Meet the Lab
Our comprehensive team of professionals brings together diverse expertise.
Elizabeth (Libby) Egan
Co-Producer & Designer
Libby is a creative producer and project manager at the intersection between innovation and technology. She seeks out projects focused on education and wants to make a positive impact.
Jiwon Park
UX Designer
I’m currently pursuing my master’s at Carnegie Mellon University, where I focus on human-centered design and product design. At the Entertainment Technology Center, I work in multidisciplinary teams to design and deliver interactive experiences across XR, games, and emerging media.
Samantha Lai
Co-Producer & UI/UX
Samantha Lai is a Canadian award-winning writer-director and creative producer who combines technology, and storytelling in her work. Her debut narrative short, Buffering…Please Wait (2023), won Best Sci-Fi Short at the Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival and was an official selection at Fantasia International Film Festival.
Since 2018, she has been a credited writer on numerous Taiwanese TV shows. In 2025, she has created Anamnesis, an interactive narrative experience that blends traditional film language with audience-driven interaction using the Orbbec sensor. Anamnesis is slated to enter the film festival circuit in 2026.
Building on her filmmaking background, she is currently taking courses in machine learning and human-computer interaction to explore the intersection of storytelling, interactive media, and emerging technologies.
Skye Gao
Artist
Skye earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Wesleyan University with majors in art studio and computer science. Prior to joining the ETC, he primarily made observational, figurative drawings and paintings focused around queer digital culture. In order to have more meaningful conversations with this subject matter, he now learns to make and frame images digitally at the ETC by working on interactive media projects. Skye is also a confident performer thanks to his training in theatre and dance. He has taken on several teaching assistant positions to share his knowledge with students ranging from high schoolers to graduate students.
Personal website: skyegaoyuntian.com
Xiwei (Steven) Wang
Programmer
Steven Wang is a technical designer with 2 years of Unity AR developing experience. He is familiar with user experiences in MR spaces. He worked with multiple teams including UI/UX, network interfaces, CV algorithms and native function teams. He is optimistic and can learn new things fast by analogy. He is also interested in game design, playtesting, AR/VR and AI games.
Photo: attached
Faculty Advisors
Our comprehensive suite of professionals caters to a diverse team, ranging from seasoned architects to renowned engineers.
Charles Johnson
Faculty Advisor
For nearly three decades Charles Johnson has worked at the intersection of human performance, design, technology and manufacturing creating both analog and digital products for the sports, fashion, active lifestyle and gaming sectors and leading innovation on a global scale.
Ricardo Washington
Faculty Advisor
Ricardo helps students at the ETC to learn the tools and techniques needed to be a successful artist, and he helps them to understand what they are doing on a deeper level. His contributions helped ETC students on projects such as STEMSpire, Tiny and Colorize produce work that has been published, won awards and exceeded client expectations in novel ways.
Dave Culyba
Faculty Consultant
Dave Culyba is an Associate Teaching Professor and Director of Curriculum at the Entertainment Technology Center. He teaches Building Virtual Worlds, one of the four immersion courses for new students. Through his courses, he focuses on game design, transformational design and experience design — particularly as they intersect with technology.
Special Thanks to our additional support which includes:
Life STEAM Male Academy for playtesting our game!
Meet our External Partners
We are grateful to be working with two brilliant clients/partners that are making great strides in their industry.
Ansys software has enabled innovators across industries to push boundaries with the predictive power of simulation. From sustainable transportation and advanced semiconductors, to satellite systems and life-saving medical devices, the next great leaps in human advancement will be powered by Ansys.
Zellerfeld is the only technology company that produces a whole 3D-printed shoe with the push of a button. Through an online platform, every designer in the world will have a chance to sell their shoe designs to anyone who wants to express themselves through customized and personalized 3D-printed shoes.
Chris Hawkins
Chris Hawkins is a technologist and Ansys Fellow based in Southpointe near Pittsburgh PA and works closely with Ansys developers to build software products used worldwide.
Chris has been intimately involved in the early-stage development of many Ansys product and platform initiatives, such as Ansys Mechanical, Workbench and most recently Discovery.
Ethan Thompson
Ethan Thompson serves as the North America Team Lead for the Ansys Discovery
Application Engineering team. With over six years at Ansys, he has been a driving force
in enabling customers to harness the power of simulation-driven design through the
innovative capabilities of Ansys Discovery. Ethan brings a deep understanding of real-
world engineering challenges, informed by his earlier career as a design engineer
specializing in noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH). His hands-on experience in
product development and engineering simulation continues to inform his customer-
centric approach to advancing design technologies.
Tim Downing
Tim Downing is a veteran engineer from both the footwear (New Balance) and 3D printing (Origin/Stratasys) industries. Tim is currently a technical account lead at Zellerfeld, working with commercial partners to get 3D printed shoes on every foot.
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