photo: Paola Castagna, 2012
elena bertozzi

Elena Bertozzi


Game Design & Development, Quinnipiac University • 203 582 7998 • elena.bertozzi@quinnipiac.edu

Education

Ph.D., 2003 Media & Communications, European Graduate School, Leuk Stadt, Switzerland
Dissertation: At Stake: Play, Pleasure and Power in Cyberspace

M.S., 2000, Immersive Mediated Environments, Telecommunications
Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.

M.L.S., 1997, School of Library and Information Science, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN

B.A. 1983, English Literature, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.

Areas of Technical Expertise:

C#, HTML5, XML, CSS, Javascript, Git, Game/interface development in Unity and browser-based applications. Multi-stage usability testing. Fluent in English and Italian, competent in French.

Employment History

Fall, 2013-present Full Professor (8/20), and Director (6/19) Game Design and Development, Quinnipiac University, Hamden, CT
2015-present Joint appointment, Associate Professor, Department of Medical Sciences, Frank Netter School of Medicine, Quinnipiac University
2017-present Co-Founder, SolitonZ Games, Hamden, CT. A company focused on developing games that give players the tools to improve their health and lives. (solitonzgames.com)
2016 - present Lecturer, Yale University, New Haven, CT, teaching The Art of the Game
2016 - present Honorary Distinguished Faculty at JSS Science and Technology University, Mysore, India
2/09-present Founder and Director, Engender Games Group Lab,
1993-present Founder and Director, Ardea Arts
5/11-2013 Associate Professor, and Director, M.A. in Digital Game Design & Development C.W. Post Campus, Long Island University
9/05-5/11 Associate Professor, Tenured (2009) Media Arts & Game Development, University of Wisconsin, Whitewater.
Founder and Coordinator, annual PlayExpo (www.playexpo.org). Responsibilities include chairing committee, raising funds, organizing speakers, publicizing event, accepting submissions, finding judges, allocating prizes, and managing finances.
8/01- 5/05 Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Telecommunications, Indiana University at Bloomington
Assistant Director, MIME program in Game Design. Responsibilities included administrative duties, mentoring the circa 35 graduate students, serving on committees, public relations and fundraising.
Founder and Coordinator, annual IDEAS (Interactive Digital Environments, Art and Storytelling) Festival. Responsibilities include chairing committee, raising funds, organizing speakers, publicizing event, accepting submissions, finding judges, allocating prizes, and managing finances.
8/00-5/01 Visiting Lecturer, Department of Telecommunications, IU Bloomington
1997-2000 Associate Instructor, Telecommunications Department, Indiana University at Bloomington
1991-1994 Part-time Lecturer in Romance Languages, Colorado College

Books

academic

2014, Chapter: “Using Games to Teach, Practice, and Encourage Interest in STEM Subjects” published in Learning, Education and Games Volume One edited by Karen Shrier, ETC Press, Carnegie Mellon

2012, The Clitoris and the Joystick: Play, Pleasure and Power in Cyberspace, Elena Bertozzi, Atropos Press, New York (publication of my dissertation in book form)

2012 chapter: "Marking the Territory: Exploring Masculinities in Grand Theft Auto IV," Social Exclusion, Power and Video Game Play: New Research in Digital Media and Technology, edited by David G. Embrick, Talmadge J. Wright and Andras Lukacs, Rowman & Littlefield.

2011 excerpt: "You Play Like A Girl: Cross-Gender Competition and the Uneven Playing Field" in Gender, Race and Class in Media, 3rd Edition, edited by Jean Humez and Gail Dines, Sage Books.

