Staff & Developers

Kevin Crowston | Principal Investigator

I am a Professor of Information Science at the Syracuse University School of Information Studies. I received my A.B. (1984) in Applied Mathematics (Computer Science) from Harvard University and a Ph.D. (1991) in Information Technologies from the Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

My research examines new ways of organizing made possible by the use of information technology. I approach this issue in several ways: empirical studies of coordination-intensive processes in human organizations (especially virtual organization); theoretical characterizations of coordination problems and alternative methods for managing them; and design and empirical evaluation of systems to support people working together.

I am currently a PI on 2 NSF sponsored projects: NSF SOCS Grant 09-68470 for "SOCS: Socially intelligent computing to support citizen science" and NSF SOCS Grant 11-11107 for "SOCS: Socially intelligent computing for coding of qualitative data".

Jun Wang | Principal Investigator

I was a research assistant professor at the Syracuse University School of Information Studies. I am interested in how best to integrate human brain and artificial intelligence to collect high-quality useful data and knowledge.

Nathan Prestopnik | Lead Designer, Project Manager, and Researcher | Web: www.imperialsolutions.com

I am an Assistant Professor in the Computer Science Department at Ithaca College. My research interests include human-computer interaction, purposeful gaming, and design science. I have a design background, and have worked as a user experience and interactive designer in Syracuse, NY, Clifton Park, NY, and Los Angeles, CA.

Leading the design of Happy Match and Forgotten Island while I was finishing my PhD at Syracuse University gave me the opportunity to grapple with the challenges of "taskifying" entertainment-oriented games. This project also gave me a chance to work with an amazingly talented group of students from a wide range of backgrounds. What an opportunity to learn and grow as designers, programmers, artists, animators, database administrators, writers, and scholars!

Justin Brown | Composer

I have a Bachelor of Arts degree in music theory from Franklin and Marshall College. I am both a composer and vocalist. I have written electronic music and orchestral scores. I really enjoyed being a part of the project; it has always been my dream to write game soundtracks. Professionally, I am a graduate student in astrophysics at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Nathan Brown | Artist

I am a student at Syracuse University, majoring in Computer Art and Animation in the School of Visual and Performing Arts. I have a background in design, previously studying Architecture at Syracuse University. I am set on being part of the game design field and am proud to have been one of the visual designers for Forgotten Island. I was involved in many facets of the project, including concept art, environment art, and animation.

Working on Citizen Sort, I learned a great deal about videogame design and how to collaborate on a project. Forgotten Island is the first game I ever made art for. I learned many techniques and processes to make the design more efficient. It was an amazing experience working with such a talented group of researchers and I am glad that I could be a part of it.

Chris Duarte | Artist

Working as an environmental sketch artist for Forgotten Island, I created the line work for each level of the game. I also worked with another artist to paint the flora for the garden feature in Forgotten Island. I drew the line work for game levels after receiving instruction and sketches from designers and then delivered the line work to painters to be colored in Photoshop. Currently, I'm working on a Masters of Information Management as a second year graduate student at Syracuse University in The School of Information Studies.

Susan Furest | Research Assistant

Susan worked as a research assistant on the Citizen Sort project. She developed survey instruments and other research materials, and conducted focus groups and data collection exercises. Susan is a 2012 graduate of Syracuse University's Bio Engineering program.

Yang Liu | Programmer

I am currently a graduate student at Syracuse University, and expected to get an MS in computer science in May, 2013. I was working for Citizen Sort from September 2011 to May 2012. I enjoyed working with the amazing designers and artists there.

Supriya Mane | Programmer

I am second year Information Management Student at the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University. I joined the Citizen Sort Project in May 2012 as a PHP Developer. I work on game management, and got an opportunity to learn various web technologies such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript. I am from Mumbai, India. I got my undergraduate degree in Computer Science from University of Pune. My interests are technology, Indian music and photography. I also like to travel and teach.

Nitin Mule | User Experience Designer

I received my master's degree from the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University. I completed my Bachelors in Engineering (Computer Science) from Pune University in 2007. I joined the MS in Information Management program after working for nearly 3 years in IT industry. I currently work as Advisory Service Staff at Ernst & Young.

I was a user experience designer on the Citizen Sort project. I was involved in initial designs for the Citizen Sort website, the Hunt & Gather tool and the website dashboard. I also helped the team in documentation and other tasks. I also did the art photography for the website. I photographed the background image for the Citizen Sort homepage and the background image for Happy Match. Working with the Citizen Sort was an enjoyable experience for me. The students had a wide variety of skills and new ideas kept emerging every day. I am glad to be part of such a creative team!

