Current
Jennifer Ash is a current New York University masters student in Digital Media Design for Learning (DMDL) department in the Steinhardt School, and the curriculum owner for the IBM Academic Initiative System z. While at NYU, Jennifer is focusing on honing her design and research skills, and integrating educational content. Through the design of various projects focusing on specific issues of the education industry, Jennifer has gained experience and clarity of presentation, writing, and research skills. Her main focuses are game design, user experience, interaction, and learning.
She joined IBM full time in June 2008 as a Software Engineer in User Experience Design for z/OS. In this role she completed various surveys, heuristic evaluations, competitive analysis, and user testing sessions. In November 2009, she joined the Academic Initiative team for System z. In this role, she maintains, organizes and assists professors with enterprise curriculum integration, organizes the annual Professor Summer Seminars, assists with roundtables between industry and academia, conferences, organizes student tours of the IBM site, and maintains the team email account. While at IBM, Jennifer has participated in various volunteer opportunities, most promoting education. These include EXCITE, IGNITE, GEMS, EXPLORE, MentorNet, E-Week, and Lego Robotics. You can learn more about these in PROJECTS.
Background
Jennifer is originally from near Seattle, Washington. In her pursuit of engineering and science, she choose Rensselaer to further her academic interests. After graduating from the International Baccalaureate Programme at Edmonds-Woodway High School, she decided to pursue Computer System Engineering & Psychology. After exploring internships and research, she decided that this wasn't her primary area of interest, as she really sought more of a balance between the humanities and sciences. After a year of engineering classes, she spent a semester as a computer science major. Computer science, while interesting, did not capture her interest as much as she would have liked. She was currently taking an Introduction to Game Design class that really peaked her interest. After hearing there was a chance a Games Major could be approved before graduation, she decided to pursue as many game theory courses possible during her college career while focusing a major on Psychology.
Junior year she decided to take a graduate course on the Foundations of Human Computer Interaction. This course accomplished much of what she was looking for in a balance between the humanities and the sciences and she enjoyed the challenges it presented. Previous to that semester she had participated in a play-testing session at Microsoft. This was similar to the HCI class, and she realized this was an area she would focus on.
Junior year also presented itself to two research projects on campus. Both were started at the end of sophomore year, but the projects primarily initiated that fall. These projects were "Wriggle!" with Professor Katherine Isbister, an installation game experience focusing on gestures and emotions in gaming, and "CapAble Shopper" with Professor Kathleen Ruiz, a grocery store simulation game for those with disabilities. For more information on these, please look at the PROJECTS link above. During spring semester of Junior year, the Games major was approved at RPI and she made a successful transfer into the program.
Senior year provided a variety of experiences for Jennifer. Not only did it focus on academics, but it also brought about various leadership positions. This year she was Chair of Genericon XXI, a student-run gaming, anime, and science fiction convention held annually on RPI's campus for 48 hours straight at the end of January. This convention had approximately 30 staff members and attracted around 800 attendees. She attended the Game Developers' Conference in San Francisco as a Conference Associate and was a speaker at RPI's Alumni reception held during the conference. She started interning at 1st Playable Productions during the spring semester, working as a design associate on Club Penguin DS, and gained invaluable experience being part of a game production team.
She is the first graduate of the Games and Simulation Arts and Sciences (BS) program, with a dual major in Psychology (BS) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI).
Through the various experiences, she has accumulated a wide variety of skills. From the basics of programming to 3D animation, to user interface design, knitting and leadership, the value at knowing a variety of skills has broadened her perspectives.
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