Biographical Statement
David I. Schwartz, Ph.D., a 1999 graduate of the State University of
New York at Buffalo, published two textbooks on introductory computing
skills while completing his dissertation in civil engineering, which
sparked Cornell University's interest. So, in the summer of 1999,
Schwartz accepted a lecturer position in the Department of Computer
Science to teach computer programming and develop new introductory
courses. Recognizing the academic potential of games, Schwartz founded
the Game Design Initiative at Cornell (GDIAC) in the spring of 2001.
Soon after, he designed the Cornell Library Collaborative Learning
Computer Laboratory (CL3), which started hosting GDIAC courses in
August 2004. In May 2006, these efforts established Cornell's Minor in
Game Design offered by the College of Engineering, the first formal
Ivy-League game design program. In the summer of 2007, Schwartz joined the
Rochester Institute of Technology's Game Design and Development program
as an assistant professor. In 2009, Schwartz joined his 17 other colleagues in
founding RIT's Department of Interactive Games and Media, in which
Schwartz's degrees in civil engineering and experience as a computer
science educator paved the way for him to teach game programming,
prototyping, design, and physical modeling. In 2011, the department became
the School of Interactive Games and Media, in which Schwartz received tenure
and promotion to Associate Professor. In 2015, Schwartz became the IGM school Director. Dr. Schwartz currently
researches a range of applications of games: instructional design, game design, and
and alternative interfaces.