[Livestream] Jamming the Curve – COVID-19 Game Jam – Showcase & Awards

Speakers

• Ann Merchant
  

  Ann Merchant

  Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in Washington, DC where she leads the institution’s portfolio of creative engagement activities, focusing on innovative outreach programs that contribute to an increased public understanding of science. Her three decades (yes, decades) at the Academies have been characterized by unconventional challenges in service to mission-driven goals and objectives. With a special interest in promoting science, engineering, and medicine through non-traditional channels, she was instrumental in launching and now overseeing The Science & Entertainment Exchange, a program of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) that seeks to connect entertainment industry professionals with top scientists and engineers. She also has responsibility for LabX, another flagship outreach program of the NAS. She led the NAS initiative called The Science Behind It, a creative campaign consisting of video and web assets aimed at millennial audiences around a variety of science topics. She also has responsibility for the institution’s large-scale outreach events such as TED@NAS, the USA Science & Engineering Festival, and Family Science Day at the NAS. In the now-distant past, Merchant served as marketing director for the Academies’ publishing division where she and her staff promoted and marketed more than 175 new titles every year.

• Carla Alvarado
  

  Carla Alvarado

  Dr. Alvarado has a PhD from Oregon State University in Health Policy; she dedicated her dissertation to health disparities research. She has experience in a variety of public health areas, and most relevant to the COVID-19 Game Jam: Jamming the Curve, is her work in public health emergency preparedness and risk communication. As the public health preparedness community liaison in a local Texas health department, she was activated during the 2009 H1N1 response. There she led the crisis and emergency risk communication team and had an active role in mass vaccination planning and implementation efforts.

• Lindsay Grace
  

  Lindsay Grace

  Lindsay is a game designer, developer, artist, author and Knight Chair in Interactive Media and professor at the University of Miami School of Communication. He is Vice President for the Higher Education Video Game Alliance and the 2019 recipient of the Games for Change Vanguard award. Lindsay’s book, Doing Things with Games, Social Impact through Design, is a well-received guide to game design. In 2020, he edited and authored Love and Electronic Affection: a Design Primer on designing love and affection in games

• Rick Thomas
  

  Rick Thomas

  “Rick Thomas is an Associate Program Officer with LabX, a creative engagement program at the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). As part of the LabX team, Rick spearheads initiatives that use games to connect young adults to science.
  His most recent project was Jamming the Curve, a COVID-19 Game Jam organized in conjunction with several partners, including Seattle Indies and IndieCade.

  Prior to joining the NAS, Rick designed educational exhibits meant to connect urban residents to natural spaces within their community. His exhibits have been featured at botanic gardens, natural history museums, science museums, and zoos across the country. Rick holds a B.S. in Ecology and a B.A in Humanities from UC San Diego, a Master of Environmental Science & Management from the Bren School at UC Santa Barbara and a Master of Science from the University of Washington.”