Information about past Trope Tank researchers reflects their status as of the end of 2024.
Lupe Fiasco, visiting scholar, Fall 2022—Spring 2024. Lupe continues to teach his
Rap Theory and Practice class at MIT; his most recent album is Samurai.
Daniel Villagran, undergraduate researcher, Spring 2023—Spring 2024. Daniel is a graduate student at the University of Tampere.
Patsy Baudoin, artistic collaborator, Spring 2024. Baudoin continues to translate MIT Press books from French to English.
Albert Figurt, visiting scholar, Spring 2022–Summer 2022. Albert is an artist and independent scholar in Italy. He returned to MIT
and the MIT Trope Tank as a CAST visiting artist, CMS/W instructor, and residential scholar in fall 2023 and IAP 2024.
Antônio Henrique Torres Vianna, writer in residence, NYC Trope Tank, Spring 2023. Antonio is a poet in São Paulo.
Jesper Juul, visiting scholar, Spring 2022. Jesper is an associate professor at the Royal Danish Academy’s
Institute of Visual Design in Copenhagen and author of Too Much Fun: The Five Lives of the Commodore 64 Computer,
which he worked on while at the MIT Trope Tank.
Nanna Debois Buhl, visiting PhD student, Spring 2022. Nanna has since earned her PhD at the Royal
Danish Academy of Fine Arts and Copenhagen University.
Ardalan SadeghiKivi, graduate researcher, Spring 2021, Fall 2021. Ardalan earned an MArch at MIT,
has taught and curated exhibits with ACT and MIT.nano, and as of Fall 2024 is also a CMS/W lecturer.
Kitty Zeng, undergraduate researcher, Spring 2022. Kitty earned an SB in computer science and
brain & cognitive science at MIT.
Joanne Yuan, undergraduate researcher, Spring 2021. Joanne graduated from MIT with a SB in computer science.
Alan Zhu, undergraduate researcher, Spring 2021. Alan earned an SB in writing and computer science at MIT and
an MEng in computer science, also receiving the Laya and Jerome B. Wiesner Student Art Award.
Valerie Chen, undergraduate researcher, Summer 2020. Valerie graduated from MIT with an SB in political science.
Judy Heflin, research assistant, Fall 2018–Spring 2020. Judy graduated from MIT with an SM in comparative media
studies.
Sebastian Bartlett Fernandez, undergraduate researcher, Spring 2018–Spring 2019. Sebastian is a fourth-year
computer science major at MIT.
Scott Rettberg, visiting professor, Fall 2017. Scott is a professor at the University of Bergen and author of Electronic Literature.
Since his visit he and Jill Walker Rettberg established the leading European center of its sort,
the Center for Digital Narrative, a Norwegian Center of Excellence.
Pierre Tchetgen, visiting predoctoral researcher, Fall 2017—Spring 2018. Pierre completed his PhD at the
University of California and is on the faculty at Northeastern University.
Chris Kerich, research assistant, Fall 2015—Spring 2017. Chris went on complete a PhD at UCSC and is
on the faculty at the University of Lethbridge.
Milton Läufer, writer in residence, Fall 2016—Spring 2017. Milton earned his PhD at NYU and now lives in Berlin.
He’s author of A
Noise Such as a Man Might Make.
Michał Żmuda, visiting PhD student, Spring 2016. Michał completed his PhD at the University of Rzeszów and is
co-author of Reading Narrative: On Narrative Figures in Polish Literature (not only) of the 20th and 21st
Centuries (in Polish).
Veli-Matti Karhulahti, postdoctoral researcher, Spring 2016. Matti completed his PhD at the University of
Jyväskylä, is senior researcher there, and teaches at the University of Turku.
Andrew Plotkin, writer in residence, Spring 2015—Fall 2016. Zarf continues his amazing work as a hacker, IF
author, and IF system developer.
Piotr Marecki, visiting scholar, November 2013–July 2014. Piotr is professor at Jagiellonian University’s
Institute of Culture, heads the publisher Ha!art, and is founder of Ubu Lab.
Erik Stayton, research assistant, Fall 2013–Spring 2015. Erik completed his PhD in the HASTS program at MIT and now
works as an anthropologist.
Liz Hernandez, undergraduate researcher, Summer 2012, graduated MIT with an SB.
Natalia Fedorova, visiting scholar & Fulbright Fellow, 2011–2012. Natalia is a lecturer at the Smolny
Institute in St. Petersburg and co-curates the 101 Media Art Festival.
Robert Long, undergraduate researcher, Summer 2011, graduated MIT with an SB.
Zuzana Husárová, visiting scholar & Fulbright Fellow, Spring 2011. Zuzana teaches in three countries, at
Comenius University, Masaryk University, and Sprachkunst at Universitaet fuer Angewandte Kunst.
Racing the Beam and Platform
Studies series collaborators, 2007–
Ian Bogost
Nick Montfort
Tools for the Telling collaborators, 2007–2008
Clara Fernández-Vara
Alex Mitchell
Nick Montfort
About Us
The Trope Tank is a lab/studio. We develop new poetic practices and new understandings
of digital media by focusing on the material, formal, and historical aspects of computation and language.
