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Steering Committee
Philip S. Khoury MIT
Co-Chair, GAMBIT Steering Committee
Associate Provost, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ford International Professor of History

Philip S. Khoury is Associate Provost and Ford International Professor of History at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He was appointed Dean of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences in 1991, Kenan Sahin Dean in 2002, and Associate Provost in 2006. As Associate Provost, he is responsible for overseeing MIT's non-curricular arts programs and initiatives, including the MIT Museum and the List Visual Arts Center; MIT's strategic planning for international education and research; MIT's efforts to promote the public understanding of science and technology; and enhancing existing activities and new opportunities at the intersections of MIT's five schools: Architecture and Planning, Engineering, Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, Management, and Science.

Professor Khoury is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has been awarded fellowships from the Fulbright-Hays Foundation, Social Science Research Council, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies, and Thomas J. Watson Foundation. At MIT, he has twice received its Navas Award and held the Class of 1922 Career Development Professorship.


Isaac Kerlow NTU
Co-Chair, GAMBIT Steering Committee
Dean of School of Arts, Design and Media, Nanyang Technological University

Isaac Kerlow is a computer animation pioneer and the author of the third edition of The Art of 3D Computer Animation and Effects published by Wiley. Between 1997 and 2004 Isaac was Director of Digital Production at The Walt Disney Company, where he lead multiple initiatives related to producing entertainment with new media, including 3D computer animation and 24P High Definition digital cinematography. In this role Isaac participated in creative and production decisions that impacted dozens of live action and animated projects company-wide. Prior to that Isaac led for two years the group of digital artists and animators at Disney Interactive, where he oversaw creative and production aspects of over 20 computer games.

Before joining Disney in 1995 Isaac spent a decade at Pratt Institute in New York where he was a tenured professor and the founding chairman of the Department of Computer Graphics and Interactive Media. Isaac has presented workshops at many creative, production and research institutions throughout the world, and has participated in multiple international festivals including the International Electronic Film Festival in Japan, the New York Art Director's Club, the 3D Festival and FMX in Europe, Res Fest, and the Webby Awards. He is also a longtime active member of SIGGRAPH and the Visual Effects Society, and the technology committee of the American Society of Cinematographers.

In addition to being ADM's Dean, Isaac is currently directing a computer-animated feature movie in Europe, where he resides for half of the year.


Henry Jenkins III MIT
Lead Principal Investigator
Co-Director, MIT Comparative Media Studies
Peter de Florez Professor of Humanities
Professor of Literature and Comparative Media Studies
Henry Jenkins III is the Co-Director of the MIT Comparative Media Studies Program and the Peter de Florez Professor of Humanities. He is the author and/or editor of twelve books on various aspects of media and popular culture, including Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide; Fans, Bloggers and Gamers: Exploring Participatory Culture; The Wow Climax: Tracing the Emotional Impact of Popular Culture; Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture; Hop on Pop: The Politics and Pleasures of Popular Culture and From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Gender and Computer Games. Jenkins writes regularly about media and cultural change at his blog, henryjenkins.org.

He is one of the principal investigators for The Education Arcade, a consortium of educators and business leaders working to promote the educational use of computer and video games; The Convergence Culture Consortium (C3), a partnership between thinkers, researchers and companies with a keen interest in deciphering convergence culture and the implications it can have for their business; and the Knight Center for Future Civic Media, a joint effort with the MIT Media Lab to use new media to enhance how people live in local communities. He is also one of the principal investigators for GAMBIT, a lab focused on promoting experimentation through game design, and for Project NML, a MacArthur Foundation funded project that develops curricular materials focused on promoting the social skills and cultural competencies needed to become a full participant in the new media era.

Jenkins has a MA in Communication Studies from the University of Iowa and a PhD in Communication Arts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.


William Uricchio MIT
Lead Principal Investigator
Co-Director, MIT Comparative Media Studies
Professor of Foreign Languages and Literatures
Professor of Literature and Comparative Media Studies
William Uricchio is Professor and Director of the Comparative Media Studies Program and professor of Comparative Media History at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. He has held visiting professorships at Stockholm University, the Freie Universität Berlin, and Philips Universität Marburg; and Guggenheim, Fulbright and Humboldt fellowships have supported his research.

