Brian Magerko is an Associate Professor of Digital Media at Georgia Tech, head of the Adaptive Digital Media (ADAM) Lab, and a member of the Entertainment Intelligence Lab, Experimental Game Lab, Georgia Tech Center for Music Technology, and GVU Center. His research explores the themes of computation and creativity, which results in work in such expressive fields as interactive narrative, digital performance, AI-based computer game design, and educational media.

He will be involved in work that explores how to use tangible interfaces to engage museum learners in expressive programming experiences. Through a partnership with the Museum of Design Atlanta, the Museum of Science and Industry of Chicago, Mike Horn from Northwestern (Co-PI), Jason Freeman (Co-PI) from the Georgia Tech Center for Music Technology, and The Findings Group LLC, they will be embarking on a 4 year exploration of how to use basic computer programming concepts to manipulate musical samples and beats in a playful, social, and creative way that can have an effect on learner attitudes towards computing and pre-learning of computational concepts.  The focus will be on how to use tangible interfaces in a museum setting to create social spaces for exploring compositions and coding concepts.  This work will also explore how to use the museum installation as a gateway to a more formal learning environment, called EarSketch, which will then connect museum learners with over 60k students learning computer science all over the world.  The end result of this work will be a learning ecosystem where learners from different environments (e.g. museums, summer workshops, high school CS classes) have online connections for creating a diverse community of practice.