Ream Al-Ghamdi
Ream Al-Ghamdi is in the Digital Humanities track. Her research interests are in social media, especially integrity on platforms. She holds a master’s degree from KSA in media and communication and a bachelor’s degree in library and information systems. She is a lecturer in the Media department at King Saud University -KSA. Recent presentations include Fan Studies Network, North America. To learn more, please visit Ream’s blog.
Bshaer Alharazi
Bshaer Alharazi is in the emphasis in Digital Media. She has been selected as one of the UCF Global Student Ambassadors. She is an instructor at Taif University, Saudi Arabia. She holds a MA in Multimedia Journalism, and her BA was in the Mass Communication on the PR track. Her research interests include social media interpretation and memes.
Nikki Fragala Barnes
Alyssa Barrack
Alyssa Barrack is an enthusiastic event manager, theatre artist, and communications professional. Identifying as a “jack of all trades,” Alyssa has professional experience in event management/planning, production dramaturgy, scenic design/construction/painting, lighting design, professional writing, adjunct teaching, and more. Alyssa’s deep commitment to interdisciplinary study is a reflection of their lifelong inability to choose a lane, a feature in which they take pride. Research areas of interest include audience studies, absurdism, horror and adjacent genres, reflexivity, the gamification of dramaturgy, and the intersections of various arts mediums (such as film, theatre, and games).
Dolores Batten
Dolores Batten is a nonfiction and poetry writer and a Professor of English and Literature at Keiser University. She holds an M.B. in Literature and Language from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, TX, and is a current PhD Candidate in the Texts and Technology program. She has served as the senior essay editor for Plath Profiles, a bi-annual journal dedicated to the scholarship and creative writing legacy of Sylvia Plath. She has received numerous awards, including Best Paper at Conference for the 2021 Popular Culture Association, and an Honorable Mention for her paper at presentation for the 2022 NEMLA Conference. Her current research interests include Game Theory, Narrative Theory, Composition Pedagogy, and studies of episodic memory and experience to increase awareness of the ethnography of diverse populations.
Traci Billingsley
Traci Billingsley is a Senior Technical Writer with 20+ years in the IT and Tech Comm industries. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Scientific and Technical Communication (with a minor in Computer Science), a Master of Science in IT (with a concentration in App Development), and is excited to round out her studies in the T&T Ph.D. program at UCF (with a concentration in Scientific and Technical Communication). Her doctoral research focuses on diversity, inclusivity, and accessibility in Sci/Tech Comm.
Jacob Boccio
Jacob Boccio received an MA in Film Studies from the University of South Florida Tampa in 2016, and an MLA in Interdisciplinary Liberal Arts from USF Saint Petersburg in 2017. Boccio’s research interrogates how ideology and consumer culture is shaped by film and new media, software, interfaces, and online platforms, and he has presented at national and international organizations such as the Cultural Studies Association, Zizek Studies Conference, Media Ecology Association, and Popular Culture Association.
Matthew Bryan
Matthew Bryan is a senior lecturer in the Department of Writing and Rhetoric at the University of Central Florida, where he also serves as the assistant director of the University Writing Center. His research interests include technology use in writing centers and the construction of identities with and through writing software.
Emilie Buckley
Emilie Buckley is in the Digital Humanities track. She is a faculty librarian at Valencia College Lake Nona Campus working to expand student access and opportunities across the college. In the Text and Technology program, Emilie has engaged in research in queer studies and gender studies. She is actively involved in the Pop Culture Association’s Graduate Student Committee and has presented at conferences nationwide in her research area. In her free time, she is engaged in critical making and active in the Orlando zine community.
