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).
Jetshri Bhadviya
Jetshri Bhadviya is an internationally exhibiting artist, educator, curator, and designer whose interdisciplinary practice spans photography, digital media, video, sound, and performance. She is an Assistant Professor in the School of Digital Media Production at Daytona State College and holds an MFA in Photography from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan and a BFA in Studio Arts from the American University in Dubai, UAE. Her work has been recognized with the Toby Devan Lewis Award (2015) and the Sheikha Manal Young Artist Award (2011). She also serves as an Art and Culture Commissioner for the City of Hamtramck, Michigan, advocating for artists, underrepresented creative voices, and equitable recognition of artistic labor. Her creative and scholarly interests explore identity, memory, displacement, embodiment, cultural narratives, and representation. In the Texts and Technology Ph.D. program, she is interested in examining the intersections of visual culture, digital media, artificial intelligence, and emerging technologies, particularly how technological systems shape representations of identity, the body, culture, authorship, and memory. She hopes to expand her practice-based research through immersive and interactive technologies while continuing to explore photography, performance, sound, and other artistic practices as modes of critical inquiry. Her website is https://www.jetshri.com/.
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.
Favour Boluwade
I am exploring the intersection of texts and digital media platforms such as social media, AI chatbots, and websites to understand user engagement. I am interested in human-computer interaction and man-machine concepts, particularly examining how digital technologies affect user experiences across generations, cultures or institutions. I have a bachelor’s in literature in English from Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria, and a master’s in liberal arts with focus on Communication studies from Middle Tennessee State University. I am a recipient of the Bene S. Cox Excellence in Tutoring award, and Master of Liberal Arts outstanding student of the year award. My career in multimedia journalism has published textual, audio, visual and digital stories that can be found on LinkedIn. I am living passionately as a singer/songwriter, event host, creative writer, tutor and spoken words artist. Creativity excites me.
Matthew Bryan
Matthew Bryan is a senior lecturer in the Department of Writing and Rhetoric at the University of Central Florida and a Ph.D. candidate in the Texts and Technology program. His research interests include the rhetorics of software and code, computer history, and the application of computational methods in rhetoric, writing studies, and technical communication. Some of his recent work can be found in Computers and Composition as well as the edited collections Digital Literacies for Human Connection and Bad Ideas about AI and Writing.
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)
Cailey Cassity-Ness
Cailey Cassity-Ness (she/her) holds an M.A. in English – Technical Communication from UCF (2021) and a B.A. in Greek and Roman Studies from Millsaps College in Jackson, MS (2020). Cailey has been teaching first-year composition courses since 2022 and has served as faculty at Blinn College and Valencia College. Her current research interests include the rhetoric of gaming, classical rhetoric, and fan studies.
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.
LJ Connolly
LJ Connolly’s (they/them) work explores the intersection of digital rhetoric, gender identity, and critical data studies. They hold an M.A. in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from the University of South Florida and a B.A. in Writing from The University of Tampa. Their master’s thesis, Breaking Binaries: Gender Non-Conforming Lesbians and the Undercurrent of Biopower on Dating Apps, examined how biopower negotiates queer experiences on dating platforms. LJ’s current research interests continue along similar lines of inquiry by investigating how educational and public health technologies reflect and reproduce normative assumptions about identity.
P.D. Edgar
P.D. Edgar (MA, MFA) earned his creative writing and media studies degrees from the University of Alabama, following undergraduate majors at Florida Southern College. He researches poetry culture in publishing and popular media, and his creative writing has been published at Burning House Press, SAND, AI Literary Review, and Ghost Proposal. PD launched re•mediate, an online literary magazine for computer-assisted creative writing and criticism, in Fall 2024. He works for College Composition and Communication as an editorial assistant and with members of the Electronic Literature Organization. Find him online @pdedgar30.
Reliance Enwerem
Reliance Enwerem holds a master’s degree in Composition, Rhetoric, and English Studies from the University of Alabama and a bachelor’s degree in English and Literature from the University of Benin, Nigeria. Her research focuses on risk communications, digital humanities, and (critical) digital rhetoric, drawing from her professional experience in education, global health, and nonprofit work. Her work has been published in the Journal of the Linguistic Association of Nigeria, and she has presented at national and international conferences. In 2024, she received the Southeastern Writing Center Association (SWCA) Tom Waldrep Award.
Ricky Finch
Ricky Finch is a Ph.D. candidate with a M.A. in Composition, Rhetoric, and Digital Media from Nova Southeastern University and a B.A. in English from Lipscomb University. While at NSU, his research focused on engaging online teaching spaces through interactive digital technologies. Currently, he contributes to departmental assessment of First-Year Composition programs and teaches FYC courses in the Department of Writing and Rhetoric at UCF. His current research explores accessibility and coding literacy through Twine, games, and narrative storytelling.