Articles

(2020) Bertozzi E, Bertozzi-Villa A, Pandakatti S and Sridhar A. Outcomes assessment pitfalls: challenges to quantifying knowledge gain in a sex education game Gates Open Research, (currently under review)

(2020) Andrade-Romo, Z., Chavira-Razo, L., Buzdugan, R., Bertozzi, E., Bautista-Arredondo, S. (2020). Hot, horny and healthy—online intervention to incentivize HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STI) testing among young Mexican MSM: a feasibility study. MHealth, 6. doi:10.21037/mhealth.2020.03.01

(2019) Corcoran, Peter, Berry, Justin, Bertozzi, Elena. Breaking the Mould - IEEE GEM 2019 Explores New Conference Presentation Modalities, IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine DOI: 10.1109/MCE.2019.2938274

(2018) Bertozzi E, Bertozzi-Villa A, Kulkarni P and Sridhar A. Collecting family planning intentions and providing reproductive health information using a tablet-based video game in India . Gates Open Research, 2018, 2:20 (doi: 10.12688/gatesopenres.12818.2)

(2017) Bertozzi, Elena, Bertozzi-Villa, Amelia. So close you can feel her: Prostitution, proximity and empathy in Grand Theft Auto 5. Well Played, Volume 6, Number 3

(2015) Elena Bertozzi, Dilys Walker, Leonard Krilov, Carrie Rouse, Claudia Halaby, Melodi Pirzada, and Robert Lee, Health-Care Interventions with Games: A low-cost high-impact approach IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine, July

(2014) Bertozzi, Elena, The Feeling of Being Hunted: Pleasures and Potentialities of Predation Play, Games and Culture, October.

(2013) Rouse, Caroline; Bertozzi,Elena; Villafuerte, Adriana; González Hernández, Dolores; Walker, Dilys. "Emergency birth!: piloting video game technology as a tool for training critical practices for maternal and neonatal survival among traditional birth attendants," American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology

(2013) Bertozzi, Elena, Krilov, L., Walker, D., Rouse, C. Successful Game Development Partnerships between Academics and Physicians: Two Case Studies, International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations (special issue on Ludica Medica)

(2013) Bertozzi, Elena. How to write a good SBIR/STTR grant proposal with a specific focus on gaming. IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine , April

2013, Alberto Casiraghy and the Pulcinoelefante Press Journal of Artists Books. Spring

2012, Bertozzi, Elena. Killing for Girls: Predation Play and Female Empowerment, Bulletin of Science, Technology, & Society special issue on video games. Volume 32 Issue 6 December 2012 pp. 444 - 451.

(2008) Bertozzi, Elena. "'I am shocked, shocked!': Taboo Breaking in Digital Gameplay" Loading...Journal of the Canadian Games Studies Association, Vol 1. 11/3

(2008) Bertozzi, Elena. "'You Play Like a Girl'--Cross Gender Competition and the Uneven Playing Field", Convergence, The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 14(4) 473-487

(2007) Bertozzi, Elena, Lee, Seungwhan. Not Just Fun and Games: digital play, gender and attitudes towards technology. Women's Studies in Communication special issue on Exploring Gender, Feminism and Technology from a Communication Perspective. 30(2) (179-203), June.

(2004) "Playing the Final: An experiment in pedagogy" The Ivory Tower Column, International Game Developers Association.

Posters

(2017) Laura Chavira-Razo, Zafiro Andrade-Romo, María Alejandra Cortés, Ricardo Román, Aarón Rojas, Reva Grimball, Tania Aramburo Muro, Elena Bertozzi, Raluca Buzdugan, Sergio Bautista-Arredondo. “Hot Horny Healthy: intervención en línea para motivar la detección de VIH/ITS en HSH” CONGISP 2017 - Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública, Cuenavaca, Mexico.

(2015) Claudia Halaby MD, Ann Mock RN, Melodi Pirzada MD, Elena Bertozzi PhD, Robert Lee DO, and Leonard Krilov MD, “Combining Entertainment and Education into an Age Appropriate Intervention Geared Toward Increasing Influenza Vaccination of Pediatric Patients” presented at: “DOing Pediatric Education Together: Keeping our Children Safe” conference Joint CME collaborative between the American College of Osteopathic Pediatricians (ACOP) and the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Osteopathic Pediatricians

(2015) Raluca Buzdugan, Reva Grimball, Sergio Bautista, Elena Bertozzi, Zafiro Andrade-Romo, Laura Chavira-Razo, Gabriel García-Plata, Tania Aramburo Muro, "Playing it safe: a game-based intervention to prevent HIV among young men who have sex with men in Mexico City" at the 8th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention, Vancouver, Canada

other writing

Appetite: A Hunger for Italy, 2010 www.elenabertozzi.com

Broadmoor Memories: the History of the Broadmoor, 1993, 1999, 2003, 2008, Pictorial Histories, Missoula, Montana. This book was commissioned by the Broadmoor Hotel and Resort in 1991. Fourth edition with significant revisions published: March 2008.

