DREAM Center

DREAM SummaryDREAM Center logo

The center for Design, interdisciplinary Research, Electronic technology, Art, and Media (DREAM) at SUNY Polytechnic, bringing faculty together from the College Arts and Sciences, the College of Business, and the College of Engineering.  DREAM's objectives will be:

  1. to create a campus hub for the arts that attracts off-campus visitors, hosts high-profile guests, showcases faculty work, and raises our public profile
  2. to support curriculum development in the arts, to develop an arts track to support some of our fastest growing programs (Interactive Media and Game Design, Communications Media Design), and
  3. to foster extramurally funded interdisciplinary research-creation collaborations, where research-creation refers to an approach to research that combines creative and academic research practices and supports the development of knowledge and innovation through artistic expression, scholarly investigation, and experimentation.

Inclusive Design, Universal Design, and Accessibility

Kristina Boylan, Jiayue Shen, Ana Jofre, Ibrahim Yucel 

  • Creating Collaboratively Across Visual Abilities
  • Supporting Humanitarian Engineering and Studies projects 
  • Cultural Impact on User Experience  

Creative Computation

Nick LeJeune, William Confer, Ana Jofre 

  • Creative Web and Visualization – Ana Jofre 
  • Generative Art – William Confer 
  • Physical Computing - Nick LeJeune 

Interactive Media and Game Design

Se Jung Kim, Ibrahim Yucel, Nick LeJeune 

  • Virtual Reality 
  • Augmented Reality 
  • Artificial Intelligence and Procedural Generation

Humanities and Design Thinking

Kristina Boylan, Daryl Lee, Ana Jofre  

  • Risks and Opportunities of AI – Kristina Boylan
  • Integrative Studies – Daryl Lee
  • Digital Humanities – Ana Jofre 

Creative Entrepreneurship

Robert Edgell and Daryl Lee 

  • Joint Center for Creativity, Design, and Venturing, which supports the minor in Creative and Ethical Venturing. 

 

Our unique capabilities include the Gannett Gallery exhibition space, a multi-purpose maker space, CGAM and other fabrication spaces, and the Center for Visualization, Information Design and Game Media Studies.

Research Professionals

Dr. Ana Jofre
Associate Professor
jofrea@sunypoly.edu

Ana Jofre ,Ph.D., MFA, is an Associate Professor at SUNY Polytechnic Institute in the Department of Communications and Humanities, and director of the Gannett Gallery. Her research and creative interests include web design, data visualization, and digital humanities. She has published in Digital Humanities Quarterly, Journal of Cultural Analytics, Leonardo, among others.

Selected Web Projects: 

  1. “Faces in Time 1923-2014” – https://magazineproject.org 2023
  2. “Jesuit Vision of Education 1540-1773" https://theirgroup.org/Jesuits/ 2023
  3. “Celebrating 100 years of Women's Suffrage” https://gannettgallery.org/suffrage/exhibit/    2020

Selected Publications:

  1. “A Cultural Analytic Study of Facial Imagery in Time Magazine 1923–2014”, Ana Jofre and Josh Cole. Digital Studies/Le champ numérique 14(1): 1–26. 2024 https://doi.org/10.16995/dscn.10047 .
  2. "Early Jesuit Visions of Education" Rosa Bruno-Jofré and Ana Jofre Oxford Research Encyclopedia https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.1941 (Designed associated digital component)
  3. “Generating Facial Character: A Systematic Method Accumulating Expressive Histories”, Ana Jofre.  Leonardo Volume, 55 Issue 2 (April 2022)
  4. “Dataset: Faces extracted from Time Magazine 1923-2014”, Ana Jofre., Berardi, V., Bennett, C., Reale, M., Cole, J. Journal of Cultural Analytics. March 16, 2020, https://doi.org/10.22148/001c.12265  (2020)
  5. “Crowdsourcing Image Extraction and Annotation: Software Development and Case Study” Ana Jofre, Vincent Berardi,  Kathleen Brennan, Aisha Cornejo, Carl Bennett, and John Harlan.  Digital Humanities Quarterly.  Volume 14, Number 2. (2020) http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/14/2/000469/000469.html

 