Tyler Gillis
Tyler Gillis received an MA in History from the University of Nebraska Omaha in 2025 and a BA in History and Classics from the College of Charleston in 2022. His research focuses on the intersection of technology and History, particularly in the areas of interactivity, reception, and pedagogy across diverse learning platforms. Tyler is committed to building bridges between technology and History to ensure the continued scholarly relevance of the field. In his recent work, he has employed technological tools for spatial analysis of historical sites. Additionally, Tyler is a Marine Corps veteran, having served in the 3/3 Infantry Unit at Marine Corps Base Hawaii.
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.
Jermaine Johnson
Jermaine is a graphic designer working in higher education, with a strong foundation in digital media and interactive design. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design and a Master of Arts in Digital Media from the University of Central Florida. In addition to his design expertise, Jermaine has a robust background in 3D modeling and game development. Jermaine enjoys collaborating with other creative professionals and he’s always eager to learn new techniques. As a passionate gamer and developer, he draws inspiration from titles like Hollow Knight, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and Deltarune.
Jordan Kearschner
Jordan Kearschner received her MA in History (specializing in Public History and Museum Studies) from Colorado State University in 2019. She also holds a BA in History from New College of Florida. Prior to joining T and T, Jordan spent six years digitizing special collections at the Library of Congress. Her research interests include: memory and memorialization, difficult history, place identity, heritage tourism, themed experiences, visual culture, and digital curation.
Vee Kennedy
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.
Skye Lickteig
Skye currently works at the University of Central Florida. She holds an MA in Japanese Humanities from Kyushu University in Fukuoka Japan. She received her BA in Classical Humanities from UCF where she has elected to continue her educational pursuit with the T&T PhD program. With a long-standing interest in Japanese culture, Skye would like to use anime adaptation as a pedagogic tool for cultural understanding. This particular interest was sparked after remaining in Japan to teach English from 2017-2022 after the completion of her MA.
Alicia Lienhart
Alicia earned her B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies and a Professional Writing Graduate Certificate from the Department of Writing and Rhetoric, both at UCF. She holds an M.A. in Education from the University of South Florida and has experience as a business communicator and teacher-trainer in public education. Her current research interests are studying emerging writing technologies, and the human-AI collaborative writing process, specifically, human reflective writing transfer processes and generative artificial intelligence tools..
Christina Restrepo Nazar
Since 2007, C.R. Nazar has been deeply involved in K–12 education, with a strong focus on advancing equitable and socially just STEM education across a variety of educational settings—including K–12 schools, out-of-school programs, and university-based teacher education programs in Florida, Michigan, and California. C.R. Nazar earned her B.S. and M.Ed. in science education from the University of Central Florida, and her Ph.D. in Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education from Michigan State University. In the field of science education, she has published over 10 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, has over 200 citations in her work, and has been recognized with several grants and awards, including the prestigious 2020 AACTE Dissertation of the Year Award. She previously served as an Assistant Professor of K–12 Science Education at California State University, Los Angeles, in the Division of Curriculum and Instruction. Currently, her work centers on the development and integration of Artificial Intelligence resources to support learning in community settings. She aims to create digital and technological tools that foster deeper engagement and enhance STEM and community-based education through innovative, accessible, and equitable approaches that empowers society towards just ends.
Toyosi Ogunsola
Toyosi Ogunsola holds a Master’s degree in Emerging Media Design and Development from Ball State University. Her research focuses on how emerging media technologies, including AI systems and social media, mediate behavior changes and decision-making in adolescents and young adults. Her works have been published in the International Journal on Social and Education Sciences. Professionally, Toyosi has worked in UX research, content strategy, media, and communications. Toyosi’s broader scholarly goal is to understand how communication technologies can be designed to better reflect diverse identities and support meaningful, equitable participation in digital environments.
Hongbing Pan
Hongbing Pan is an instructor in Games & Interactive Media at the University of Central Florida. She holds a BA in Game Design from the Maryland Institute College of Art and an MA in Digital Media from the University of Central Florida. Her academic and professional work spans interactive media, game design, and full-stack development. She previously worked as a Narrative Designer and Level Designer at Heartbeat Plus Studio. Her research focuses on prompt design and AI-assisted development, examining how artificial intelligence can be safely and effectively integrated into game design and programming, with the goal of incorporating these practices into future teaching.