Five of my artists books are listed in: Edizioni Pulcinoelefante Catalogo Generale, published by Libri Scheiwiller, Milan, 2005

Portion of the Broadmoor book was reprinted in Cheyenne Mountain: KIVA, summer 2004.

Invited Talks

(2019) Game and Design Thinking Webinar for the Open Climate Collabathon, Yale School of Forestry (https://collabathon-docs.openclimate.earth/webinars-and-bootcamps), also judged contestant submissions with John Clippinger

(2019) Speaker and Judge, Reality of Global Climate Change Hackathon, Yale University, Center for Collaborative Arts and Media. I also was one of the judges for the competition.

(2018) Speaker, Reality of Global Climate Change Hackathon, Yale University, Center for Collaborative Arts and Media. I also was one of the judges for the competition.

(2017) Panelist, GIST (Global Innovation Through Science and Technology) webinar on Gamification (http://www.gistnetwork.org/content/gist-online). GIST is led by the U.S. Department of State and supported by Venturewell. The panel was simulcast to U.S. embassies, consulates and entrepreneurial support groups around the world.

(2017) Playing for Change: Piloting the My Future Family Game in Karnataka, India at the Institute for Disease Modeling (a subsidiary of Intellectual Ventures), Seattle, WA.

(2016) Help Me Help Myself - Using Play to Empower Players and Motivate Pro-health Behaviors for faculty and Ph.D. students at DIBRIS - Dept of Informatics, Bioingengering, Robotics and Systems Engineering, University of Genova - Via Dodecaneso 35, 16146, Genoa - ITALY

(2016) Invited Keynote for the Graduate Women in Engineering and Science annual meeting at Boston University. Talk title: An Unlikely Journey: How I got From Poetry to C#

(2016) Invited to Abt Associates to give a brown bag on using games for social change. The talk was broadcast to foundation offices in several countries.

(2015) Invited talk, Games (R)Evolution, Dipartimento di Ingegneria Informatica, Automatica e Gestionale, SAPIENZA Università di Roma, July 16

(2014) Invited talk on game development in partnership with healthcare providers at Alberto Borghese’s lab, Universita degli Studi, Milan, Dept. of Computer Science

Articles Online:

2014, Live Science Op-ED: Playing it Forward: Videogames and Gamers Evolving

Attracting Females to a New Game Development Program, by Elena Bertozzi, Game Education Network, November 2008

Interviewed by Kym Buchanan for the Chrome Talk Monster, Frontier Life column, March 2004.

Conference Papers/ Panels/ Organization:

(2018-19) Conference co-chair, IEEE GEM conference, 2019 Yale University, New Haven, CT.

(2018) Oral Presentation: World Congress of Gynecology & Obstetrics, Rio, Brazil, October 2018: My Future Family: A Videogame to Identify Family Planning Preferences of Adolescents in South India, Presenting Author: Aparna Sridhar, co-author: Elena Bertozzi

(2017-18) Conference co-chair, IEEE GEM conference, 2018 Galway, Ireland

(2017) Panelist, Games for Health Europe, "Using Games to Collect Public Health Data: Two Studies", with Dr. Aparna Sridhar, Eindhoven, Netherlands.

(2016) Steering Committee member, panel moderator and Game Jam Judge, Revolutionary Learning Conference, NYC, August 17-19.

