Curriculum Vitae

Assistant Professor of Experiential Media and Data Communication Department of Humanities · Lewis College of Science and Letters Illinois Institute of Technology Siegel Hall, Suite 218 · 3301 South Dearborn · Chicago, IL 60616 wrodda@illinoistech.edu · IIT directory profile

Research profile

My research and creative practice investigate how design mediates between computational systems and human experience. Working across data visualization, experiential and immersive media, game studies, and urban computing, I examine how complex systems — cities, sports environments, decision contexts, and play — can be made legible and generative through designed interfaces and interactive media. Recent peer-reviewed and in-progress work develops decision quality as a portable analytic lens for game studies, theorizes industry-partnered design studios as a vehicle for interdisciplinary higher education, and explores AI-assisted decision coaching. A second strand of practice-based research advances data visualization as a humanistic medium, including dynamic urban data platforms developed in collaboration with national laboratories, civic institutions, and major industry partners.

Education

M.F.A., Design for Emerging Technologies, 2010 School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Department of Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects (AIADO) Thesis: The Active Light Cloud: Reactive Anticipatory Light Applications in the Built Environment. Advisor: Anders Nereim. AIADO MFA Award of Academic Excellence, 2010; The George Little Award of Academic Excellence, 2009.

B.F.A., Painting, 2002 Rhode Island School of Design Selected for Graduate Invitational Exhibition, Woods-Gerry Gallery, RISD, 2002.

Academic appointments

Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL

• Assistant Professor of Experiential Media and Data Communication, Department of Humanities, Lewis College of Science and Letters, 2024–present. Tenure-track appointment in the Communications and Emerging Media program. Program Director, Communications and Emerging Media (2026–present); architect of the new CEM degree program.
• Professor of Practice, IPRO Program; Faculty Director, IPRO Labs, Ed Kaplan Family Institute for Innovation and Tech Entrepreneurship, 2021–2024.
• Senior Lecturer, IPRO Program, Ed Kaplan Family Institute, 2015–2021.

Co-architected the IPRO Labs framework (launched Spring 2021 with Limia Shunia) following five years leading interdisciplinary studios. Built and directed the industry- and community-partnership portfolio that became the foundational course of the IPRO Program, organized into five thematic labs: CommunityLab, CityLab, EducationLab, GameLab, and EnergyLab. Mentored more than 1,300 students across approximately 33 industry- and community-partnered studios with 25+ partner organizations, ranging from Fortune 500 corporations to neighborhood nonprofits. Mentored downstream student startups including Phyesta, Kolosseum, and HoneyCo through the Kaplan Institute accelerator.

School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL

• Lecturer, Graduate Faculty, AIADO; Art and Technology Studies (ATS); Visual Communications, 2012–2020. Faculty of record for the cross-institutional Art of Data Visualization course developed with Northwestern University.

Pre-faculty research appointments

The University of Chicago — Urban Center for Computation and Data (UrbanCCD) and Computation Institute

• Research Fellow, 2013–2015.
  • Technical Lead and Principal Project Architect, LakeSIM (Lakeside Sustainable Infrastructure Model). A prototype workflow framework coupling urban design with computational modeling for the 600-acre Chicago Lakeside Development. Co-PIs: Charles Catlett (UrbanCCD/Argonne) and Leah Guzowski (Argonne). Jointly funded by Argonne National Laboratory, the University of Chicago, and McCaffery Interests, in design partnership with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM); additional partners Clean Energy Trust and U.S. Steel Corporation. Featured in ISOCARP Review 11 and profiled in The New York Times, Next City, and Curbed Chicago.
  • Senior Personnel and contributing grant author, The Array of Things: Development of an Urban-Scale Instrument for Interdisciplinary Research. NSF MRI program, Award #1532133, $3.1 million (PI: Charles E. Catlett).

University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System, Chicago, IL

• GIS and Data Visualization Specialist, Population Health Sciences Group, 2014–2015.

Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL

• Building Intelligence and Energy Efficiency Specialist, Computation and Informational Sciences Division, Office of the Chief Information Officer, 2010–2012.
  • Principal System Architect, Argonne Energy Management Information System (AEMIS) — centralized energy data platform; project funding exceeding $2 million.
  • Project Lead, Advanced Wireless Environmental and Energy Monitoring Sensor Mesh — 50+ wireless sensor nodes, 250+ thermal data points; project funding exceeding $50,000.
  • Member, Argonne Sustainability Council; contributing author, Argonne Sustainability Plan FY11 and FY12.