Dr. Nick LeJeune
Associate Professor
lejeunc@sunypoly.edu

Nick LeJeune received his Bachelors of Art in Art with concentrations in Graphic Design and Drawing from the McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana in 2006. He went on to receive his Masters of Fine Arts in Arts and Design with a concentration in Intermedia from West Virginia University in 2011. Between 2010 and 2018, he consulted, started and served as an instructor and developer of the Studio Art: Cross Media track in the School of Fine Arts at Fairmont State University in Fairmont, WV. In 2019, Nick’s interactive installation work was presented in a solo exhibition at Ground Level Platform in Chicago, Il.
In 2021, his installation work was accepted into the virtual New York City Electro-Acoustic Music Festival as well as into the Concept 2021 exhibition featured at the Czong Institute of Contemporary Art in Gimpo, South Korea. In 2023, Nick’s work was showcased in the Performing Media Festival hosted by Indiana University South Bend. Most recently, Nick presented his research at the 19th International Conference on the Arts in Society, hosted by Hanyang University, in Seoul, South Korea. He is currently serving as an Assistant Professor of Interactive Media and Game Design at the College of Arts and Sciences at SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Utica, NY.

Recent Publications and Exhibitions: 

  1. Presenter, Nineteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society, Hanyang University, Seoul, South Korea, 2024
    • LeJeune, Nick. “What is the correlation of sound and color in raw digital data formats?.” Nineteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society, 24 May. 2024, Hanyang University, Seoul South Korea, Creative Showcase.
    • (Conference publication in draft process)
  2. Program, Performing Media Festival, Juried Group Exhibition, Indiana University South Bend, 2023
  3. Jofre, Ana, et al. “Building Convivial Educational Tools in the 21st Century.” Ivan Illich Fifty Years Later: Situating Deschooling Society in His Intellectual and Personal Journey, 2022, p. 192.
  4. Program, New York City Electro-Acoustic Music Festival, Juried Group Exhibition, New York, NY, 2021
  5. Paper, Concept 2021, Juried Group Exhibition, Czong Institute of Contemporary Art, S. Korea, 2021 Stoeckley, Clark. Concept 2021. 21 July 2021, https://cicamuseum.com/concept2021/.

Dr. Kristina A. Boylan
Associate Professor
boylank@sunypoly.edu

Kristina A. Boylan is Associate Professor of History in the Department of Communications and Humanities at SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Utica, NY. Dr. Boylan has collaborated on several projects focusing on integrating social and cultural history, creativity theories and practices, and inclusive design into educational experiences, including team participation in the development of the Humanitarian Engineering and Humanitarian Studies minors at SUNY Polytechnic University. She is the principle investigator on the Creating Collaboratively Across Visual Abilities project (CCAVA, SUNY-IITG funded 2023-24), and joined Principal Investigator Dr. Ana Jofre on her Collaborative Interactive Table for Education (SUNY-IITG funded 2019-2020) project. Dr. Boylan also continues to work in the field of modern Latin American history, focusing her research on gendered dynamics in cultural politics in twentieth-century Mexico.

Recent Publications/exhibitions/scholarly Works:

  1. “New Approaches to Political Catholicism and Women’s Activism in Twentieth-Century Mexico,” with Sofia Crespo Reyes, Mexican Studies-Estudios Mexicanos 40: 2 (Summer 2024), 185-198, https://doi.org/10.1525/msem.2024.40.2.18
  2. “The Kitty and the Orange Toothpaste: A Tale of Tight Spaces,” pen and ink comic exhibited as part of the SUNY-Wide Art-Tech Exhibit, “Transgressions,” SUNY Polytechnic Institute, Gannett Gallery, April 2024.  The CCAVA team collaborated to make available alt-text versions of the visually-oriented works on display accessible for blind and low-vision persons.
  3. “The Measurement of Art, and the Art of Measurement,” SUNY Polytechnic Institute, Gannett Gallery, December 2023.  The CCAVA team collaborated to make available alt-text versions of visually-oriented research posters and creative works by students in classes taught by the PI (IDS 102 Art and Culture, and IDS 103 Science, Technology, and Human Values:  Metrics and Measurement) accessible for blind and low-vision persons.
  4. “Building Convivial Educational Tools in the 21st Century,” with Ana Jofre (PI) and Ibrahim Yucel, in Rosa Bruno Jofre, Michael Attridge, and Jon Igelmo Zaldivar, eds., Rethinking Freire and Illich:  Historical, Philosophical, and Theological Perspectives (University of Toronto Press, 2023), pp. 157-175.
  5. “Catholic Women and Mexican Politics, 1750-1940.  By Margaret Chowning” (review).  Journal of Social History, 57: 3 (Spring 2024), 463–466, https://doi.org/10.1093/jsh/shad042.  Published online 14 July 2023.
  6. "Desarrollo de Herramientas de Educación Convivencial en el Siglo XXI:  una propuesta desde las ideas de Paulo Freire, Ivan Illich, y los ”Makers," with Ana Jofre (PI) and Ibrahim Yucel, Espacio, Tiempo y Educación, 9: 1 (Jan.-Jun. 2022), 6-26, at https://www.espaciotiempoyeducacion.com/ojs/index.php/ete/issue/view/19