Frederic Caeyers
Frederic is an award-winning digital artist and designer specialized in themed entertainment. He is a current PhD student on the Digital Humanities track in Texts & Technology at the University of Central Florida, where he works as a Graduate Research and Teaching Assistant. He obtained his master’s degree in digital design from NAD-UQAC – Université du Quebec à Chicoutimi in Montreal, Quebec researching environmental storytelling in movie-based dark rides. He holds a bachelor’s degree in 3D Production & VFX with a minor in Look Development at the Rookie award winning school Howest DAE – Digital Arts & Entertainment in Kortrijk, Belgium. He was also a foreign exchange student in 3D Production & Animation at Aries-Brassart in Annecy, France. Frederic has published at ITAPJ 2022 (International Theme and Amusement Park Journal) in Seoul, South Korea, and IVGC 2023 (International VFX and GD Conference) Bratislava, Slovakia. He is a 2D & 3D creative designer and modeler on multiple projects such as the Shimao Smurfs Park in Shanghai, China and TekZone in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Frederic was also the associate Art Director on STEP 2020 (Summer Themed Entertainment Project).
Kayla Elizabeth Campana
Kayla Elizabeth Campana is a second-year Texts and Technology Ph.D. student. Her current research interests center on the notion of the archive. She earned both her BA and MA in History at UCF, along with a Gender Studies graduate certificate. Her History MA thesis, “Sacrificing Sisters: Nurses’ Psychological Trauma from the First World War, 1914-1918,” examined the psychological war trauma of nurses during the First World War, looking at the gendered terminology of war trauma and the treatment of nurses’ trauma through convalescent homes and rest clubs. Kayla currently works as a Digital Archive Assistant with a digital humanities project called PRINT (People, Religion, Information Networks, and Travel)
Alex Chabot
Alex Chabot completed his undergraduate work at State University of New York at Albany with a major in English. He holds an M.A. in English Education from the University of Central Florida. Alex has been an educator since 2010, teaching English and Education in both Brevard Public Schools and Eastern Florida State College. His current research interests are based in the development and utilization of educational technologies.
Nikki Chasteen
Nikki holds an M.A. degree in Composition, Rhetoric, and Digital Media from Nova Southeastern University (2020), and a B.A. from NSU in Communication (2017). Nikki is a full-time instructor of first-year writing and professional writing at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, FL. Nikki also is the Membership Officer for the Global Society of Literacy Educators (GSOLE), where she is an active member of multiple subcommittees. Nikki’s research focuses on online pedagogy and technical and professional communication at the intersection of feminist methodologies.
Nada Chehab
Nada Chehab researches vaccine hesitancy and vaccine acceptance on social media. Her research interests are in public health ethics, medical ethics, medical humanities, and science and misinformation within the Digital Humanities track. Other research interests are data visualization, social epistemology, social media research, and social change. Nada graduated with a master’s in healthcare administration from the University of Central Florida in 2012. Her BS is in Medical Lab Technology from the American University of Beirut.
Jennifer Crowell
Jennifer Crowell is interested in rhetorical and cultural identity; writing transfer; and, narrative, grounded theory, case study, interview, survey, and mixed methods study designs. She entered the Texts and Technology program in 2018 and holds a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s degree in organizational leadership from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, where she focused on rhetoric, writing within and across disciplines, networked and organizational communication, and discursive leadership. She teaches first-year composition courses at Seminole State College of Florida.
P.D. Edgar
P.D. Edgar (he/him) earned his MFA in Creative Writing and MA in Journalism and Media Studies from the University of Alabama, following undergraduate degrees in English, Spanish, and multimedia journalism from Florida Southern College. His research tackles the trans-historical practices and cultures of poetry in popular media, and his creative writing employs archival, multi-genre, and visual-poetic approaches to memory. PD, also a freelance print designer, will launch re•mediate, a critical digital publication for computer-assisted creative writing, in Fall 2024, having held previous positions as Art & Design Editor at Black Warrior Review and Digital Archive Associate at Kenyon Review. He may be found @pdedgar30.
Stephanie Garcia
Stephanie Garcia specializes in Digital Humanities. Prior to joining T&T, Stephanie earned a Masters of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies focusing in Cognitive Science and Emerging Media. She is a triple Knight and also received her Bachelors of Arts in Psychology from UCF. Her research interests are gender representation in media and the roles women, especially women of color, play in digital media.Her other research interests focus on cultural representation and trends in the arts, specifically how cultural trends are perpetuated through media and vise versa.