(2016) Panelist, Knowing Societies Through Game Communities: Bringing Anthropology and Game Studies into Conversation, DIGRA/FDG 2016: THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL JOINT CONFERENCE OF DIGRA AND FDG, August 4

(2016) panelist with Raluca Buzdugan, Youth-Centered Health Design Conference, April 24-26, San Francisco, CA

(2015), IEEE Games Entertainment Media Conference Chair, Toronto, Canada, October 14.

(2015) Panelist/ Workshop on game development, Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame launch of the STEMfems program at Pathways Magnet School, East Hartford, to promote careers for women in the sciences, September 30

(2015) Speaker, Low-Cost, High-Impact Game Interventions in Health Care, Games For Change, New York, April

(2014), IEEE Games Entertainment Media Conference Co-Chair, Toronto, Canada, October 24.

(2014), speaker, The Big Connect, Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce annual networking event. Talk entitled: “Gamification: How to retain, engage and reward your customers”

(2014) co-author of poster presentation of research results on deployment of the Flu Busters! game, at the Annual Attending/Faculty Research Day at Winthrop University Hospital, Mineola, NY

(2014) Speaker: “Sex and Sexuality in Play: the Challenge of Building Games with Sensitive Topics”, at Games for Health Europe, Utrecht, the Netherlands.

(2013) Paper presentation: "Successful Game Development Partnerships between Academics and Healthcare Professionals", Games for Health Europe, Amsterdam.

(2013) Panelist, "The Changing Roles of Women as Producers, Consumers &Characters in the Game Industry", IEEE Games Innovation Conference, Vancouver, Canada.

(2013) "Killing for Girls: Predation Play and Female Empowerment," panel presentation, Rutgers Media Studies Conference: Extending Play, Piscataway, NJ, April 19, 20.

(2013) "Writing Grant Proposals For Commercially Viable Game Products" panel presentation, Game Developer's Conference, San Francisco, CA

2013, Co-Chair, Program Committee (with Samad Ahmadi and Ross Smith) IEEE International Games Innovation Conference, Vancouver, BC, Canada

"Managing Clients, Organizing Teams and Building Games as Thesis Projects", panel presentation, Game Developer's Conference, San Francisco, March 2012

"Starting a Game Development Program" panel chair, Game Education Summit, Dallas, TX June, 2008

'You Play Like a Girl'--Cross Gender Competition and the Uneven Playing Field presented at Gamers in Society, University of Tampere, Finland, April 17-19th, 2007

"I am shocked, shocked: Explorations of Taboos in Digital Gameplay" ICA Conference, June, 2006, Dresden, Germany

"Just for the Fun of It: Predicting attitudes toward technology by examining gender differences in digital gameplay" by Elena Bertozzi and Seungwhan Lee, presented at the 2005 Women in Games Conference, University of Abertay, Dundee. Paper published in conference proceedings.

"Power Play: The Politics of Orgasm in Cyberspace" ICA Conference, May 2003, San Diego, CA

"Women and Play: Will She or Won't She,?" College Art Association, February, 2001, Chicago IL.

Symposia/Workshops

(2015) Visiting Artist presentation at the Yale School of Art on interactive storytelling and narrative games.

(2014) Conducted workshop: "Using Games to Educate, Inform and Modify Sex-related Behavior: Two Case Studies" at the Frank Netter School of Medicine, Quinnipiac University Interprofessional Education Seminar on Human Sexuality.

(2013) Conducted workshop entitled: "Pound your grant proposal into shape! A workshop on writing a good grant proposal with SBIR/STTR National Science Foundation as an example", IEEE Games Innovation Conference, Vancouver, Canada.

Presentation of the LIU Masters in Digital Game Development Program and discussion of academic game programs as preparation for a career in the game industry at the University of Torino, July 4, 2011. Streaming video (pc only).

Art as a Tool for Freedom, Teach-in This event was held at the Roosevelt Center in Middelburg, Netherlands and in other locations in May 2010. The event celebrated the anniversary of F.D. Roosevelt's Four Freedoms speech. There was a showing and discussion of the Proceed and Be Bold Documentary. I created an interactive art piece that combined the voices of the children and adults who participated with images of the groups at work.

