Director
Jessica FitzPatrick (PhD) is a Teaching Associate Professor in the English Department. She conducts research at the confluence of spatial studies, digital storytelling, world literature, and speculative fiction. She regularly teaches courses about Narrative and Technology and Digital Media, and she directs the Digital Narrative and Interactive Design (DNID) major. Her current projects include digital and public humanities ventures like the the DISCO (Design an Inclusive Spaceship Collaborative Operation) open educational resource toolkit, and supporting the Secret Pittsburgh Digital Guidebook, which exhibits student-generated explorations of Pittsburgh sites and stories. In her role as Digital Media Lab (DML) Director, she is tasked with developing capacity among faculty and graduate students in digital research and pedagogy, building undergraduate programming, fostering collaborative digital projects, and participating in wider digital initiatives in the humanities.
Lab Assistants
Khushboo Bhutani is a PhD student in Film and Media Studies and English at the University of Pittsburgh. She received her BA and MA in English Literature from the University of Delhi. She completed her MPhil in Cinema Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University. Having previously worked on trauma studies and transnational cinema, her research interests further include the study of emergent media infrastructures in distinct geopolitical settings, and the relationship between conflict and different screens.
Gissell Del Castillo is a PhD student in the English Department at the University of Pittsburgh, specializing in rhetoric and composition. Her research incorporates digitality, corpus analysis, and programming as methods and tools for studying writing, literacy, and pedagogy. She earned both her BA and MA in English from Florida International University, where she focused her research on the impact of written narratives and literacy in prisons. She has teaching experience in K–12 classrooms and correctional education which often shapes her commitment to public writing, community, and education in nontraditional settings.
Nick Canada is a PhD student in Composition at the University of Pittsburgh, specializing in AI-pedagogy integration, emergent technology and ethics, and digital humanities. He received his BA from the University of Florida and his MA from the University of Chicago. Nick continues growing his enthusiasm for philosophy and tech through his teaching, research, and work at Pitt’s technology laboratories.
DML Lab Assistants provide support for teaching digital tools and methods, organize events, and promote the innovative work of students and instructors. Interested in working with the DML as a graduate student? Arrange a consultation with the lab Director using the link in the homepage or send inquiries to JLF115@pitt.edu with the subject line “Lab Assistant.”
Undergraduate Lab Assistants
Dante Samarco is an undergraduate student in the Digital Narrative and Interactive Design (DNID) major at the University of Pittsburgh. He has an expertise in both programming and 2D illustrative/character concept work, and combines those skills towards video game development. His focus lies within building games from scratch, developing and understanding the systems that go into making the foundation of any game, and creating experiences with user expression at the forefront.
Jai Strayhorn is a first-year undecided student planning to go into finance, with a background in software engineering and UX/UI design for companies like HOKA. Outside of school, Jai is a big runner, lifelong soccer player, and loves camping and backpacking (been to 32 national parks so far).
Contingent on funding, the English department is able to hire an undergraduate student worker to help supervise the Digital Media Lab during its open hours, support Lab events, and assist faculty and students with technological issues that arise in using Lab facilities. There are also opportunities for those interested in lab management and digital educational programming as an intern, compensated with course credit. For more information about current or future opportunities, please send inquiries to JLF115@pitt.edu with the subject line “Undergraduate Lab Assistant.”
DML Affiliated Faculty
DML affiliated faculty work regularly and closely with the DML to help produce programming, wield lab resources into opportunities, and support the digital design community. Want to be listed as an affiliated faculty member? Contact the DML Director at JLF115@pitt.edu with the subject line "DML affiliated faculty".
Christopher Maverick (PhD) , who teaches in the Digital Narrative & Interactive Design, Literature, and Composition programs and whose work include issues of race, class, gender and sexuality in 20th and 21st century American popular culture, especially television, movies, professional wrestling and comic books. Mav is an avid believer in active participant observation and public scholarship and as such, he is the host of two academic podcasts, The VoxPopcast and Oh Gosh, Oh Golly, Oh Wow. He has been an avid blogger and media critic since 2002. From 2008 until 2018, he wrote the webcomic Cosmic Hellcats. Mav spent several years as a semi-professional photographer and in 2006, he started an internet cult devoted to selfies.