Dr. Ibrahim Yucel
Associate Professor
yuceli@sunypoly.edu

Dr. Ibrahim Yucel is an Associate Professor of Interactive Media and Game Design (IMGD) at SUNY Polytechnic in Utica. He received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Information Sciences and Technology from Pennsylvania State University. Yucel is a scholar of New Media, Digital Culture, Online Communities, and Game Studies.  His research focuses on the evolving forms of communication and community taking place within Internet-enabled social groups and the use of video games in serious ways.  Yucel is the Coordinator of IMGD, as well as teaching in Communications and Media Design and the Information Design and Technology masters program. His overall research interests include Socio-Technical Analysis, New Media, Digital Culture, Online Communities, Game Studies, Virtual/Augmented Reality, AI and Serious Games.

Recent Publications:

  1. Jofre A, Boylan K, Yucel I. (2022)  “Building Convivial Educational Tools in the Twenty-First Century” in Freire and Illich Fifty Years Later, Rosa Bruno-Jofré, Michael Attridge, and Jon Igelmo, eds.  (University of Toronto Press, forthcoming)
  2. Jofre A, Boylan K, Yucel I. (2021) Desarrollo de Herramientas de Educación Convivencial en el Siglo XXI: una propuesta desde las ideas de Paulo Freire, Ivan Illich, y los “Makers.” Espacio, Tiempo y Educación. Published online 2021.
  3. Yucel, I., & Edgell, R. (2015). Conceptualizing Factors of Adoption for Head Mounted Displays: Toward an Integrated Multi-Perspective Framework. Journal For Virtual Worlds Research, 8(2). doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.4101/jvwr.v8i2.7155
  4. Yucel, I. (2014) “Rules for Writing Rules: How Instructional Design Impacts Good Game Design.” Analog Game Studies. http://analoggamestudies.org/2014/10/the-rules-for-writing-rules-how-instructional-design-impacts-good-game-design/
  5. Yucel, I. (2012). The Influence of Memetic Primers in Online Comments in Video Game Blogs. Advances in Internet of Things, 2(3).

Recent Conferences: 

  • Hosted IGDA Roundtable at Game Developers Conference 2019. Part of NYS Development Presentations at GDC 2023,2024
  • Organized presence at Retro Game Con in 2022, 2023 and 2024

Dr. Daryl Lee
Associate Professor
leed1@sunypoly.edu

Dr. Daryl Lee is Associate Professor of Humanities at SUNY Polytechnic Institute. His research focuses on intellectual history and cultural theory with publications on the history of suicide and on contemporary technological culture. He is currently exploring the relationship between interdisciplinarity and creativity. Dr. Lee’s teaching practices emphasize the modelling of interdisciplinary inquiry across a range of topics and issues including experiences of health and illness, conceptualizations of the human body, and the intellectual and cultural analysis of monstrous beings and technological bodies. He is developing inquiry-driven pedagogical practices as a way to engage students in interdisciplinary and creative thinking and problem-solving. He received the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2013.

  • Edgell, Robert and Daryl Lee.  “Theorizing creative challenges: Why are social creativity and reimagined universities necessary for tackling society’s problems?” Journal of Creativity 33.2 (2023): 100051.
  • Lee, Daryl.  “Learning Philosophies as Reflective, Integrative Practice.”  Wicked Problems and Interdisciplinarity: Sustainability, Resilience, and Designing the Future.  Annual meeting of the Association for Interdisciplinary Studies.  Sonoma State University, Santa Rosa, CA.  November 10-12, 2022.
  • Lee, Daryl and Jofre, Ana.  “Wicked Learning: Inhabiting Uncertainty in a Wicked Problems ‘Data and Society’ Course.”  Wicked Problems and Interdisciplinarity: Sustainability, Resilience, and Designing the Future.  Annual meeting of the Association for Interdisciplinary Studies.  Sonoma State University, Santa Rosa, CA.  November 10-12, 2022.

