Bo Rodda
Bo Rodda studies and builds at the intersection of design, computation, and lived experience. As Assistant Professor of Experiential Media and Data Communication at Illinois Institute of Technology, his research spans game studies, urban computing, and data visualization, with recent peer-reviewed work developing decision quality as a portable method for analyzing games and decision environments. He has built dynamic urban data platforms with the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory, exhibited internationally as co-founder of ChiLab Design Studio, and led dozens of industry-partnered design studios at Illinois Tech’s Kaplan Institute.
Selected projects
Boolean Lamp
A hand-blown glass pendant series that reimagines the aluminum clip light through artisanal craft. Best in Show, Wanted Design NYC 2014. Available in smoke, umber, and light-blue glass on cast concrete, aluminum, or acrylic bases.
City of Big Data Maps
A series of large-format printed and projected maps using Chicago's open-data infrastructure, produced for the Chicago Architecture Foundation's City of Big Data exhibition.
LakeSIM
A prototype workflow framework coupling urban design with computational modeling, developed for the 600-acre Chicago Lakeside Development.
Active Light Cloud
An interactive lighting system using computer vision to track human movement and generate responsive illumination through gesture recognition.
Recent writing
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Decision quality as a portable analytic lens for game studies: Method, coding protocol, and illustrative analysis of Wing Commander
Rodda, W. B.. Games and Simulation (Springer), 2026.
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Do you want to play a game? Educational escape rooms and the skillful psychology student
Collisson, B., & Rodda, W. B.. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology, 2025.
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Designing future cities — LakeSIM integrated design tool
Bergerson, J., Muehleisen, R. T., Rodda, W. B., Guzowski, L., Ozik, J., Auld, J., & Collier, N.. ISOCARP Review 11: Reinventing Planning, 2015.