The Games Institute acknowledges that we are living and working on the traditional territory of the Attawandaron (also known as Neutral), Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples. The University of Waterloo is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land promised to the Six Nations that includes six miles on each side of the Grand River.
Kaitlin O'Brien
English Language and Literature
Kaitlin graduated with a Master's degree in Rhetoric and Communication Design. She has strong interests in communication strategies, marketing, public relations, and event planning. Kaitlin is the former Communications and Project Coordinator for the GI.
Phil McClelland
User Experience Designer
As a User Experience Designer, Phil spends his days learning to understand people and the work that they do, and then finding ways to make that work more effective and satisfying. But as a long-time game nerd, he can't help but turn that same lens on the mechanics that underpin games--what works, what doesn't, and what that means for the experiences that games offer.
Adam Bradley
English Language and Literature
Adam Bradley, BA (McMaster) MA (Waterloo), was a PhD student interested in the intersections between technology and traditional literary studies. His MA research project, titled "Data Visualization and the Avant-Garde Aesthetic" was a digital humanities project completed in conjunction with the English department's Digital Media Lab and the Computer Science department's Touchlab.
Andre Yam
eSports Specialist
Andre Yam is an eSports specialist who is concerned with all aspects of competitive "play" and the spectatorship that follows. He has an M.A. in English Literary Studies from the University of Waterloo with a combined honours B.A. in English and History from Wilfrid Laurier University. He currently works with the Games Institute along with the Ontario eSports Gaming Events group in promoting and theorizing the future of eSports.
Gada Jane
Designer
Gada Jane is a filmmaker and writer. She began her career developing other writers’ scripts for theatre. She has made 5 short films, worked as an editor, ran a new media production company, and shot previs for the stunt team of the CW show Supergirl. She was a winner and runner-up in WIFT-V’s From Our Dark Side genre writing competition.
Gina Angelea
Designer
While currently working as freelance web, digital, and marketing designer, Gina continues to look for new opportunities to put her passion for presentation and design to good use.
Michael Brown
Game Designer and Developer
Mike is a local game developer that has worked in the games industry since 2010. Mike helped us develop Quantum Cats and Alice and Schrodinger's Excellent Adventures. You can find some of his game jam work at http://mikegbrown.itch.io.
Marisa Benjamin
Research Communications Officer
Marisa Benjamin completed a MA in Rhetoric and Communication Design, and a BA Honours Arts and Business Co-op, Psychology Major, English Minor at the University of Waterloo. She is the Research Communications Officer at the Games Institute, overseeing the research communications portfolio and spearheading the Institute's knowledge mobilization efforts, including the fabulous Games Institute Podcast.
Marisa is a painter, writer, and digital artist. She's been doing artsy things her whole life but only recently gained the confidence to show it to people outside immediate family (woohoo!). Through her work, Marisa expresses complex ideas that take up critical issues in society surrounding identity and feminisms. At the top of her bucket list, Marisa plans to high five all the people who inspire her (Lindy West, Roxane Gay, Julie Lalonde, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez...)