Anyssa Gonzalez
Anyssa is looking to contribute to the field of games in educational spaces. A life-long learner, Anyssa has spent her entire life as either a student or a teacher, having worked in secondary education for the last six years. She earned her M.A. in Composition, Rhetoric, and Digital Media at Nova Southeastern University last year with her thesis on implementing Dungeons & Dragons in the composition classroom. She is looking forward to the new dimensions of knowledge that Texts and Technology will bring to her work.
Mónica G. González Burgos
Mónica (she/her) holds a Bachelor of Arts from the Universidad del Sagrado Corazón (2017) in San Juan, Puerto Rico, majoring in Journalism and minoring in Digital Television Production. She also has a Master of Arts from Syracuse University’s Audio Arts Program (2018). Her research focuses on fan translation and localization practices, visual novels, electronic literature, Audio Arts and the Latine experience in the Digital Humanities. Her previous work focused on live sound, primarily in the theatre and theme park environments, where she worked as a Stage Technician and was involved in interdisciplinary entertainment practices for mass audiences.
Alia Hall
Alia Hall is a McKnight Doctoral Fellow whose current research interests are the effects of Active Empathetic Listening (AEL) on learning and work environments in addition to micro-aggressions, which also affect communicative dynamics in educational and professional settings. Alia aims to expand communicative knowledge for corporate and individual self-reflection and to advance best practices for developing and retaining students and employees.
Melissa Hanbery
Melissa Hanbery is a part-time student in Texts & Technology, with a concentration in the Digital Humanities track. She works full time as an instructional designer for a health care company and has almost 20 years of experience in education. She holds a B.S. degree in Journalism and an M.Ed. with a concentration in educational administration, both from the University of Florida. Her area of research will focus on the gamification of learning and the use of educational technology for adult learners.
Vee Kennedy
Vee Kennedy (they/them/theirs) is a Visiting Instructor in the Department of Writing and Rhetoric at the University of Central Florida and a student in the Texts and Technology PhD Program. Their research interests are at the intersections of queer and trans rhetorics, gender, fandom, neurodivergence and (dis)ability
Kathryn Kong
Kathryn Kong holds an MA in English Translation and a BE in Computer Science Engineering. Her fascination with video games, digital storytelling, and cross-cultural communication drives her to develop her game design skills, creating interactive and captivating narratives on a global scale. As a multilingual translator and game localization expert, her master’s thesis on game localization ignited her curiosity in exploring gender, religious, and cultural issues in game texts and localization, ensuring effective communication networks during game development while avoiding storytelling failures. She also explores how games can enhance immersive language learning and computer-assisted L2 training and translation (CAL2T). She has 3 years of experience in the game industry, contributing to the development of an adventure RPG game called Mato Anomalies.
Emily LaPadura
Emily LaPadura is a PhD candidate specializing in Rhetoric and Writing. She earned her MA in Rhetoric and Composition from Colorado State University in 2015. Currently, Emily’s interest is in how marginalized and underrepresented student groups utilize technology. Through a feminist and critical race foundation, she strives to resist the white, westernized ideas of what defines technology through a more inclusive understanding of technology as existing both inside and outside of online spaces. Her dissertation research entails exploring the experiences of alumni from the Ronald E. McNair Scholars program in their transition from undergraduate to graduate school and how technology has played a role in that process. She currently serves as a Graduate Teaching Assistant for the Office of Graduate Studies, co-teaching a proposal writing course designed for students from low-income, first-generation backgrounds to apply to national fellowships, scholarships, and graduate programs.
Kate Loesel
Kate Loesel received her bachelor’s degree in Broadcast and Cinematic Arts and her master’s degree in Film Theory and Criticism from Central Michigan University. Her research in Digital Humanities focuses on the two-way communication and relationship between content creators and content consumers. Her research interests include fan studies, queer studies, and parasocial relationships.
