In this episode, host Robby Ratan has a chat with Dr. Casey O'Donnell, a game developer and associate professor at Michigan State University. They chat about Casey's background in science and technology research, game development, MSU's top-ranked game design program for undergrad and professional students, serious games, and -- of course -- avatars.
Show Notes
In this episode, host Robby Ratan has a chat with Dr. Casey O'Donnell, a game developer and associate professor at Michigan State University. They chat about Casey's background in science and technology research, game development, MSU's top-ranked game design program for undergrad and professional students, serious games, and -- of course -- avatars.
About this week's guest:
Dr. Casey O'Donnell is an Associate Professor in the Department of Media and Information at Michigan State University. His research examines the creative collaborative work of video game design and development (for both AAA & independent game development communities), and has spanned game development companies from the United States to India. His work has been funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institute of Health (NIH).
Casey also actively serves as part of MSU's Games for Entertainment and Learning (GEL) Lab, and works as an active game developers, having released 'Osy' in 2011, 'Against the Gradient' in 2012, 'GLITcH' in 2013, and 'Sparks of Eternity' in 2014. Casey's games, research, courses, and more can be found
at his website.
About the SPARTIE Lab:
The SPARTIE Lab is part of the greater academic community at the College of Communication Arts & Sciences at Michigan State University. More information on the lab's research projects, staff, and work can be found on the
SPARTIE Lab website.
About the host:
Dr. Rabindra (Robby) Ratan, Ph. D., is an associate professor and AT&T Scholar at Michigan State University’s Department of Media and Information and is the director of the SPARTIE Lab.
He is also an affiliated faculty member of the MSU Department of Psychology, the MSU College of Education’s program in Educational Psychology and Educational Technology, and the MSU Center for Gender in a Global Context. Ratan received his Ph.D. from USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, his M.A. in Communication from Stanford University, and his B.A. in Science, Technology and Society, also from Stanford University.
Dr. Ratan conducts research on the effects of human-technology interaction, examining how media technologies (e.g., avatars, agents, automobiles) influence meaningful outcomes (e.g., persuasion, education, health/safety). He is particularly interested in the Proteus effect, media-rich transportation contexts, perceptions of media as self-representations and/or social others, avatarification for health and education, and gender stereotypes in gaming contexts.
Dr. Ratan lives near Lansing with his family. More information on his work can be found on
his website.