Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

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.

Mei Si is primarily interested in is artificial intelligence and its application in virtual and mixed realities. In particular, her research concentrates on computer-aided interactive narratives, embodied conversational agents and pervasive user interface, elements that make virtual environments more engaging and effective. Si has been using her research to develop virtual environments and intelligent conversational agents for serious games.

Maurice Suckling has worked in the games industry for nearly 30 years, with over 50 published video game titles to his name. He’s worked as a producer, designer, voice director, motion capture director, animation director, and, most often, as a writer. In addition to Suckling’s work in games, he has also worked in TV and movies, and has published a collection of short stories. His research interests include storytelling in games, board and card games as narrative systems, and historical simulations. Suckling’s first game was Driver in 1999.

Matthew Goodheart is a composer, improviser, and sound artist. Following an early career as a free-jazz pianist in the fertile San Francisco Bay Area, he has developed a wide body of work that explores the relationships between performer, instrument, and listener. His diverse creations range from large-scale microtonal compositions to open improvisations to immersive sound installations – all unified by the analytic techniques and performative methodologies he has developed to bring forth the unique and subtle acoustic properties of individual musical instruments.

Mary Anne Staniszewski investigates culture, art, and media in relation to political and social perspectives. "I investigate the way we 'invent' things in our cultures, how concepts and institutions emerge, such as art, exhibitions, and race.  Framing such entities historically can reveal how we create not only our cultures, but also our sense of ourselves. This perspective has political implications.

Marjorie McShane develops cognitive models of intelligent agents that can collaborate with people in task-oriented, dialog applications.

Pacific Northwest native Kenneth Ragsdale is an Albany, NY based artist.

Kenneth L. Simons researches the dynamics of industrial organization and technological change. His work has probed the causes of industry shakeouts, testing between alternative theories and exploring issues including sources of advantage to surviving firms and the role of technological innovation.

Kathy High, Professor of Video and New Media, is an interdisciplinary artist working in the area of technology, science and art. She produces videos, photographs, writings, performances and installations about gender and technology, empathy, and animal sentience. In the last ten years she has become interested in working with living systems, animals and art, considering the social, political and ethical dilemmas of biotechnology and surrounding industries.