Kate Prior
Kate Prior (nee Loesel) is a PhD candidate with an MA in Film Theory and Criticism and a BAA in Broadcast and Cinematic Arts, both from Central Michigan University. Her research sits at the intersection of fandom studies and media industry practices, with an emphasis on the communication between content creators and consumers on social media platforms. Her doctoral work explores audience reception of recent superhero adaptations and examines what draws fans to some versions of transgenerational fictional characters over others. Kate has presented at multiple conferences in her field, including SCMS and Console-ing Passions, and her work on fan fiction has appeared in Transformative Works and Cultures. She currently teaches film courses at Valencia College.
Glenn S. Ritchey III
Glenn is a scholar and multidisciplinary artist whose work bridges critical theory and practice across academic and creative contexts. Their research concerns electronic literature and the computational intersection of visual culture and cinema studies, focusing on constraint-based and generative methods. Glenn’s creative practice spans graphic art, independent publishing, and performance, exploring memory and spatiality through subculture. Their current works include a Markov-generated novel, Francoism (Inside the Castle, 2026), and Like a Mountain of Sleep, an interactive electronic fiction on involuntary authorship, exhibited at the 2026 Electronic Literature Organization conference. Glenn also edits and designs for Sifting Press; titles include the horror-thriller anthologies Oil Spill (2024) and Random Acts of Kindness (2026). You can find more about Glenn’s practice, including a selection of past clients and media mentions, at http://glennritchey.xyz.
Lucas Sanchez
Lucas Sanchez is a visiting instructor in the University of Central Florida’s Games and Interactive Media program as well as a video game designer specializing in narrative design, now working towards a PhD in UCF’s Texts and Technology program in the Digital Media track. Building upon his digital media specialty, his research is focused on the creation of branching narratives that focus on contemporary topics such such as authoritarianism, bigotry, and represetation of minority groups racial, sexual, and otherwise. He is actively involved in the Game Design industry, currently interning as a Narrative Design lead at Icarus Alpha as well as working on his own personal projects, and envisions his future in industry, working towards creating deep and enthralling narratives for video games.
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.
Shalini Singh
Shalini Singh, (BSc LLB (Hons), LLM, MFA) is a multi-hyphenate with an extensive legal service and experience in courts, firms, and the government from India before mastering multi-genres in Creative Writing & Environment from Iowa State University, producing creative as well as critical writing. Her work has been nominated for the 20 under 30 Best South Asian Fiction Writers, Best American Essays 2025, longlisted for DISQUIET poetry Prize 2025 as well as won multiple awards and scholarship from national and international organizations. She was a Visiting Assistant Teaching Professor at Florida International University, 2025-26. Shalini wishes to bridge the praxis between scientific regimentation and conceptual creation. Her poetry, fiction and non-fiction have been published in Astrolabe, Southeast Review, Oberon Magazine, Berkeley Poetry Review, Hayden’s Ferry Review, and Hobart, amongst others. Her doctoral research focuses on minority Sci/Tech Comm spaces & case studies, visual & legal rhetorics and an evolving interest in AI & pedagogy.
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 teaches composition full-time at Eastern Florida State College in Brevard County, where she also proudly directs Florida’s only NJCAA Pep Band. Her primary research interests lie in the cross-section of composition pedagogy, writing center theory, and education policy, all aimed at promoting writing centers as a practical tool for Florida public high schools.
Mirek Stolee
Mirek Stolee is the curator for board games and puzzles at The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York. He holds a M.S. in Computational Media from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Mirek’s research explores the intersections between the analog and the digital in board games and escape rooms. His PhD dissertation is a local history of live-action escape rooms in Western New York.
Emily Strickland
Emily Strickland is a public historian and museum studies scholar whose work explores how objects—especially those that have traveled through space—help us tell stories about science, wonder, and national identity. Her current research focuses on the public lives of Apollo-era moon rocks, tracing how they’ve been displayed, mapped, and mythologized in museums across the United States. With an M.A. in Public History, a B.A. in Art History, and a graduate certificate in GIS, Emily blends archival research, oral history, spatial analysis, and material culture studies to examine how museums function not just as keepers of the past, but as technologies for shaping public knowledge. A longtime resident of Florida’s Space Coast, she’s contributed to exhibitions that bring scientific discovery into conversation with local history and storytelling, including a collaborative museum exhibit and her master’s thesis on the display of lunar samples. She is also developing side research on twin identity and representation—another case of two identical things leading very different lives.
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.
Erin Webreck
Erin Webreck earned a JD/MA dual degree from American University, specializing in international environmental law and cross-cultural communication, and a BA in German Language and Literature from George Washington University. During her time as an undergraduate, she spent a year studying abroad at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Her current academic research explores the impact of legal technology on access to justice.
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.