SPRING 2017 CONVERGENCE The Newsletter of the College of Arts & Letters Visual Arts Alumni COLLABORATE ON MOBILE GAME SELECTED FOR 2017 PAX EAST INDIE SHOWCASE In 2014, Frank DiCola was finishing up his bachelor’s degree at Stevens Institute of Technology and, like many of his peers, had a burning entrepreneurial spirit he had to follow. His idea? Starting his very own game studio. DiCola was completing his B.A. in visual arts and technology and moving right into his M.S. in software engineering when he and a few classmates created a board game called Mr. Game!. They raised close to $17,000 on Kickstarter to fund the project and spent an entire summer filling order after order. After Mr. Game!’s success (which continues to be sold today), DiCola launched Game Revenant, his dream game studio he runs independently here in Hoboken. “There aren’t too many game development studios in this area,” DiCola remarked of the challenges. “I want to be one of the few that succeed in NYC’s Silicon Alley.” Frank DiCola looks on as people flock to play Where Shadows Slumber at PAX East Joined by fellow alumni Jack Kelly ‘13 and in a shadowy, abandoned world where DiCola attributes the game’s early successes Caroline Amaba ‘12, the idea to develop moving shadows guide the main character to the solid digital arts foundation he built a mobile app game came to the table and through his journey across multiple levels. during his academic career at Stevens. the Ducks went to work. Kelly graduated The stunning artistic style of the design Stevens with a B.S. in math and a M.S. in “Everything I learned—the animation, video combined with the mind-bending mechanics computer science and now holds a position editing, photography, coding languages— of the game itself have made people take at Datavore Labs as it all helped me teach myself other things, notice: has over a Developer. Amaba Where Shadows Slumber other programs… The way I was taught 120,000 downloads from the Apple and earned two bachelor’s at Stevens was immensely helpful in Android stores, and the game is still only in degrees in computer transferring skills over in a variety of ways,” a demo stage. science and visual art he said. and technology and The demo attracted so much attention that DiCola’s advice to other students is simple: currently works as a it was selected to be a part of PAX East, one Make connections with other Stevens Senior Web Developer of a series of gaming festivals that have been students. with VaynerMedia. hailed as a celebration of gamer culture and have grown to be a prestigious exposition “Don’t give up if you find programming Through creative in the industry. Hosted in Boston in early to be tough, as an example. I’m barely inspiration from Kelly, March, the PAX East Indie Showcase, programming in my everyday life because the trio created Where where Game Revenant’s game was featured, I had to switch over to a business mindset. , Shadows Slumber promised to “showcase a collection of the Just meet up with other smart people and an adventure puzzle A screenshot of best indie games you’ve never heard of you can realize goals you never thought Where Shadows Slumber game that takes place available on mobile platforms.” possible.” n AVOCADOS FOR OPIUM HOW A STEVENS FRESHMAN IMPRESSED THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE There is quite a lot that makes up the person Anthony Rios is: he’s each nuance of his a freshman at Stevens Institute of Technology, a first-generation idea: farming climates Mexican-American, an aspiring lawyer, and now: he’s officially in Northern Mexico; the a wonk. technological advances we already use to grow Rios, a business and technology major and pre-law minor from avocados in abundance in Houston, is one of three student finalists to be selected for the U.S. California; the implications Department of State’s Wonk Tank Competition, a foreign policy pitch of introducing genetically competition similar to the hit TV show “Shark Tank.” modified crops; and how a According to the U.S. Department of State, a wonk is an individual broad-based collaboration who has a keen interest in and aptitude for the details of public between nonprofit groups, policy. Like “Shark Tank”, future “wonks” were invited to pitch the Catholic church, and Anthony Rios is one of three finalists in the Wonk policy proposals addressing a specific international problem or the state could actually Tank Competition. challenge requiring attention, a nuanced solution, and next steps execute this idea—just to name a few. to consider. On April 7, 2017, Rios will fly to Washington, D.C. to present his Rios submitted his pitch, “Avocados for Opium,” which is an idea pitch live