{"691225":{"#nid":"691225","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Brian Magerko Appointed James and Mary Wesley Chair for New Media Studies","body":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/iac.gatech.edu\/people\/person\/brian-magerko\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EBrian Magerko\u003C\/a\u003E has been appointed as the James and Mary Wesley Chair for New Media Studies in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication. Magerko is a Regents\u2019 Professor of Digital Media and head of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/expressivemachinery.gatech.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EExpressive Machinery Lab\u003C\/a\u003E. He has served as director of graduate studies for the Digital Media Program for eight years and will step down from this leadership role on July 31.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe endowed chair appointment is a renewable, three-year term, starting on Aug. 1. The endowed professorship is supported by a gift from James and Mary Wesley, long-time Atlanta philanthropists. The chair conducts research and develops and teaches courses within the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/lmc.gatech.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ESchool of Literature, Media, and Communication\u003C\/a\u003E (LMC) and has recognized expertise in digital environments across media platforms.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Dr. Magerko\u0027s innovative work in cognition, coding education, and creativity makes him an ideal fit to serve as our Wesley Chair,\u201d said Amanda Murdie, dean of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, Regents\u2019 Professor, and Ivan Allen Jr. Chair in Liberal Arts and Technology. \u201cThis chair will help advance his groundbreaking research while also supporting his transformative leadership of LMC\u2019s Digital Media Program.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMagerko\u2019s expertise lies at the intersections of computation, cognition, and the social\/creative interactions between humans and artificial intelligence. His research explores how studying human and machine cognition can inform the creation of new human\/computer creative experiences. He has been research lead on more than $15 million of federally funded research and has authored over 100 peer-reviewed articles related to computational media, cognition, and learning.\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHis work has been shown at galleries and museums internationally, and he co-founded a music-based learning environment for computer science, called EarSketch, that has been used by about 2 million learners worldwide. Magerko and his work have appeared in the \u003Cem\u003ENew Yorker\u003C\/em\u003E, \u003Cem\u003EUSA Today\u003C\/em\u003E, CNN, Yahoo! Finance, NPR, and other global and regional outlets.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMagerko joined Georgia Tech in 2008 as an assistant professor of digital media. He received his B.S. in Cognitive Science from Carnegie Mellon University and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Michigan.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cDr. Magerko exemplifies our teaching and educational mission in his work on behalf of our Digital Media program,\u201d said Kelly Ritter, chair of LMC and professor of Writing and Communication. \u201cHe has built an already strong and forward-looking program into an even better one that provides pathways for students and fellow faculty to accomplish their own professional and intellectual goals.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/iac.gatech.edu\/people\/person\/brian-magerko\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EBrian Magerko\u003C\/a\u003E has been appointed as the James and Mary Wesley Chair for New Media Studies in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Brian Magerko has been appointed as the James and Mary Wesley Chair for New Media Studies in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication. "}],"uid":"36009","created_gmt":"2026-07-24 13:54:21","changed_gmt":"2026-07-24 13:56:33","author":"cwhittle9","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-07-24T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2026-07-24T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"672081":{"id":"672081","type":"image","title":"Magerko DSC_6937.jpeg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EBrian Magerko, professor and director of graduate studies in digital media in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1697643232","gmt_created":"2023-10-18 15:33:52","changed":"1697643232","gmt_changed":"2023-10-18 15:33:52","alt":"Brian Magerko, professor and director of graduate studies in digital media in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication","file":{"fid":"255265","name":"Magerko DSC_6937.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/10\/18\/Magerko%20DSC_6937.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/10\/18\/Magerko%20DSC_6937.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":4521996,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2023\/10\/18\/Magerko%20DSC_6937.jpeg?itok=j-KR26sG"}}},"media_ids":["672081"],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"},{"id":"1283","name":"School of Literature, Media, and Communication"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMegan McRainey\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:megan.mcrainey@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emegan.mcrainey@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}