Areas of research and creative practice

Experiential and immersive media · Data visualization and visual analytics · Game studies, game design, and ludic systems · Decision quality and AI-assisted decision coaching · Urban computing and smart cities · Design research methods and practice-based research · Industry-engaged interdisciplinary pedagogy · Sustainable infrastructure and energy systems · Human-centered design and rapid prototyping

Publications

See /writing/ for the canonical list. Selected:

Peer-reviewed journal articles

• Collisson, B., & Rodda, W. B. (2025). Do you want to play a game? Educational escape rooms and the skillful psychology student. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology. Advance online publication.

Peer-reviewed conference papers and proceedings

• Rodda, W. B. (2025). Big Monster Toy Lab: Learning through making and reflections on interdisciplinary toy and game design education. IndieCade Horizons Educators’ Symposium.
• Bergerson, J., Muehleisen, R. T., Rodda, W. B., Guzowski, L., Ozik, J., Auld, J., & Collier, N. (2015). Designing future cities — LakeSIM integrated design tool. ISOCARP Review 11: Reinventing Planning.

Manuscripts under review

• Rodda, W. B. Decision quality as a portable analytic lens for game studies: Method, coding protocol, and illustrative analysis of Wing Commander. Games and Simulation (Springer). Under review, 2026.

Manuscripts in preparation

• Rodda, W. B. DecisionCoach: A multi-agent conversational system for developing decision-making competence through decision-coaching practice. In preparation for AIR-RES 2026.
• Rodda, W. B. Labubu buying as game: Collectible commerce, scarcity mechanics, and the gamification of consumer desire. In preparation for Games and Society.

Conference presentations and roundtables

• Rodda, W. B. (2026). Decision quality as a portable analytic lens for game studies. SWPACA, Game Studies, Culture, Play and Practice track.
• Rodda, W. B. (2025, February 19–22). Is game studies a field or a discipline? [Roundtable]. SWPACA, Albuquerque, NM.
• Rodda, W. B. (2010). The Active Light Cloud: An intelligent embedded lighting system using computer vision and fluid simulation. ACADIA Annual Conference, Art Institute of Chicago.

Invited talks, panels, and public lectures

• Open City Workshop (2018). LakeSIM: A Data-Centric Approach to Urban Planning.
• Smart Cities and Sustainable Design Panel (2018). Moderator. Graham School, University of Chicago, and the Paulson Institute.
• Zurich Insurance International Executive Committee Summit (2017). Expert panelist and speaker, Exponential Technologies and Risk Management.
• LafargeHolcim Executive Global Summit (2017). Expert panelist, Emerging Technologies in Construction.
• Kellogg Innovation Network (KIN) Global Summit, Miami, FL (2016). Panelist, Smart Cities and Innovation.
• MURPA Annual Meeting (2015). Panelist, Open Data and Instrumenting Cities.
• International Lecture Series, South Korea (2014). smART Cities: The Convergence of Design and Technology in the Development of the Instrumented City. Seoul Venture University; GyeongSang National University; Hanbat National University. Companion seminar at Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), Daejeon.
• Chicago Architecture Foundation (2014). Hacking the Chicago City Model.
• Microsoft Chicago (2014). The Critical Intersection Between Art, Design, and Big Data.
• Open Government Hack Night, 1871, Chicago (2014). Hacking the Chicago City Model.
• Institute of Computing in Science (ICiS) Summer Workshop, Park City, UT (2012). Physical and Pervasive Computing in Science.

Conferences and symposia organized

• Track Co-Chair, Game Criticism and Analysis Track, Foundations of Digital Games (FDG) 2026 — “Research through Games; Research for Games.” Royal Danish Academy, Copenhagen, August 10–14, 2026. Co-chair with Carly Kocurek.
• Local Co-Chair, Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN) 2025 — “Reading the World: Immersive Learning and Multimodal Literacies.” Chicago, IL, June 15–19, 2025.
• Organizing Committee Member and Intelligent Architecture Leader, Institute of Computing in Science (ICiS) 2012, Physical and Pervasive Computing in Science. University of Chicago / Park City, UT.

Grants, fellowships, and sponsored research

Submitted

• Interfaces and Interference: A History of Smart Glasses (Co-PI, with Carly Kocurek and Mark Miller). National Endowment for the Humanities, Dangers and Opportunities of Technology Program. $149,937. Submitted 2024 (not funded).

Awarded — as faculty PI / Co-PI

• A Diverse Brain Trust for the Future (Co-PI). VentureWell. $23,750. 2022.
• User Experience and Technological Opportunities in Golf Fittings (PI). Wilson Sporting Goods. $50,000. 2021.
• Infosys Internship User Experience Study (PI). Infosys Corporation. $18,667. 2021.

