Carnegie Mellon’s Ph.D. Program in Human-Computer Interaction is rigorous, creative, and deeply interdisciplinary. Dr. Jessica Hammer is an assistant professor, jointly appointed between the HCI Institute and the Entertainment Technology Center. She combines game design with qualitative and quantitative research techniques to understand how games impact human behavior. Her doctoral research lab explores games for impact meaning; games for health, games for learning, and games for social change – but also games for intimacy, games for creativity, and games for inspiration. This includes the emotional, social, cultural, and aesthetic ways that games change people. It also includes the many ways that players in turn affect games, from how players attribute meaning to their play experiences to how they develop house rules.

Visit the CMU HCII site and Dr. Hammer’s site for more information.