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Jessica Hammer

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Jessica Hammer
Alma mater
FatherMichael Martin Hammer
Scientific career
FieldsPsychology of games
Institutions
Websitereplayable.net

Jessica Hammer is an assistant professor in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University and a game designer.[1][2]

Early life and education

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Hammer, who was a finalist in the Regeneron Science Talent Search, attended the Maimonides School, in Brookline, Massachusetts.[3]

She is the daughter of Michael Martin Hammer.[4]

She earned her B.A. in computer science at Harvard University,[5] her MS from the NYU Interactive Telecommunications Program and her Ph.D. in cognitive science at Columbia University,[6] where she developed the game design course sequence[7] and was a founding member of the Teachers College EGGPLANT game research laboratory.[8][9][10]

Career

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Hammer's research focuses on the psychology of games, focusing on the way specific game design decisions affect how players think and feel.[2]

While a graduate student at Columbia, Hammer helped create Lit, a mobile game designed to help individuals quit smoking.[11] Hammer has worked on video games for the National Institute of Health and for Nokia.[12]

She also spent time in Ethiopia, working with local partners to create game clubs that help girls acquire the social capital and the skills they need to solve their problems for themselves.[13] In 2014 she was selected as a World Economic Forum Young Scientist.[14]

In his 1998 book, Why We Don 't Talk to Each Other Anymore: The De-Voicing of Society, biolinguist John L. Locke discusses the research produced by Hammer as a young researcher working with Simon Baron-Cohen. According to Locke, Baron-Cohen and Hammer found that the parents of individuals with Asperger's syndrome did less well than the general population on tasks involving the interpretation of emotional status of others by looking at the expression of their eyes, and better than the general population at identifying shapes embedded within complex designs.[15]

Since 2014, Hammer's recent projects include exploring live action role-playing games as a potential avenue for improving mental or physical health,[16] and conducting research on how games may reduce opioid abuse after work-related injuries.[17]

Currently, Hammer works as an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University, jointly appointed between the HCI Institute and the Entertainment Technology Center. She teaches courses related to Game Design and Learning Media.

Jessica Hammer started the OHLab with Amy Ogan along with their students, staff, and colleagues. The lab works at the intersection of culture, learning, play, and design in order to create brand new interactions and experiences. Through games, educational technologies, and new frameworks of interaction, the lab pushes on the edges of learning, empathy, and social empowerment.

Hammer co-designed the 2022 tabletop role-playing game Rosenstrasse.[18][19][20][21]

References

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  1. ^ "HCII List of Faculty". Carnegie Mellon.
  2. ^ a b Leonard, Kimberly (29 May 2015). "Gaming the System". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
  3. ^ Saltus, Richard (26 January 1994). "4 Mass. pupils are US science contest finalists". Boston Globe. ProQuest 294836274.
  4. ^ Rosenblatt, Gary (12 September 2008). "A Lifelong Friend Who Challenged The Status Quo". The Jewish Week. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  5. ^ "Harvard Alumni News Brief: Hammer earns NSF CAREER Award". harvard.edu.
  6. ^ "Newsmaker: Jessica Hammer". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. 12 October 2014. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  7. ^ Whitacre, Andrew (2012-01-25). "Podcast: Jessica Hammer, "What Games Mean (And How They Mean It)"". cmsw.mit.edu.
  8. ^ "Jessica Hammer's Curriculum Vitae" (PDF). dropboxusercontent.com.
  9. ^ Ryan, Janice Paul (30 May 2006). "Youngsters will Tech It UP at UWF camp this summer". Pensacola News Journal. ProQuest 435993673.
  10. ^ O'Leary, Amy (1 August 2012). "In Virtual Play, Sex Harassment Is All Too Real". New York Times. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  11. ^ "Jessica Hammer". wordpress.com. 26 May 2010.
  12. ^ "How hard is it to make a video game in 24 hours?". The Capital. AP. 19 March 2006. ProQuest 232717183.
  13. ^ "In Ethiopia, one game design professor believes that young girls hold the key - Kill Screen". killscreen.com. 3 July 2013.
  14. ^ "World Economic Forum Young Scientists 2014" (PDF). weforum.org.
  15. ^ Locke, John L. (1998). Why We Don 't Talk to Each Other Anymore: The De-Voicing of Society. Simon and Schuster. p. 82. ISBN 0684843331.
  16. ^ "Transformative Live-Action Role-Playing - Human-Computer Interaction Institute". hcii.cmu.edu.[permanent dead link‍]
  17. ^ "Games for Pain - Human-Computer Interaction Institute". www.hcii.cmu.edu. Archived from the original on 2018-11-02. Retrieved 2019-02-11.
  18. ^ Carter, Chase (2023-06-21). "Root creator Cole Wehrle, indigenous RPG Coyote & Crow among finalists for 2023 Diana Jones Award". Dicebreaker. Retrieved 2024-10-08.
  19. ^ "This Canadian-made Holocaust game spotlights German housewives who stood up to Hitler and saved their Jewish spouses". The Canadian Jewish News. 2024-09-30. Retrieved 2024-10-08.
  20. ^ Network, Historical Games (2022-02-02). "Gestapo (1976) and Rosenstrasse (2022): Challenges and lessons for Holocaust-themed TRPGs". Historical Games Network. Retrieved 2024-10-08.
  21. ^ "Pedagogy--Rosenstrasse, Embodied Learning through Role Play". www.associationforjewishstudies.org. Retrieved 2024-10-08.
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