Help-A-Peer

Ryan Eckert is a current first year at the Entertainment Technology Center. As a programmer and producer, Ryan aspires to create immersive and engaging virtual experiences, and has thus been making the most out of the ETC immersion semester. Outside of the ETC (and Covid), Ryan helps with audio-visual support for events on campus, cosplays, and wears many hats (or one hat for long stretches of time). Ryan is currently looking for internships in the realm of game design to gain industry experience.

Ebrahim earned an electrical and computer engineering degree from the American University of Beirut. He thought he might as well get a minor in Mathematics and Biomedical engineering while he was at it. He then graduated and worked in a lab helping them “blow smoke” for 3 years to study the effects of cigarettes and electronic cigarettes. In this project, he’s hoping to scratch his head on this project and figure out design problems that arise. He’s also going to be Ryan’s assistant when things need to get technical.

I study the psychology of games, focusing on the way specific game design decisions affect how players think and feel. I also help design games that change people’s lives for the better. I study how games can change the way people think, feel, and behave; my other research interests include creativity, gender, mobile technologies, and community design.

Moshe Mahler is an award-winning professional innovator and storyteller whose work has been featured in attractions at Disney Parks and Resorts and shown worldwide at prestigious venues including SIGGRAPH, UIST, Comic Con, and Ars Electronica. For nearly a decade, Mahler led The Creative Technology Team at Disney Research of The Walt Disney Company, where he served as the Principal Artist. Under his supervision, the team worked hand in hand with elite Research Scientists to invent and utilize new technologies across the Walt Disney Company, collaborating with Pixar, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Disney Consumer Products, Disney Television Animation, Imagineering, and more. Mahler has authored more than 10 technical paper publications at premiere conferences and is an inventor of four issued patents. He has also contributed to dozens of publications in the computer graphics and animation fields. Mahler’s art works and animated films have been featured in a number of venues internationally, including SIGGRAPH 2005, 2007, 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017.

John has always found himself on one side of the desk or the other. Whether as a student, a TA, a teacher, professor, or most currently as an educational network coordinator, John’s passion will always be education. John holds several degrees ranging from graphic design, to fine art, education, and a Master of Entertainment Technology degree from CMU’s ETC.

Throughout his career he has created curricula from the ground up and has helped to establish new programs which revolve around emergent technologies. John has experience serving in various roles throughout the K-Graduate School spectrum. John can be found at Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center, his Alma mater, where he hopes to transform education through community.