Lab Director
Lance Weiler
Lance Weiler is a storyteller, entrepreneur and thought leader.
Member
Rachel Ginsberg
As a multidisciplinary strategist, Rachel Ginsberg explores the space between brand and experience, and designs initiatives to bridge it. Her work spans strategic communications, experience design, and organizational storytelling. At the Columbia DSL, she collaborates on projects that push the boundaries of narrative form and audience engagement.
Member
Romy Nehme
Romy is a strategy and communications designer and a writer. She is currently exploring the role of imagination and narrative in shaping futures, working at the intersection of storytelling, design thinking, and systems change. Her practice bridges the worlds of brand strategy, cultural production, and emergent technology.
Member
Ira Deutchman
Ira Deutchman has been making, marketing and distributing films since 1975, having worked on over 150 films including some of the most successful independent films of all time. He is a Professor of Professional Practice at the Columbia University School of the Arts Film Program, where he teaches producing and the business of film. He co-founded Emerging Pictures, a pioneer in digital cinema, and has served on numerous festival and grant juries worldwide.
Senior Fellow
Frank Rose
A leading authority on the future of media, Frank Rose is the author of "The Art of Immersion" and "The Sea We Swim In," and a frequent contributor to The New York Times and other publications. He serves as Faculty Director of Strategic Storytelling at Columbia University School of the Arts, where he leads executive education programs that help organizations harness the power of narrative. His work examines how digital technology is transforming the art of storytelling and the nature of human engagement.
Member
David Park
Dr. Park is Dean of Strategic Initiatives at Columbia University and a member of Columbia University's Institute for Data Sciences and Engineering New Media Center. His research focuses on the intersection of data science, media, and storytelling, exploring how quantitative methods can illuminate narrative patterns and audience behavior. He brings a unique interdisciplinary perspective that bridges computation and the humanities.
Member
Maureen A. Ryan
Maureen A. Ryan is a producer based in New York concentrating on feature films and documentaries and is currently the Chair of Columbia University's MFA Film program. Her producing credits span narrative features and documentary work, and she brings decades of industry experience to the lab's explorations of new storytelling forms. She is a champion of emerging voices and innovative approaches to filmmaking.
Member
Barrie Adleberg
Barrie Adleberg is a multimedia artist, experience designer, educator and activist. She collaborates with multi-disciplinary producers to bring cross-cultural stories to life using emerging technologies. Her practice spans immersive installations, virtual reality, and interactive performance, with a focus on creating empathetic experiences that bridge cultural divides and amplify underrepresented narratives.
Member
Mark Hansen
Mark Hansen joined Columbia Journalism School in July of 2012, after a decade of shuttling between the west and east coasts. In Los Angeles, he held appointments in the Department of Statistics at UCLA and at the New York Times R&D Lab. His research focuses on statistical methods for complex data, and he has pioneered approaches to data-driven storytelling that bridge journalism, art, and computation. He is a leading voice in the emerging field of computational narrative.
Member
Nick Fortugno
Nick Fortugno is a game designer and entrepreneur of digital and real-world games based in New York City, and a founder of Playmatics, a game development company. He has designed games for clients ranging from the Metropolitan Museum of Art to HBO, and teaches game design at Parsons School of Design. His work at the DSL explores the intersection of game mechanics, narrative design, and interactive storytelling.
Member
Dr. Desmond Patton
Dr. Desmond Upton Patton is an assistant professor at the Columbia School of Social Work and a Faculty Affiliate of the Social Intervention Group (SIG) and the Data Science Institute. He founded SAFElab, which uses computational and qualitative approaches to understand how social media impacts the lives of gang-involved youth and communities of color. His interdisciplinary work bridges social work, data science, and narrative analysis.
Member
Sarah Henry
Sarah works as a User Experience Strategist, designing for a wide range of industries, from government technology to narrative experiences. She creates data-driven design methods that help organizations understand and serve their audiences better. At the Columbia DSL, she brings a human-centered design perspective to the lab's storytelling experiments and prototypes.