Game Development and Distance Learning workshop, organized by WySys, UWW ORSP and Elena Bertozzi at UWW, fall 2009. I presented EGG lab projects, talked about the new curriculum and led a break-out session on games in academia.

Lecture and Game Development workshop, University of Applied Arts, Vienna, May 2009. Over the course of two days, we developed: Politician Death Match and Crisis Crash.

Participant, Dual Commitment: This event took a group of artists and theorists around Austria to discuss current examples of public art projects: Linz, Vienna and Salzburg, August 2005

Boards

2011- present, Steering Committee (2014), International Game Developers Association Special Interest Group on Learning Games

2014-2016, Advisory Council, Center for Game and Simulation-Based Learning, Excelsior College 7 Columbia Circle, Albany, New York 12203

2010-2011, Educational Advisory Board, Game Salad

2008 - 2011 Game Education Summit

2009-2011 IITSEC Serious Games Challenge

Games/Multimedia:

Film

Postcards:

Collaborated in the creation of content of numerous Nappygrams printed by Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr.

Translations:

Passando il Sempione by Giuliano Crivelli, published by Grossi, 2009. This is book of watercolors and drawings of the famous Sempione Pass in northern Italy. Historical text translation into English by Elena Bertozzi.

Richard M. Nixon American Policy towards Europe and the Middle East 1969-70 by Pia Grazia Celozzi Balzelli, Translated by Elena Bertozzi. Book was never published. Translation completed 2008

Artist's statement and biography for painter Giuliano Crivelli, 2005

Power Politics, Diplomacy, and the Avoidance of Hostilities between England and the United States in the Wake of the Civil War by Pia Celozzi Baldelli, translated by Elena Bertozzi,1998, footnotes translated by Cynthia Di Nardi Ipsen Edwin Mellen Press, Lewiston, New York.

Numerous other articles and reports- -titles available upon request.

Artists Books (libraries ) and poster series:

Amos Kennedy reprinted the Dance poster series (2013) with the texts I wrote in 2002. Each poster is different, these are some examples.

Come Le Balene text by Elena Bertozzi, typeset by Melaydra., Edizioni Pulcinoelefante**, Osnago, 2012.

Hunger text by Elena Bertozzi, typeset by Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr., Edizioni Pulcinoelefante**, Osnago, 2011.

Coffee text by Elena Bertozzi, Kennedy and Sons Fine Printers*, 2005

The Fold text by Elena Bertozzi, metals by James Obermeier, Edizioni Pulcinoelefante**, Osnago, 2003.

Shall We Dance? Six volumes, texts by Elena Bertozzi, woodcuts by Adriano Porazzi, Kennedy and Sons Fine Printers*, 2002

Dancing Ephemera, series of posters published in collaboration with Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr., Kennedy and Sons Fine Printers*, 2002

Fear and Trembling in Milan, graphic by Ryan Nole, Edizioni Pulcinoelefante**, Osnago, 2002.

Cryptic Clowns, text, by Elena Bertozzi published by Kennedy and Sons Fine Printers*, 2002

Digital Book, in collaboration with Alberto Casiraghi and Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr.; 2000, Edizioni Pulcinoelefante**, Osnago.

A Riddle, in collaboration with Alberto Casiraghi and Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr.; 1999, Edizioni Pulcinoelefante**, Osnago.

*Libraries that have standing orders for all work produced by Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr. include: Special Collections at Emory University, University of California at Santa Barbara and the University of North Carolina. Individual pieces appear in special collections throughout the country. **Alberto Casiraghi's Pulcinoelefante Press is known throughout the world as an author, illustrator and publisher of artist's books.

Reviewer/Referee/Juror

Grants:

(2016) Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Grand Challenges Explorations Phase I $100,000 grant for a game to gather data about family planning intentions in Karnataka, India. We are honored to be among the grants listed on the announcements page.