Awarded — as senior personnel / contributing grant author

• The Array of Things: Development of an Urban-Scale Instrument for Interdisciplinary Research. NSF MRI Award #1532133. $3.1 million. PI: Charles E. Catlett (Argonne / UChicago). 2015.
• Manifest/Space — South Pole Telescope Exhibition Project, SAIC AIADO (2012). Supported in part by NSF and the University of Chicago.

Studio and project funding

• Motorola Solutions Innovation Generation STEM Grant. GFRY Research Studio, SAIC. 2012.

Awards and honors

• Exceptional Service to the Game Design and Experiential Media (GEM) Program, Illinois Institute of Technology, 2025.
• Best in Show, Wanted Design NYC, for ChiLab’s Boolean Lamp, 2014.
• Research Fellowship, Urban Center for Computation and Data, The University of Chicago, 2014.
• Motorola Solutions Innovation Generation Grant, GFRY Research Studio, SAIC, 2012.
• AIADO MFA Award of Academic Excellence, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2010.
• The George Little Award of Academic Excellence, AIADO, SAIC, 2009.
• 1st Tennessee Bank FedEx ArtForum, with the Memphis Urban Art Commission, 2007.
• Best in Show, “Class of ‘06 Juried Exhibition,” Lantana Projects, Memphis, TN, 2006.
• Graduate Invitational Exhibition, Woods-Gerry Gallery, Rhode Island School of Design, 2002.

Teaching

See /teaching/ for current and selected courses.

Curriculum and program development

• Architect, Communications and Emerging Media (CEM) Degree Program, Illinois Institute of Technology (2024–2026). Designed and implemented a redesigned degree pathway: closed the prior ICDV program and built CEM in its place.
• Co-Architect, IPRO Labs Framework, Ed Kaplan Family Institute (2021), with Limia Shunia. Five-lab structure (Community, City, Education, Game, Energy) launched as the foundational course of the IPRO Program.
• Course Author, Data Visualization and the Art of Storytelling, Coursera × Illinois Tech BIT pathway (launched 2025).
• Co-Developer, The Art of Data Visualization — eight-week cross-institutional graduate course, SAIC × Northwestern (Summer 2013).

Research centers, labs, and institutional initiatives

• IPRO Labs, Kaplan Institute, Illinois Institute of Technology — Co-Architect (2021) and Faculty Director (2021–2024).
• Center for Sports Innovation, Illinois Institute of Technology — Co-Founder and Founding Core Faculty (2023). Lead industry partnership with Wilson Sporting Goods.
• ChiLab Design Studio — Founder and Partner (2013–present). Producer of the Boolean Lamp (Best in Show, Wanted Design NYC 2014) and the Unfolding Chair, among other internationally exhibited works.

Industry, community, and public partnerships

See /partnerships/ for the full list. Sustained collaborations include Wilson Sporting Goods, Motorola Solutions, American Red Cross, Farpoint Development, United Airlines, Infosys, Underwriters Laboratories, Sargent & Lundy, Big Monster Toys, VR Motion, Microsoft, Adler Planetarium, the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, the City of Chicago, Argonne National Laboratory, the University of Chicago (UrbanCCD and the Computation Institute), the Chicago Architecture Foundation, Skidmore Owings & Merrill, McCaffery Interests, and many others.

Selected exhibitions and installations

• Outside the Box Chicago — ChiLab Design Studios (with Ben Stagl). Wanted Design NYC, 2016.
• City of Big Data — Chicago Architecture Foundation. Dynamic 3D-printed urban data projection-mapping platform. May 2014.
• Tent London — ChiLab Exhibit. Premiered the Boolean Lamp and the Unfolding Chair. London, UK, 2014.
• Chicagoland — Wanted Design NYC, 2013 and 2014. Group exhibition featuring ChiLab.
• CHGO DSGN: Recent Object and Graphic Design — Chicago Cultural Center, 2014. Exhibited work: The Unfolding Folding Chair by ChiLab.
• Active Light Cloud / Digeotruss — 2009 ACADIA Annual Conference, Art Institute of Chicago.
• The Bauhaus — From Laboratory to Project, international conference, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Germany (2009).
• GFRY Design Studio: 2000 Watt Living — Sullivan Galleries, SAIC; Fabrica del Vapore, Milan (concurrent with Salone Internazionale del Mobile / Milan Design Week, 2010). Work: Active Light Cloud.
• (re)ACT — interactive video installation. Re:, 2010 GFRY Design Studio Exhibition, Platform 01, Beppu, Ōita, Japan (December 2009).
• Corian Can Be Fun — DuPont/SAIC Industry Partners Exhibition, NeoCon, Chicago (2009).

