinational firms, and the implications of firm patenting behavior across markets.

Michael Century, musician and scholar, is Professor of New Media and Music in the Arts Department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, which he joined in 2002.