History behind the team
Our Team
We are a mixture of first and second years students pursuing a Masters in Entertainment Technology at Carnegie Mellon University.
Libby Egan
Producer
Libby is a creative producer pursuing a path at the intersection of creativity and tech. She is passionate about experience design and her work at the ETC has centered around innovative, interactive, and immersive experiences that inspire curiosity and foster meaningful learning.
With a background in film/television production and international relations, she brings a unique perspective to creating educational, interactive, and experiential media for a global audience.
Yilin Shi
UX/UI Designer + 2D Art
I’m Yilin Shi, a UI/UX designer and 3D artist. In HistOracle, I am working on the interface and layout design, and 2D assets design based on the background research of oracle bones and Shang dynasty. I am also working on the design production for the team logo and poster, helping shape the overall visual presentation of the project.
Mingrui Xu
Narrative and Game Designer
Mingrui earned his undergraduate degree in game design from the University of Utah. He enjoys design games and writing stories, trying to express them in different ways. He’s also interested in gameplay& level design and technical art, trying to mix game and story together to make player enjoy both at the same time. At the ETC, Mingrui wants to be a gameplay designer. He also interested in and willing to deal with some art and programming problem, he wants to gain as much experience as possible. He hopes to create some new stories with different kinds of people, in a neoteric, creative way.
Boreas Yang
Game and Sound Designer
Boreas is a Combat Designer for Virtual Ring and the Keyboardist for 少女(1人)バンド.
Junru Yang
3D Artist
Junru works as a 3D artist in this project. Besides that, she is also capable of project management, game design, narrative, UIUX design, and 2D concept arts.
Haru Zhu
Programmer
Haru earned his degree in Electrical Engineering and Automation from Zhejiang University. He enjoys blending technical precision with artistic expression, especially in the fields of computer graphics and game programming. He has explored areas such as machine learning, robotics, and creative projects that bring together engineering and design.
Our Faculty Advisors
Jonathan Walton
Faculty Advisor
Jonathan is an award-winning indie game designer, a former China policy analyst, and a teacher and scholar focused on critical & historical analysis of science, technology, and media. A native of North Carolina and Virginia, Jonathan spent over a decade studying Chinese language, history, and culture, as well as 7 years working as an analyst and publications editor at Asia policy think-tanks in Boston & Seattle.
In parallel, Jonathan was active in the indie RPGs movement, developing and publishing games around themes of intercultural communication, political injustice, and institutional change. Several of his tabletop and live action games have become “cult classics,” including Geiger Counter, The Planarch Codex, Lofty Beacons, Tomb Priestesses, and Restless, the latter of which was featured at IndieCade 2015. On the digital side, Jonathan is also a composer of retro video game “chiptunes” music and pixel art, as well as a designer of DIY browser games.
Jonathan’s PhD dissertation focuses on hands-on, play-based learning in science centers and museums, “edutainment” institutions where visitors engage with STEM topics and design thinking. While a PhD student at UC San Diego, Jonathan also taught courses in critical communication, games, transmedia design, and science studies.
Jonathan enjoys sharing his eclectic background at the ETC, while supporting the next generation of innovative creators. In addition to teaching and co-teaching foundational courses in game design and prototyping, he is currently developing a new research & design lab at the intersection of game design, science & technology studies, and transpacific cultures – tentatively called “Pacific Gyre.”
Jonathan Walton joined the ETC in 2022.
Vivian Shen
Faculty Advisor
Professor Vivian Shen is a faculty member at the Entertainment Technology Center, where she teaches classes focused on AI and hardware for games and experimental media. She comes directly from finishing her PhD at CMU’s Robotics Institute, with the Future Interfaces Group. Her background lies in embedded systems, sensing and VR/AR, and much of her work is focused on creating new systems and devices for haptics and interaction. She has published at several premier Human-Computer Interaction conferences (CHI, UIST, etc.), and her work has been featured on NBC, TechCrunch, CNN and more. Outside of the PhD, Vivian has interned at companies such as Meta Reality Labs, Disney Research, NASA JPL, etc. In her free time, Vivian plays a LOT of ultimate frisbee and does chainmaille art!
Vivian Shen joined the ETC in 2025.
Our Subject Matter Experts
Liu Gang
Subject Matter Expert
Dr. Gang Liu is a Teaching Professor of Chinese Studies at Carnegie Mellon University and the Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Languages, Cultures, and Applied Linguistics. He serves as the Executive Chief Editor of Studies in Chinese Learning and Teaching and previously served on the Board of Directors of the Chinese Language Teachers Association (CLTA) in the U.S. He earned his Ph.D. from the Department of Asian Languages and Literatures at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, his M.A. in Comparative Literature from the University of Western Ontario, Canada, and his M.A. in Classical Chinese Literature from Beijing Language and Culture University.
He has developed and taught many interdisciplinary courses, including AI for Humanities: The Multi-dimensions of World Languages, Arts, and Cultures, Immersive Digital Storytelling: Using VR/AR to Explore Language, Culture, Identity, Animated Storytelling: Chinese Mythology and Animation Creation, and Story + Game Lab: Oracle Bones & China’s Earliest Writing. His research interests include classical Chinese poetry, literati miscellanies, Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL) pedagogy, and technology-enhanced learning. He has co-edited and authored four books published by Peking University Press: Tradition and Transition: Teaching Chinese Culture Overseas, Living Overseas: Cases, Strategies, and Guidance for CFL Teachers Around the World, Cross-cultural Communication: Teaching Chinese in the Global Context, and Tales of Teachers: Case Studies and Reflections from CFL Classrooms in North America. He is also the author of the bestselling children’s book series Luoluo Ting’s Adventure in Ancient Chinese Mythology.
Kristina Gaugler
Subject Matter Expert
Kristina Gaugler is an archaeologist specializing in ethnographic collections and collaborative research. She serves as the Anthropology Collection Manager at Carnegie Museum of Natural History, where she oversees the care of more than 100,000 ethnographic and historical objects from around the world.
Gaugler received her MA from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and her BA from the University of Pittsburgh. Her research focuses on how ethnographic knowledge and relationships with descendant communities can deepen archaeological interpretation and guide responsible collections stewardship. She is particularly interested in food systems and food justice, culinary history, experimental archaeology, and expanding meaningful access to collections for researchers and the public.
Prior to joining CMNH, Kristina served as an archaeological field director, laboratory director, and GIS specialist, working on projects throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.