for a panel of State Department officials at the Diplomacy to use crop replacement to help break the economic dependence Lab Fair. If he is selected, he will be offered a paid summer of isolated farmers in Northern Mexico on the drug trade, where a internship at the Center for Strategic and International Studies significant portion of the opium that enters the U.S. is grown. (CSIS) with the Project on U.S. Leadership in Development. “I really feel we have a moral and ethical Stevens is in an elite group of academic institutions that the State Department partners with to innovate in the realm of foreign policy. responsibility to attempt to mitigate the damages of In the fall of 2016, the Stevens Diplomacy Lab students worked the drug trade here and around the world,” with the State Department’s Bureau of Political Military Affairs, Innovation Forum, and Strategy Lab on a project called, “State of Rios said. “Crop replacement is a great fit for this the Future: How Emerging Technology Trends Will Impact Foreign problem and it’s already being done in other places Policy”. around the world.” “I really hope my idea stands out to them,” Rios said. “This was a great integration of my marketing and management classes After consulting with Professor Lindsey Cormack of the College combined with my interest in public policy, so I could try to apply of Arts and Letters’ Diplomacy Lab, Rios spent time researching business models to help solve international issues.” n MUSIC & TECHNOLOGY PROFESSOR ROB HARARI ELECTED TO BOARD OF DIRECTORS FOR THE UNITED JAZZ FOUNDATION In February 2017, industry associate professor Rob Harari was elected to serve on the Board of Directors for the United Jazz Foundation. Founded by Grammy award-winning jazz drummer Dion Parson and his wife Nicole, the UJF is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to mentoring youth on the United States Virgin Islands through jazz music education. The organization helps to positively impact the critical problem of gang violence and downward socioeconomic trends in the USVI. Harari said he is very much looking forward to serving on the board. “I believe there are beneficial opportunities for Stevens to get involved through Industry Associate Professor different avenues of intersection in STEM education, general humanities and Rob Harari (Photo by Mary Iuvone) the arts.” 2 The Newsletter of the College of Arts & Letters STUDENT’S MUSICAL JOURNEY LEADS TO STEVENS AND BEYOND JACK SKULLER ’18 BALANCES MUSIC TECH STUDIES WITH TOURING AND RECORDING It’s not unusual for Stevens Institute of Technology students to head into Manhattan for a show at one of the city’s famous live music venues. But some might be surprised to find one of their own classmates headlining the rock bill at a Q&A club like The Bowery Electric when they get there. “It’s fun,” says junior Jack Skuller ‘18, who regularly performs both in the city and locally — WITH CAL DEAN all while balancing studies in music & technology and electrical engineering and a recording KELLAND THOMAS and touring schedule with a brand new band. “I do what I love, and I am also in the right place to educate myself about the music business.” Dean Thomas appeared on a SXSW panel, “Every Little Thing is Gonna Skuller’s musical inspiration, he says, began with his father Eddie, who performed in Hoboken Be AI” in March ‘17 discussing and New York City (and still occasionally does) and recorded several albums. music and artificial intelligence “I learned there’s a certain power that you have when you are on a stage and you can convey a Q: How will AI message,” he recalls. affect the way we Skuller began singing to his father’s music and learning to play guitar at the age of eight; cut experience music? a single at age 13 on legendary Hoboken indie-music label Bar/None Records with former A: It already is. Ramones producer Daniel Rey; and was selected to tour the U.S. regularly with a Radio Disney Recommendation ensemble of up-and-coming musicians. “I quickly learned how to be professional, how to carry engines such as that myself; it really sped up my development,” he says. on Pandora seem to Then came Stevens. know just what we like, After just one day in the university’s but really they’re just drawing a statistical summer pre-college program in multimedia picture of our own preferences, based on production, the high-school sophomore was models developed via deep learning on a lot hooked on the campus, its music-program of data gathered about user behavior. These facilities and the quality of the instruction. companies say they will give users what they “I already knew I loved Hoboken,” he want — but to what extent are they also recalls.