Dr. Robert Edgell
Professor of Technology Management
edgellr@sunypoly.edu

Dr. Robert Edgell is currently a Professor of Technology Management in the College of Business at SUNY Polytechnic Institute, recognized for his scholarship and teaching, including the prestigious Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching. As the PI for the Sustainable Aerospace Energy Center, he recently secured a $32,000 seed grant and has also co-led a $100,000 National Endowment for the Humanities grant. His academic journey includes a PhD in international multicultural management from the University of St. Gallen, an MBA from Columbia University, and a Bachelor of Architecture from Kent State University.

Dr. Edgell has been a Visiting Professor at the Swiss Business School and has lectured at renowned institutions like Stanford Law School and UCSF's School of Dentistry. His leadership roles include serving as department chair, interim dean, and board member of the Cyber Security Institute at Griffiss Institute. He is currently on the board of Sculpture Space. His research focuses on sociotechnical transformations, design culture, and social creativity, contributing to the understanding of how collectives organize and mobilize to address society's most pressing challenges, from the commercialization of interplanetary space to the ethical concerns surrounding artificial intelligence. He has collaborated with scholars from Stanford and Temple University, published numerous scholarly articles, and his work has been featured on National Public Radio’s Academic Minute. Dr. Edgell has also received funding from NYSTEC and the SUNY System for his entrepreneurial initiatives, and he ranks in the top 2% of authors on the Social Sciences Research Network based on new downloads.

Publications: 

  1. Edgell, R. A. (2024). The grand creative challenge of commercializing interplanetary space: An empirical comparative taxonomy of organizing models. Proceedings of the 75th International Astronautical Congress, IAC, Milan, Italy, 14-18 October.
  2. Edgell, R. A. (2024). A monstrous matter: The three faces of artificial creativity. Journal of Creativity, 34(1), 100075.
  3. Edgell, R. A., and Lee, D. (2023). Theorizing creative challenges: Why are social creativity and reimagined universities necessary for tackling society’s problems? Journal of Creativity, 33(2), 100051.
  4. Edgell, R. A., and Olney, J. P. (2023). The sociotechnical imaginaries of contemporary commercial space: Explicating Homo Galacticus, Techno-Utopianism, and Capitalistkind. AIAA SciTech Forum, 2023(1), 1-24.
  5. Edgell, R. A., (2022). Grand challenges: The theoretics of discursive engagement, socio-temporal dilemmas, and impact. Academia Letters, Article 5164.
  6. Edgell, R. A., & Olney, J. P. (2021). Institutionalizing Outer Space: A sociotechnical explication of the Comsat-Intelsat actor-network. Academy of Management Proceedings, 2021(1), 10228.
  7. Edgell, R. A., & Olney, J. P. (2021). Interplanetary institutionalization: Should humans become space faring? Academia Letters, Article 531.
  8. Berardino, L., Edgell, R. A., Fronmueller, M., Olney, J. P., Peterson, D., & Zeina, E. (2019). Design culture, immersion, and visuo-spatial learning: Re-envisioning training. Business Education Innovation Journal, 11(2), 110-118.
  9. Edgell, R. A.. Khasawneh, F., & Moustafellos, J. (2018). Reimagining entrepreneurship: Design culture exposure as a positive mediator for entrepreneurial capacity. Journal of Creativity and Business Innovation, 4, 60-77.
  10. Edgell, R. A., & Moustafellos, J. (2017). Toward an architectural theory of innovation: Explicating design, networks, and microprocesses. Journal of Creativity and Business Innovation, 3, 5-34.
  11. Edgell, R. A. & Vogl, R. (2013). A theory of innovation: Benefit, harm, and legal regimes. Law, Innovation and Technology, 5(1), 21-53.

Jiayue (Joyce) Shen
Associate Professor
shenj@sunypoly.edu

Jiayue (Joyce) Shen received her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Zhejiang University in 2009 and Lanzhou University of Technology in 2012, respectively. She earned her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Old Dominion University in 2018. In 2018, she joined SUNY Polytechnic Institute as an Assistant Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Technology Program and has since become an Associate Professor. Her research focuses on wireless sensor networks, microfluidic devices, flexible electrodes, and various sensor applications related to soft robotics, biomedical monitoring, structural health monitoring, and assistive technology. Dr. Shen has led and participated in various projects, securing multiple grants from sponsors including NSF, Virginia Transportation Research Council, SUNY IITG, New York’s Offshore Wind Training Institute, New York State Department of Education, SUNY Clean Energy Workforce Opportunity Program, SUNY Poly Seed Program, and AFRL.