Alessandra Zinicola Lopez
MA English Technical Communication, University of Central Florida, 2020
Alessandra earned undergraduate degrees in psychology and marketing business administration and had a corporate career prior to turning her academic focus toward writing and texts during her graduate education. As a Ph.D. candidate within UCF’s Texts and Technology program, Alessandra’s research interests center around historical and modern domestic texts such as cookbooks and recipes as technical documentation. This tech comm research includes intersecting topics of history, culinary arts, digital humanities, gender, marginalia, household labor and care, food studies, domesticity, home economics, and digital curation. Find Alessandra online at https://madeofallwork.com/ and on Twitter @AMadeOfAllWork.
Shelley Maccini
Shelley Maccini is an Associate Instructor in the Integrated Business program at UCF, serving as the lead instructor for the Data Driven Decision Making course. Prior to joining the faculty at UCF, she held management positions in the tourism industry, with an emphasis on destination marketing. She holds a JD from George Washington University and an MBA from UCF. Bridging her professional experience outside of academia, her work in the classroom, and her educational background, Shelley’s research interest focuses on the ethical use of gamification tools in non-game settings, specifically in a marketing context.
Derek Manns
Derek Manns’s professional development experience and teaching interests include Game Design, Level Design, 3D modeling, and Programming. He founded Sungura Games and went on to produce games and applications which included IGDA app, Call in Sick, and Zamboni Challenge.
Demagio Mansell
Demagio Mansell’s research focuses on evolving interactive storytelling through user emotions and engagement. He hopes to develop immersive environments that will help influence user decisions. His previous work includes digital practices and creative production within digital advertising and web design. He holds a Master of Business Administration in Marketing from Nova Southern University and Bachelor of Business Administration from Florida Atlantic University in Management and Marketing. He has several years’ experience within the entertainment media from film, radio, to news.
David Matteson
David is the Associate Curator of Education at the Rollins Museum of Art, where he designs engaging learning experiences for Rollins College students and the community at large. He holds a BA in Studio Art and English and an MBA from Rollins. At UCF, his research encompasses the history and future of museums as spaces for informal learning. He is interested in how technology can be used to better engage museum visitors of all ages and abilities—believing that through effective museum practice we build empathy.
Javier Molinares
I am a United States Army Veteran of the 82nd Airborne Division and hold a MS in Global Strategic Communication from the Florida Institute of Technology (2013). I am also the founder and publisher of the bilingual newspaper AL DIA TODAY and the president and founder of the Brevard Hispanic Center. My research interests include doing research to help the blind to become great broadcasters and public speakers and games and devices based on noise and motion.
Keidra Daniels Navaroli
Keidra is a McKnight Doctoral Fellow whose research focuses on the intersections of data science, art history, and underrepresented communities of practice. Keidra received her M.A. in art history from Florida State University; completed internships with the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Sotheby’s Auction House in New York; and is an alumna of the Museum (Getty) Leadership Institute’s NextGen Program. Recently, she was appointed to the editorial board of the open access journal Panorama as the inaugural Manager of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion/Digital Art History. Additionally, she serves on the boards for the Mennello Museum of American Art, Association of Academic Museums and Galleries, and the Surface Design Association, as well as the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee of the Textile Society of America. In 2024, Keidra was inducted into UCF’s Order of Pegasus, the university’s highest academic honor. Learn more about her work and experience at https://www.kdnavaroli.com/.
Noemi Nunez
Noemi Nunez received her M.A. in Composition, Rhetoric, and Digital Media from Nova Southeastern University and her B.A. in Communication Arts from Florida International University. There, she researched writing center theories with an emphasis on multilingual students, and speech communication projects. Her recent research interests include race and gender studies, feminist theories, transmedia storytelling, and fandom studies. As a first-generation student and Latina, Noemi explores the impact media has on society and culture, specifically first-generation BIPOC.
Michael Powell
Michael received his B.S in Information Technology with a minor in Digital Media from the University of Central Florida. After graduation, he started working for the University of Central Florida. During his time with the university, Michael continued his education completing an M.S. degree in Digital Forensics. His area of focus is on technology and its uses to improve efficiency in modern society. Currently Michael mentors groups of undergraduate Computer Science students. His recent publications include Redesigning the research design: Accelerating the pace of research through technology innovation (SeGAH 2016) and a workshop and presentation at HASTAC 2017.