Gongying Pu | Project Coordinator

I have a master's degree in Information Management from Syracuse University's School of Information Studies. I was a web developer for Citizen Sort. I focused on database development and web design. I was also project coordinator for Citizen Sort before becoming an IT engineer and web developer at Lenovo in China.

Among our several sub-projects, I was involved in Happy Match and website development, especially in CSS/HTML and database management. Working on the Citizen Sort project was an interesting experience for me. I learned many new things.

Trupti Rane | Project Coordinator

I am a second year Information Management student at Syracuse University's iSchool. I have completed my MBA in Information Management from the University of Mumbai, India. I also have a bachelor degree in Information Technology, from the University of Mumbai, India. I have approximately 6 years of experience in web application development.

Currently, I am a project coordinator for Citizen Sort. I am involved in planning and developing the complete Citizen Sort online application. I had a very nice experience working on this project. The work keeps you on your toes with the new ideas and requirements coming in every day. This made working on this project exciting, and success would not have been possible without the team's passion for the project.

Jimit Shah | Programmer

I am pursuing my masters in Computer Science at Syracuse University. I completed my bachelor's degree at Mumbai University. I previously worked for Tata Consultancy Services focusing on J2EE technologies. I am currently a PHP and UI Design developer for the Citizen Sort website and the Happy Match game. For the website, I generated user reports, which are displayed on the user's personalized dashboard. I also did use a lot of jquery technology for UI. The Happy Match game also involved generating reports based on users' playing experience.

Sheila Sicilia | Programmer

I am an Associate Professor in the Computer Studies department at Onondaga Community College. I received a Bachelor's degree in Music Theory and Composition from the University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music. I also received a Master's degree in Computer Science from Rochester Institute of Technology, and a Graduate Certificate in Community College Teaching from Binghamton University. I worked on the mobile interfaces for the Happy Match game.

Jessica Smith | Artist

I designed and modeled 3D graphic art to be used in Forgotten Island. I recently earned a dual degree in Information Management and Technology and Television, Radio and Film from Syracuse University. I plan to attend graduate school in the fall for a Masters in Information Systems. My interests include reading, tweeting, and watching films.

Dania Souid | Marketing and Communications Manager

I am a senior Broadcast and Digital Journalism and French major at Syracuse University. I managed Citizen Sort's social media accounts and blog. I also wrote articles about the research project for citizen science websites and various news outlets. Citizen Sort worked with many scientists and researchers to build the different versions of Happy Match and Forgotten Island. I coordinated with the scientists to work out the details and get the necessary information to create the games. I also planned an open house launch event on Syracuse University's campus for students, faculty and the community and designed fliers and promoted for the event on campus.

Peiyuan Sun | Programmer

I earned my bachelor degree in information system and management from Tongji University, Shanghai, China. During my undergraduate years, I won second prize in a national database competition and did research on the simulation of the transportation system of Shanghai. In my spare time, I participated in many volunteer activities such as the 2010 Shanghai EXPO and 2008 Formula One Grand Prix. Currently, I am a second year graduate student in Information Management. My interests include game design, data mining, and database management.

Jian Tang | Researcher

I am a doctoral student at Syracuse University's School of Information Studies. My research interests include human-computer interaction, online collaboration, and design science. I am interested in how people collectively work together in the virtual environment, and the effects of website-design features on their participation and engagement. I started working on the Citizen Sort project in August, 2012. I will be assisting in the research-oriented aspects of this project, such as experiment design and data analysis.

Andrea Wiggins | Researcher | Web: www.andreawiggins.com

I am a Postdoctoral Fellow affiliated with DataONE and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. I am also an interdisciplinary researcher who studies the role of technologies in supporting public participation in scientific research. I'm interested in how ordinary people become involved in meaningful real-world research through citizen science projects and how technologies can help. I assisted in grant writing for Citizen Sort and recruited projects that need help getting images classified to support their research efforts.

Xueqing Xuan | Artist

I have a master's degree in Telecommunication and Network Management from Syracuse University's School of Information Studies. I was a member of the development team for Citizen Sort. I designed visual and multimedia elements for various project games and tools, including the player character design for Forgotten Island.

Shu Zhang | Programmer

I have a master's degree in Information Management from Syracuse University's School of Information Studies. I also have a bachelor degree in software development skills. As a member of the Citizen Sort team, I developed Happy Match and incorporated in game idea design. I currently work on applying software development skills to solve real world problems in Guangzhou, China.

Zhiruo Zhao | Programmer

I earned my bachelor degree in computer science from Northwestern Polytechnical University, China. Currently I am a second year masters student at Syracuse University, majoring in computer science. I started working on the Citizen Sort project, specifically Forgotten Island in February 2012. Working on this citizen science project was a whole new experience for me, and I enjoyed it a lot!