Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

Dr. Holly A. Traver received her B.A. and Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University at Albany, State University of New York. While she has published and presented in various journals and at conferences, her passion lies in interacting with and educating the bright and talented students at Rensselaer. In addition, she has served as a consultant for the New York State Police, Academy of Certified Archivists, and Snowslip Equine Center. In 2010, Dr.

Yalun Helen Zhou has an interdisciplinary background in applied linguistics, curriculum design, and program evaluation. Her work involves second language acquisition, sociolinguistics, multimodal literacy design with emerging technology, and user experience research on virtual platforms (e.g., gamified, game-based, and cognitive immersive). Before joining RPI, Zhou worked at Michigan State University, collaborating with Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute to offer an online Chinese program through massively multiple-player online role-playing games (MMORPGs).

Dr. Ameres returned to RPI after a successful career in industry developing multimedia tools and technology in a number of fields. He has developed groundbreaking MIDI and music software, tools for game developers as well as video and audio compression and streaming technology (including over a dozen patents now held by Google) that has become the format of choice on many of the most popular video platforms on the internet. Ameres completed his M.S. and Ph.D.

Elizabeth Press (EP) is a media-maker and educator based in Troy, NY, interested in socially engaged practices, experimental documentary, and politics. Press cut their teeth in journalism as a producer for the independent TV/Radio program, Democracy Now!. As a videographer, producer, and editor, Press worked with BRIC Arts Media, StreetFilms, PBS, and covered years of the UN climate negotiations. Press is a Senior Lecturer in the Arts Department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute teaching classes in filmmaking and television production.

Daniel Thero is a Lecturer in Cognitive Science, specializing in Philosophy, and currently serves as coordinator of the undergraduate program in Philosophy. A dedicated educator, he regularly teaches such Philosophy courses as Introduction to Philosophy, Philosophy of Biology, Metaphysics and Consciousness, and Environmental Philosophy, along with the HASS-Inquiry courses Great Ideas in Philosophy, and Philosophy, Technology and the Human Future. Dr. Thero’s graduate degrees are in Philosophy, including an M.S. from RPI (1993), along with an undergraduate background in science.

Pianist Chrysi Nanou combines a career as a performer, curator, and researcher in music psychology. She is currently a Music Fellow and Lecturer at RPI, NY. Born in Greece, Chrysi’s personal and professional aesthetics were formed in Paris and further shaped in the United States with her studies at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris / Alfred Cortot, The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University, and at Stanford University’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA).

I study the history and culture of technology. My most recent book, For Fun and Profit: A History of the Free and Open Source Software Revolution (MIT Press, 2017), explores the history of software whose source code is freely shared, and the cultural and economic impact of such software. I am also interested in "new" military history.

Chris Sims received a B.S. in computer science from Cornell University (2003), followed by a Ph.D. in Cognitive Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (2009). After completing his Ph.D., Dr. Sims held a postdoctoral research position at the University of Rochester, and a faculty position at Drexel University before joining the faculty at RPI in 2017.Chris Sims has made significant contributions to our understanding of human cognition through his research in computational modeling. One of his notable contributions is the application of information theory to cognitive processes.

Christopher Jeansonne is a Senior Lecturer in the Communication and Media Department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. His research focuses on critical media pedagogy and gameful learning, investigating strategies designed to help students explore how identities are established within and articulated through popular culture media. His dissertation Superheroes in the Classroom, Or: An Autoethnography of Great Power, Responsibility, and Community in a Critical Media Pedagogy was the recipient of the 2019 Manuel Barkan Dissertation Award.

Chris Fisher-Lochhead (he–him) is a composer, improviser, and educator. His work attempts to cultivate adventurous and inclusive environments for musical collaboration through critical engagement with instrumental and compositional technique, notational systems, and ensemble dynamics. He holds degrees from the University of Michigan and Northwestern University; he joined the Rensselaer faculty in 2018. As a composer, he has collaborated with performers around the world.