Type design and applied creative work

• Snax Script — original typeface for the documentary film Halcyon Daze: The Final Voyages of Disney’s Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser (2024).
• Chicago Architecture Foundation City Model 2.0 — Dynamic Data Visualization Platform.
• Boolean Lamp and Unfolding Chair — ChiLab Design Studio.

Selected consulting and applied engagements

• Project Director, The Imagine Project — ImagineDev LLC (2016–2017). Directed development of a major Chicago smart-city innovation district plan; delivered presentation to the City of Chicago Development Board.
• Technical Advisor and Lead Developer, City of Big Data exhibition — Chicago Architecture Foundation (2014). Six-projector mapping system for the Foundation’s physical 3-D city model.
• Human-Centered Design Strategist and Business Development Consultant — TURF, Chicago. Clients: Rieke Office Furniture, Flexie LLC.
• Graphic Designer, Halcyon Daze: The Final Voyages of Disney’s Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser (2024–2025). Graphic identity and original typeface (Snax Script).
• Director, L|Ross Gallery, Memphis, TN (2003–2007).

Selected additional consulting clients: Civilocity LLC, Chickasaw Renewables, Clareo, Colony 5, DC Vast, Breen Capital Partners, Bronzeville Development Association, JGMA, Adler Planetarium, Kavli Institute of Cosmological Physics (UChicago), Disney, Walmart, Smart Ones Foods, Kellogg, Kuma’s Corner.

Selected media coverage and public scholarship

• Lasky, J. (2013, May 23). Going for the remix. The New York Times, D1, D6–D7.
• Gowda, K. (2013, August 8). Empathetic mapping: Redrawing Chicago to examine school choice. Scientific American (Guest Blog).
• Tuhus-Dubrow, R. (2014, December 6). What happens when developers, scientists and supercomputers connect on urban design. Next City.
• Sisson, P. (2015, January 16). Using a real-life SimCity to design a massive development. Curbed Chicago.
• Sunata, S. (2012, October 12). The Big Bang — view from the South Pole. Medill Reports.
• Kopes, S. (2012, April 27). South Pole Telescope exhibit headed for Washington, New York. UChicago News.
• Kuang, C. (2009, May 6). Living on 2000 watts. Fast Company.
• Pham, D. (2009, May 6). Milan 2009: 2000 Watt Living by GFRY Studio. Inhabitat.

Institutional service

University and College

• Faculty Advisor, Claude Builder Club, Illinois Institute of Technology (2026–present).
• NCAA Faculty Athletic Representative (FAR), Illinois Tech Athletics (2023–present).
• Member, University Industry Partnership Strategic Planning Group, Office of the Provost (2023–2025).
• Member, Core Curricular Accreditation Committee (CACC) (2022–2024).
• Co-Founder and Founding Core Faculty, Center for Sports Innovation (2023–present).

Department and Program

• Program Director, Communications and Emerging Media (2026–present).
• Chair, CEM Steering Committee (2026–present).
• Architect of the CEM degree program; Director, Information Communications and Data Visualizations (until program closure, 2026).
• Member, Games and Experiential Media (GEM) Steering Committee, HASS (2023–present).
• Member, Humanities and ICDV (COMM) Steering Committee, HASS (2024–2026).
• Member, Faculty Hiring Committee, HASS (2025–2026).
• Member, Faculty Hiring Committee, Humanities (2024–2025).

Service to the profession

• Track Co-Chair, Game Criticism and Analysis Track, Foundations of Digital Games (FDG) 2026.
• Editorial Reviewer, New Media & Society (2025–present).
• Local Co-Chair, Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN) 2025.

Technical, design, and research methods

Design and visualization — Rhino, Grasshopper, parametric and algorithmic modeling, projection mapping, 3D printing, CNC milling and routing, casting and mold-making, laser cutting, type design, identity systems.

Data and computation — GIS (enterprise GIS testing at Argonne), urban data visualization, simulation-based design tools (LakeSIM), large-scale data analytics.

Interactive and embedded systems — Microcontroller-based prototyping (Arduino), networked sensing and IoT, cyber-physical systems, computer vision, fluid simulation.

Games and experiential media — Game design, immersive learning environments, AR/VR, multi-agent conversational systems.

Research methods — User experience research and evaluation, qualitative coding, decision-quality analysis, design research, practice-based research.

Professional affiliations

Data Visualization Society (DVS).

References

Available upon request.