Team

Dr. Raquel Robinson is currently a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California, Santa Cruz where she is the lead of an NSF-funded research project, designing and implementing a summer camp curriculum for middle school girls focused on designing wearable technologies to support social interactions through educational live-action roleplay (edu-larp) as the primary mode of teaching. 

She received her Ph.D. from the University of Saskatchewan in 2022; her dissertation work focused on affective gaming, particularly designing games that utilize physiological sensing technology to help facilitate and support social connections over a distance. 

Her research interests include fostering collaborative, social experiences in both co-located and remote environments, and the way games and other technologies can be used to support these interactions. In 2018, she completed her M.S. in Computational Media as part of the SET Lab, where she designed a tool called `All the Feels'—an overlay that adds game live streamers' biometric data onto the stream in order to enhance the spectator experience.

Ella Dagan creates interactive artifacts and experiences. She works at the intersection of fashion, technology, social psychology, storytelling, remembrance, and wonder. 

Currently, she is a Computational Media Ph.D. student at UCSC. Ella's research explores ubiquitous and embodied technology interventions and their potential to enhance co-located social experience and support people's psychological well-being. 

Before starting her doctoral research, Ella earned a Masters's degree from the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) at the Tisch School of The Arts at New York University. The topic of her thesis there was an interactive, fully functioning installation exploring notions of intimate relationships and means of sharing memories with others through tangible artifacts infused with digital content.

Previously, Ella worked for several years as a fashion designer in various market categories, and as a costume designer for art performances. Her familiarity with and experience in fashion design inspired her interest in wearable technology as a social mediator. Ella also earned dual bachelor's degrees in Psychology and Film & Television from Tel Aviv University and a diploma in Fashion Design from Istituto Marangoni. 

The Game Academy is a 501c3 educational non-profit organization committed to the social, emotional and academic success of learners of all ages through the use of tabletop role-playing games and live-action role play. Our programs encourage and support neuro-divergent participants.  

We engage students with exciting games, making learning a captivating journey that inspires curiosity and prepares them for a bright future.

Jasmine Florentine is passionate about combining technology, art, and storytelling to engage kids with STEM in fun and creative ways.

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She received an MS and a BS from MIT in mechanical engineering. Before moving abroad, she was a mechanical engineer at FIRST—a STEM non-profit that runs student robotics competitions.

In addition to co-writing the Anywear Academy, her work as a STEM content creator includes designing paper robots to teach physical computing, creating multimedia coding lessons in collaboration with The micro:bit Educational Foundation, hosting numerous STEM workshops, and creating STEM videos and animations. Her projects and lessons have been used by teachers and students internationally.

Her upcoming graphic novel series, Maker Girl and Professor Smarts (Candlewick/MIT Kids), is a STEM-themed superhero adventure. She is also the author of Hex Allen and the Clanksmiths (The Innovation Press, 2022), a children’s STEM fantasy quest.