Uricchio considers the transformation of media technologies into cultural practices, and their role in (re-) constructing representation, knowledge and publics. In part, he researches and develops new histories of 'old' media (early photography, telephony, film, broadcasting, and new media) when they were new. And in part, he investigates the interactions of media cultures and their audiences through research into such areas as peer-to-peer communities and cultural citizenship, media and cultural identity, and historical representation in computer games and reenactments.

His most recent books include Media Cultures (2006 Heidelberg), on responses to media in post 9/11 Germany and the US, and We Europeans? Media, New Collectivities and Europe (forthcoming, London). He is currently completing a manuscript on the concept of the televisual from the 17th century to the present.


Allan Simonsen IGDA
Coordinator, Singapore Chapter of the International Games Developers Association (IGDA)
Allan Simonsen is Coordinator of The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) is an independent non-profit organisation established by game developers to create a worldwide game development community. The Singapore Chapter was founded in 2002 and works with developers, companies and the Government to promote game development in Singapore. Local game developers can have access to a vast database of information, meet other people with the same interests, to tap on each other's expertise and be part of regular discussions and talks. The Singapore Chapter works with IGDA to connect members in specific geographic areas and help to promote regional game development communities.

Allan has been working in the games industry for 8 years, both in Europe and in Asia. He worked as a technical lead on the first SE Asian MMOG, Fung Wan, and as Technical Director at Singaporean studio ValensCGV, where he worked on Spider-Man 2 for NGage. He is currently serving as co-founder and Technical Director of Boomzap, a casual game developer. Boomzap has been around since 2005, and has released 3 titles, with the most recent, Jewels of Cleopatra, reaching the top-10 in US, Europe and Japan. Allan has extensive lecturing experience, and is currently lecturing part-time at NUS and NYP. He's also involved in different advisory positions, among others the NUS Communication & New Media Advisory Council and Singapore Polytechnic's School of Design Advisory Committee. Allan strongly believes that life is not a zero-sum game.


Michael Yap MDA
Deputy CE, IDM R&D Program Office
Michael Yap is Deputy CEO at the Media Development Authority (MDA) of Singapore. He is concurrently Executive Director of the Interactive Digital Media (IDM) Programme Office responsible for driving the national IDM R&D agenda. Michael is on the board of directors of various public listed companies in Singapore and Malaysia. He chaired the national Community Advisory Committee and is a member of the East Asia Business Council. He had served as a board member of several public organisations, including the Singapore Broadcasting Authority, the National Library Board and the Singapore Science Centre. He also chaired the National Information Infrastructure Standards Committee, the Singapore Computer Emergency Response Team (SingCERT), and the Board of Institute of Systems Science, National University of Singapore.


Heng Li Lang MDA
Acting Director, Strategic Planning Group, (MDA)
Heng Li Lang is Acting Director of Strategic Planning and Deputy Director of Capability Development at the Media Development Authority of Singapore, which aims to make Singapore a global media city by creating a vibrant environment for the media industry to flourish. As the Acting Director of Strategic Planning, Ms. Heng is responsible for the strategic thinking and the implementation of Media 21, an industry blueprint which articulated the shared vision of the industry and government for Singapore to become a Global Media City. As the Deputy Director of Capability Development, Ms Heng is responsible for the promotion and development of the media industry which includes TV and radio broadcast, Film, Publishing, Music, Digital Media and Media Services. She oversees the capability development team that plans and implements various programmes to encourage manpower and enterprise development, and media financing activities. In 2006, Ms Heng was instrumental in attracting media funds to set up in Singapore, and drawing private equity and financial institutions (including local and overseas banks) to provide financing for media projects. Ms Heng spent 11 years with the MDA in various assignments including Head of Research. In 2006, she was awarded the National Day Award (Commendation Medal) in recognizing her contributions made to the civil service in Singapore.


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