Recent/Selected Publications. Exhibitions/Scholarly Works: 

  1. Weiru Chen, Wu He, Jiayue Shen, Xin Tian, Xianping Wang (2023). "Systematic analysis of artificial intelligence in the era of industry 4.0." Journal of Management Analytics, 10(1), 89-108.
  2. Lanju Mei, Defu Cui, Jiayue Shen, Diganta Dutta, Willie Brown, Lei Zhang, Ibibia K. Dabipi (2021). "Electroosmotic mixing of non-Newtonian fluid in a microchannel with obstacles and zeta potential heterogeneity." Micromachines, 12(4), 431. https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12040431
  3. Bekiroglu, K., Tekeoglu, A., Shen, J., & Boz, I. (2021). "Low-Cost Internet of Things Based Real-Time Pavement Monitoring System." In 2021 IEEE International Conferences on Internet of Things (iThings). https://doi.org/10.1109/iThings-GreenCom-CPSCom-SmartData-Cybermatics53846.2021.00018
  4. Jiayue Shen, Michael Stacey, Z. Hao (2018). "A Distributed-deflection Sensor with a Built-in Probe for Conformal Mechanical Measurements of Costal Cartilage at Its Exterior Surface." IEEE Sensors Journal, 18(2), 822-829. https://doi.org/10.1109/JSEN.2017.2773418

Conference Proceedings:

  1. Shen, J., Bekiroglu, K., Tekeoglu, A., & Boz, I. (2022). "Numerical Study of a PVDF-Based Strain Sensor for Damage Detection of an Asphalt Concrete Pavement Subject to Dynamic Loads." Engineering Proceedings, 27(1), 31. https://doi.org/10.3390/ecsa-9-13318
  2. Shen, J., Mei, L., Jones, D.K., Chen, W., Wang, X., & Geng, M. (2022). "Numerical Study of a Microfluidic-Based Strain Sensor: Proof of Concept." Engineering Proceedings, 27(1), 46. https://doi.org/10.3390/ecsa-9-13323
  3. Shen, J. (2021). "A Numerical Study of a Stretchable Microfluidic-Based Strain Sensor." In 6th International Conference on Microfluidics, 26 March 2021.
  4. Shen, J. (2020). "A Highly Stretchable Microfluidic-Based Strain Sensor: Proof of Concept." In 7th International Electronic Conference on Sensors and Applications, 15–30 November 2020.
  5. Shen, J., Chen, W. (2019). "Introducing a Personal Response System to One Engineering Technology Course for Enhancing Student Learning and Engagement." In ASEE Zone1 Conference. Buffalo, NY.

Dr. Se Jung Kim
Assistant Professor
kims4@sunypoly.edu

Dr. Se Jung Kim, an Assistant Professor of Interactive Media & Game Design, has focused his research around the topic of media psychology including cognitive information processing and psychological/behavioral impacts in different formats of emerging media. Under the umbrella of media psychology, he studies Immersive Media and Human-Computer Interaction such as Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality, Avatar, Game Study, AI Smart Speaker, and Social Media. He also has a specialty in psychophysiological methods for emerging media. His papers have appeared in Computers in Human Behavior, and International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, and Mass Communication and Society. He regularly attends and presents his works at the annual conferences of the International Communication Association (ICA), the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), and the National Communication Association (NCA). He holds a Ph.D. in Mass Communications, M.A. in Media Studies, and C.A.S. (Certificate of Advanced Study) in Data Science from Syracuse University and earned his B.A. and M.A. in Journalism & Mass Communication from Dongguk University in South Korea.

Scholarly Works: 

  1. Offshore wind grant: PI: Dr. Zhanjie LI. Role: Collaborator

  2. SUNY IITG (Innovative Instruction Technology Grants): Virtual Reality (VR) for Engineering Education: an interactive learning module and virtual labs, $15,000, PI: Dr. Zhanjie LI. Role: Co-PI

  3. The impacts of augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) on bystander privacy, Agent: Meta (Facebook) Reality Labs (https://tech.fb.com), 9/3/2021-5/31/2023, Amount $75k. P.I.: Dr. T. Makana Chock, Role: Research Assistant

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