(2014) Grant-In-Aid, for faculty scholarship, Quinnipiac College of Arts and Sciences, to fund travel to San Francisco to meet with physicians and medical students collaborating with the EGG lab on a grant proposal to fund the game: Pick Me Honey- A Game to help Women Select the Most Appropriate Form of Birth Control (funded).

(2014) In collaboration with Sergio Bautista of the Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública and Raluca Buzdugan, UC Berkeley, awarded a $100,000 Gates Challenge in Global Health grant aimed at modifying behaviors in homosexual male at-risk populations in Mexico City.

(2012-13) EGG lab is a subawardee in Dr. Krilov's grant from Pfizer on improving health choices (given that there is an NDA in place, more info not available).

(2011-13) Participant in Dr. Rouse's proposal to the National Institute of Health for deployment of the Emergency Birth! game in rural Mexico to train midwives (funded).

(2010) Undergraduate Research Grant (with students Carolyn Costa, Christine Moa and Domenique Malone) to create a Virtual Tour of the UWW campus. (funded for $1,200)

(2010) Individual grant writing assistance in support of a Phase 1 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Pioneer Grant from WiSys Technology Foundation (funded for $750)

(2010) UW Committee on Baccalaureate Expansion grant proposal entitled: Bridging the Gap: Enabling Community College student Transfer to UWW. (funded for $63,871)

(2010) UWW Strategic Initiatives Grant proposal to develop a game to teach nursing and students how to deliver a baby without a doctor: Emergency Birth! at the EGG (Engender Games Group) Lab. (funded, for $18,000)

(2009) Advanced Research and Technologies Grant proposal to develop three faculty/student/client collaborations into marketable, licensable products. Spring 2009, funded for $30,000.

(2008) Summer Undergraduate Research Grant Proposal: "I am Lonely"-The Single Frog's Lament, Purpose is to develop an educational game to teach Wisconsin high school students about frogs in the state of WI. (funded for $10,000).

Honors and Awards:

Competitions:

Emergency Birth!, a game to train non-medical professionals how to deliver a baby outside of a medical facility won a Silver Medal at the 2011 International Serious Play Conference game competion.

"I am Lonely": The Solitary Frog's Lament by Bertozzi, E., Shanahan, K., Weisling, A. Haizel, Joe and, Gribb, G. (2008) finalist in the Student Game category of the Serious Game Challenge and Showcase. Presented at the iitsec.org conference in Orlando, FL Dec. 2008

Press:

Exhibits:

(2009) Colored: Rosa Parks and the Demise of Jim Crow was exhibited during SOHO in Ottakring, a two-week open studio show in the Ottakring neighborhood of Vienna.

(2009) Colored: Rosa Parks and the Demise of Jim Crow was performed as part of the Symphonic Wind Ensemble Concert, April 26, Young Auditorium UWW.

(2008) My work and pieces from my collection were exhibited in Graphic Novels, Zines and Comix: From Hogarth to Robert Crumb. February 21- March 30, Crossman Gallery, UW Whitewater

(2007) Curated and Exhibited work in, Manifesti dall'Alabama, Kennedy poster show at Il Foglio, Via Bisceglie, 74, Milan Italy, July 17.

(2007) Curated the first Alabama Photobook Exhibition, Mobile Arts Council, 318 Dauphin St., Mobile, November, 2007

(2007) Cash and Carry, Poster Exhibition, Lyons Gate Gallery, Fairhope, AL. Exhibtion of Amos Paul Kennedy Jr.'s work including several posters by Elena Bertozzi.

(2005) Participant, 2005 FILE Electronic Language Festival, Sao Paolo, Brazil. A Love Letter to Kennedy was accepted as part of the 2005 festival exhibition

(2002) Un Mondo Fantastico: Arte Contemporanea in Cameri, group show of artists, poets and painters, sponsored by the Arts Council of Cameri Italy, June 2002

(2002) Dancing Ephemera : October 4 -- December 20, Amos Paul Kennedy's exhibit of posters with texts by Elena Bertozzi, at the Center of Contemporary Arts, St. Louis Missouri.

Classes designed/taught