Marissa Salas
Marissa’s dissertation centers around the perceptions of digitally mediated soundscapes and its impact on conservation measures. Her national and international presentations were on feminism, communications, and publics in TV/film and Twitter. Her past research focused on queer geographies and politics some of which is in Queerying Planning: Challenging Heteronormative Assumptions and Reframing Planning Practice(Dr. P. Doan, ed.) and reported in NGLTF’s Same-sex Couple Households in the United States: A Report from the 2000 Census. Marissa earned her MSP in urban and regional planning from Florida State University, and focused on transportation, GIS, research, and applications. More about Marissa’s experience and research interests can be found on her website.
Carina Seagrave Fuller
Carina Seagrave Fuller holds her M.A. in Mass Communications with a focus in Journalism from the University of Florida. During her time at UF, her research focused on the social media usage of non-profit organizations to recruit volunteers. She was also a copywriter for the Independent Florida Alligator. Carina’s B.S. is in English Literature and Religion from the Florida State University. Carina currently teaches 9th grade ELA in Orange County. Her research interests are based in the consumption and accessibility of classic literature by grade school-aged students in the digital era.
Eryn Shorthill
Eryn earned her B.A. in Humanities – Literature and Political Science from Messiah University in 1999 and is a 2024 graduate of the UCF Rhetoric and Composition M.A. program. She has taught high school ELA, American History, and Civics and currently serves as an adjunct instructor at Eastern Florida State College in Brevard County. Her primary research interests include educational technology tools, composition pedagogy, and writing center development, with plans to develop writing center models for Florida public high schools.
Angely Suarez DeJesus
Angely Suarez DeJesus has been teaching 10th grade high school English for 4 years. She received a BA in Sociology at The University at Buffalo in 2008, with a background in Architectural Studies & Design at Morrisville State College. She completed the MA Educational Leadership Program College Teaching/ Higher Education Track at UCF in Spring 2024. She was a recipient in 2024 of the Summer Mentoring Fellowship award, for which her research focused on how AI enhances and minimizes Latino and female rhetoric in the field of rhetoric and composition through using a network mapping methodology on academic forum abstracts. The larger scope of her research interests within the areas of rhetoric and composition entails the exploration of the ways in which AI algorithms managed by content moderators in large language models affect Latino women and other BIPOC groups through textual, visual, and digital rhetoric. Other areas of interest are in the field of technical professional communication, digital media, and digital humanities.
Eric Thompson
Eric Thompson holds an MA in public history from Georgia Southern University. His BA in history at UCF included a minor in Florida studies. His thesis work at Georgia Southern involved photogrammetry to produce 3d models of monuments in Augusta, Georgia. His research interests include memory and memorialization, public history, and Southern history. He has worked at museums and archives in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.
Evan Wallace
MA, History, Appalachian State, 2018
With a background in Russian medieval culture focusing in political theology, meta-medievalisms, and rhetorical history Evan is interested in looking at contemporary utilizations of history in modern Russian political rhetoric. With a digital humanities specialization Evan is utilizing data scraping to understand how Western media audiences perceive and contextualize pseudo-historical claims posted by Russian State Media around the War in Ukraine posted online.
Justin (J. M. L.) Whittington
Justin’s research interests are in sociopolitical phenomena of games (video and tabletop) and theme parks. His background is best described as “circuitous.” After spending a few years as a musician, Justin obtained a B.S. in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Marshall University, intending to pursue graduate study in linguistics. Life instead directed him onto a stint in the tech industry. He later obtained his M.A. in Humanities from the Graduate Humanities Program at Marshall University. He has since presented at (inter)national conferences for the Popular Culture Association, Digital Games Research Association, and Appalachian Studies Association. Additional and more specific info, as well as a contact method, can be found at his website.
Ashley Zirkle
Ashley Zirkle earned her Master of Arts in English literature and her Bachelor of Arts in creative writing, English language and literature, and Spanish language and literature from Grand Valley State University. She has professional experience in corporate communications and social media, as well as writing for theme parks and museums. Her academic areas of interest include social media, themed experiences, gender studies, critical making, and popular literature.