Member
Magalis Videaux
Magalis Videaux's work lives at the intersection of experience design, immersive storytelling and experiential learning. She brings a rich background in community engagement and participatory design to the lab, creating experiences that center the voices and stories of historically marginalized communities. Her practice spans live events, digital experiences, and collaborative world-building.
Member
William Frey
William Frey is a researcher at Columbia University's School of Social Work and coordinator of the SAFElab. His work focuses on understanding how communities use digital platforms for storytelling, organizing, and survival. He employs mixed-methods research approaches that combine computational analysis with deep ethnographic engagement to illuminate the narratives embedded in social media.
Member
Dennis Tenen
Tenen is a co-founder of Columbia's Group for Experimental Methods in the Humanities. The group's interests fall into one of three categories, built on the strengths of Columbia's community: literary modeling and visualization, the sociology of knowledge, and digital storytelling. His research spans the fields of digital humanities, media theory, and computational culture, exploring how technology shapes literary and narrative forms.
Member
Susie Kavanaugh
Susie uses her background in education, cognition, and entrepreneurship to reimagine the future of learning. She explores how storytelling and narrative design can transform educational experiences, making them more immersive, engaging, and effective. Her work at the DSL focuses on the intersection of learning science and creative technology.
Member
Amir Baradaran
Amir Baradaran is a New York based Iranian-Canadian ARtificial artist. As the Creative Research Associate at Columbia University's Computer Science department (CG and User Interfaces Lab), his pioneering Augmented Reality art practice explores the boundaries of digital and physical space. His work has been exhibited internationally and sits at the cutting edge of art, technology, and cultural commentary.
Member
Olivia Powell
Olivia Powell is a writer, experience designer, and storyteller who wonders what else stories can be and do. With a particular interest in metafiction, interactive narrative, and speculative design, she creates works that challenge the boundaries between author and audience. Her practice spans writing, game design, and immersive experience creation, always with an eye toward expanding what narrative can accomplish.
Member
Char Simpson
Char Simpson (they/them) is a non-binary artist, interactive writer, and creative producer. They specialize in the crafting and mapping of compelling immersive stories. Their work spans interactive fiction, live performance, and collaborative storytelling, with a focus on creating inclusive narrative spaces that invite diverse participation and perspective.
Member
Karol Martesko-Fenster
Karol is an Austrian-born American entrepreneur and media industry innovator with broad motion picture, publishing, broadcast, event, and Internet backgrounds including leadership in the American independent film industry. He brings deep expertise in media distribution and business strategy to the lab's explorations of new storytelling platforms and models.
Member
Paul Woolmington
Considered one of the world's most innovative marketers, Paul Woolmington has launched two successful media and communications concerns and in January 2016 was named CEO of a third, Canvas Worldwide. His expertise in brand storytelling and media strategy brings a unique commercial lens to the lab's research into narrative innovation and audience engagement.
Member
Takaaki Okada
Takaaki primarily works in art, film, design, photography, and immersive experiences as well as film production. He is an art and cultural worker at APANO (Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon). His multidisciplinary practice brings together visual storytelling, community engagement, and cultural production in ways that amplify underrepresented voices.
Member
Yves Bergquist
Yves is an AI researcher and the director of the "AI & Blockchain in Media" Project at USC's Entertainment Technology Center (ETC). His research explores how artificial intelligence and emerging technologies are transforming the entertainment industry, from content creation to audience analytics. He brings cutting-edge technical insight to the DSL's investigations of story and technology.
Member
Tanya Vlach
Tanya Vlach is a transdisciplinary artist, storyteller, and producer, born and raised in San Francisco, CA. Her work spans performance, installation, and digital media, exploring themes of embodiment, perception, and the boundaries of human experience. She brings a deeply experimental approach to the DSL's creative explorations.
Member
S.C. Smith
S.C. Smith is a generative dramaturg and creative strategy consultant. His practice combines theatrical dramaturgy with emerging creative technologies, exploring how AI and computational tools can augment and transform the creative process. At the DSL, he investigates new methods for collaborative storytelling and narrative generation.