People

Dr. Lennart E. Nacke is an Associate Professor for Human-Computer Interaction and Game Design in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Waterloo. He is working on projects that deal with the cognitive and emotional side of playing games. His goal is to describe, analyse and have computers and machines react to the thoughts and feelings you have when you are fully engaged in playing a video game. With this research we can start understanding the effects of video games (positive and negative). Using body sensor technology, for example, sensors for brainwaves, heart rate, or muscle tension, Dr. Nacke taps into some of video gaming’s most motivating features to improve our physical fitness and mental wellbeing. His research is funded nationally and internationally and his publications have won best paper honourable mention (awarded to the top 5%) and best paper awards (awarded to the top 1%) at the premier human-computer interaction conferences CHI 2011 and CSCW 2012. He also writes blog articles for the online magazine Gamasutra via his personal blog.

Dr. Gustavo Tondello is currently an instructional support coordinator for the Cheriton School of Computer Science. He was a Ph.D. student at the University of Waterloo under supervision of Dr. Lennart Nacke and Dr. Daniel Vogel and graduate researcher at the HCI Games Group. He is research lead of the International Gamification Federation and co-founder of MotiviUX. His research interests include gamification and games for health, wellbeing, and learning, user experience in gamification, and gameful design methods. His work focuses on the design and personalization of gameful applications. His recent publications advanced the current knowledge on player and user motivations in games and gameful applications and introduced new frameworks and approaches to designing personalized gameful applications and serious games. He periodically blogs about gamification for the HCI Games Group and on his personal blog, Gameful Bits. Before coming to Canada, Gustavo earned his M.Sc. in Computer Science and his B.Sc. in Information Systems from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) and worked for several years as a Software Engineer in Brazil. Gustavo is also a Logosophy researcher affiliated to the Logosophical Foundation of Brazil and North America.

Andrew is a Systems Design Engineering student under SWaGUR, who graduated from Speech Communication with a minor in Digital Arts Communication. He joined the HCI Games Group because of his passion for game design and interest in Games User Research. Andrew is an emerging digital media designer. His primary focuses in digital design revolve around photography and videography. Andrew also has experience in the Adobe suites, including: Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom. He also has taken an interest in game development and game design, having played many games in his past time. His current focus is to expand his digital media portfolio and create inspirational work that will motivate those around him. His work can be viewed on Facebook at Jintoki Media.

Joseph is a Master’s student pursuing a M.A.Sc in Systems Design Engineering under the supervision of Dr. Lennart Nacke at the University of Waterloo. He has immense interests in UX and UI interfaces and emotion in games. He seeks to explore the different dimensions of wireframes and paper prototypes that can be useful in game designs. He enjoys doing photography.

Karina is a Ph.D. student pursuing a degree in Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo, under the supervision of Dr. Lennart Nacke. She holds an MSc in Information Technology with Business and Management from the University of Sussex in the UK, and a BSc in Information Technology from the University of Monterrey in Mexico. Her main interests include understanding player's behaviors and emotions by applying diverse games user research methodologies, specifically biometrics such as electromyography and galvanic skin response. She is also interested in the research of new methodologies and technologies that can help improve player's experience.

Kenny is a recent MBA graduate at Wilfrid Laurier University and has a B.A. Honours Psychology from the University of Waterloo. He is currently interested in the field of computer science and is actively contributing to various projects at the HCI Games Group.

Michelle is a UX Researcher from the Masters of Digital Experience Innovation program and was previously a University of Waterloo undergraduate studying Joint Honours in Speech Communication and Peace and Conflict Studies with a minor in Digital Arts Communication. She is currently working under the supervision of Dr. Lennart E. Nacke in contributing to UX/UI design projects within the HCI Games Group, specifically a French language learning game. She is interested in user research and interactions between humans and computers, specifically concepts within UX Design for Educational Learning.

Rina R. Wehbe is currently working on her Ph.D. Her research focuses on understanding difficulty and learning in games and productivity applications. Currently, she is co-supervised by Dr. Lennart Nacke and Dr. Edward Lank of the University of Waterloo. She recently completed an internship at Bloomberg in New York City. Rina earned her M.Sc. in Computer Science at UOIT; her thesis was titled "Evaluating social and cognitive effects of video games using electroencephalography". She received her B.Sc. Honours Psychology from York University. Her undergraduate honours thesis focused on Autism and Cortical Connectivity. In her undergrad, she gained experience in different labs, including the neuroscience lab at Milton and Ethel Harris Research Initiative (MEHRI), the Fallah-Jordan lab at the Centre for Vision Research (CVR), and as an intern at InteraXon as part of the ADD/ADHD neurofeedback team. Rina currently holds a Dean's Scholarship and OGS 2014-2015.

Derrick is a MASc student in Systems Design Engineering under SWaGUR, who comes from a mixed background of Computer Science and Digital Arts. He has a BFA degree in Creative Technologies from Virginia Tech in the USA with experience as a game and VR designer and developer. As both a game designer/developer and a hardcore player, his research interests mainly involves seeking a balance between player satisfaction and designer/developer workloads.

Stuart is a PhD student from the LIRIS lab, SICAL team, based in Lyon France. He is working on adaptive gamification of digital teaching resources, under the supervision of Elise Lavoué, Audrey Serna, and Jean-Charles Marty and was working in the HCI Games Group for the summer of 2019 on a collaborative adaptive gamification project with Dr. Nacke and Dr. Tondello. His thesis is a part of the LudiMoodle project, financed by the e-FRAN project, a part of the “Investissements d’Avenir” (PIA2). His thesis goal is the production of a model that allows the adaptation of game elements to learner profiles, based on trace-based study, and fixed characteristics identified by questionnaires.

Joyce is a third-year Computer Engineering student at the University of Waterloo. She first stumbled upon UX when applying for her Co-op job. She attributed her passion for UX research as the fire that sustained her to study and learn UX after full-time developer work, every single day. She finds the user interview techniques and story-telling aspect of UX widely applicable and is looking to contribute to game user research using her programming and hardware background.