RESEARCH

Research is one of the biggest strengths of the School of Literature, Communication and Culture (LCC) at Georgia Tech. Faculty members in the LCC are engaged in a wide variety of research projects ranging from highly theoretical work to extremely applied projects. Supervised by the faculty members, many graduate and undergraduate students are also involved in the research programs as members of research groups.

The LCC encourages its researchers to create collaborations with government and private sector as a part of their efforts to generate new knowledge and ensure its use for the advancement of society. Such relations can provide additional funding for research and can help ensure that inventions and other research discoveries are converted into products and practices that benefit society. However, all alliances consider academic freedom. Grants awarded to LCC faculty in the last three years have reached almost $4 million.

The LCC is always open to discuss new, exciting research ideas. If you are interested in creating research collaboration with the LCC, please contact us.


Research Grants

Several examples of active grants are listed:


Investigators Year Duration Title Sponsor Amount Received
K. Crowley (University of Pittsburgh), C. DiSalvo 2007 4 yrs. The City as Learning Lab: Spreading Technological Fluency Through Creative Robotics NSF $1,067,614
S. Rosser, J. Murray, L. Jacobs, W. Newstetter 2007 3 yrs. InTEL: Interactive Toolkit for Engineering Education NSF Intel $899,791
B. Magerko, C. Pearce, M. Riedl 2008 3 yrs. Modeling Creative and Emotive Improvisation in Theatre Performance NSF $394,614
A. Mazalek, M. Nitsche 2007 2 yrs. Unlocking Body Memories for Creativity: Controlling Virtual Characters with Tangible Interfaces to Augment Expression and Cognition NSF Creative IT $224,843
I. Bogost 2007 2 yrs. Understanding Newsgames John S. and James L. Knight Foundation $142,165
J. Murray 2007 2 yrs. Schemas for Narrative Authoring and Presentation Systems NSF SGER $100,000
J. Murray, M. Nitsche, C. Pearce 2007 n/a Next Generation Play (NGP) Alcatel-Lucent $93,288
C. Pearce 2008 1 yr. Creative Collaboration in Online Virtual Worlds NSF $86,677
B. Magerko 2009 6 mths. CreativeIT NSF $49,932
C. Pearce 2007 2 yrs. Productive Play: The Convergence of Play and Labor in Online Games and Virtual Worlds NSF $36,560
TOTAL $3,095,484


Research Groups

The LCC hosts many successful research groups. Those research groups (generally called as "research labs") are led by LCC faculty members. Research groups carry out more than one research projects at a time. Current research labs and their areas of interests are listed:



Research Projects

Selected examples from research projects are listed:


  • Digital Improvisation: Collecting performance data on real life improvisational actors to understand how our brains work during the creative improvisation, and creating digital characters that can improvise based on the study results.

  • inTEL(Interactive Toolkit for Engineering Learning): Creating initial learning environments that encourage and motivate students to become engineers. The program also focuses on attracting and retaining a diverse group of engineering students.

  • Mermaids: Designing and implementing a Massively Multiplayer Online Game.

  • Next Generation Play: Investigating combinations of existing TV IP with ubiquitous 4G handheld technology in the world of casual games.

  • Second Life Augmented Reality: Creating a blend of locations in physical space with corresponding places in the Second Life.