People

Dr. Elizabeth Lane Lawley (GCCIS-IT), Founder and Director     

Dr. Elizabeth Lane Lawley (GCCIS-IT), Founder and Director
Title: Faculty
Homepage:

Elizabeth Lane Lawley is the founder and director of the Lab for Social Computing at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where she is also an associate professor of Information Technology. Her current teaching and research interests focus on social computing technologies such as weblogs, wikis, virtual worlds, and collaborative information retrieval. She also conducts research and speaks on the topic of gender imbalances in technology and education.

She received her master's degree in Library Science from the University of Michigan in 1987. In the early 1990s she worked as a Government and Law Bibliographer at the Library of Congress and then as manager of customer support for Congressional Information Service. In 1992 she founded Internet Training & Consulting Services, which provided services to a number of clients in business, government, and education throughout the 1990s. She received her doctorate in Information Science from the University of Alabama in 1999.

Dr. Vic Perotti (SCOB-Marketing), Associate Director for Outreach     

Dr. Vic Perotti (SCOB-Marketing), Associate Director for Outreach
Title: Faculty
Homepage:

Victor Perotti is an expert and consultant on the business implications of new technologies including: digital business, digital entrepreneurship, Web 2.0, ecommerce, Web business models and mobile work. His most recent research examines social networks (especially Facebook.com), social computing, Clean Slate Internet approaches, mobile collaboration, digital entrepreneurship, electronic communities and video game business models.

He currently leads the Digital Business initiative at RIT.

Perotti is an accomplished communicator and educator, and was awarded RIT’s highest honors for teaching: the Richard and Virginia Eisenhart Provost’s Award for Excellence in Teaching (2000) and the Eisenhart Award for Outstanding Teaching (2004). His professional speaking engagements include academic conferences, small group meetings and large auditorium lectures.

Before joining RIT, Perotti completed Masters Degrees in Computer Science (1990) and Cognitive Psychology (1994) as well as a Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology (1997), all at Ohio State University. His doctoral thesis examined the visual perception of 3-D structure from motion information.

Perotti’s consulting work has ranged from conducting advanced business simulation experiences at Harris R.F. to business plan development for pre-seed video game companies to creating multimedia software for David Bowie’s “Jump” CD-ROM.

Dr. Susan Barnes (COLA, Communications), Associate Director for Research and Publishing     

Dr. Susan Barnes (COLA, Communications), Associate Director for Research and Publishing
Title: Faculty
Homepage: Sue Barnes Webpage

Susan Barnes is an expert in Internet interpersonal relationships, social media, media ecology, visual communication and all types of Internet-related issues.

She is the Personal Technology columnist for the Democrat and Chronicle and the author of numerous articles and the following books: Computer-Mediated-Communication: Human-to-Human Communication Across the Internet (Allyn & Bacon, 2003); Web Research: Selecting, Evaluating & Citing with M. L. Radford & L.R. Barr (Allyn & Bacon, 2002); and Internet Interpersonal Communication (Hampton Press, 2001).

Barnes earned her B.F.A. from Pratt Institute and her M.F.A. and Ph.D. from New York University.

For the past 15 years, Barnes has been conducting research on human behavior and the Internet. She is particularly interested in how computer technology and networks enable people to share thoughts, pictures, and feelings with each other. Another area of interest is what the change from television to the Internet means for American culture.

Dr. Christopher Egert (GCCIS-IT)     

Title: Faculty

Stephen Jacobs (GCCIS-IT)     

Stephen Jacobs (GCCIS-IT)
Title: Faculty

Stephen Jacobs' areas of expertise include consumer electronics, computing hardware and software, DVDs, digital television and interactive television.

He currently teaches courses in computer game development, interactive narrative and writing for the Web. He has also taught courses on Web site development, information architecture, human factors and interface design, Internet regulation (particularly concerning issues relating to free speech and pornography) and technology issues relating to the deaf. He directs a new lab in Technological Literacy.

He is creator and senior editor of "What the Tech!," a weekly science and technology show on WXXI-AM (1370). He has been involved in technology journalism for 15 years, including previous positions editor-in-chief of The Gadget Boy Gazette and contributing editor to CNET.com and Television 2.0. He has written freelance articles for Wired, The Washington Post's "Fast Forward" and other publications.

Jacobs earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in media studies from the New School for Social Research.

Andrew Phelps (GCCIS-IT)     

Andrew Phelps (GCCIS-IT)
Title: Faculty

Dr. Jonathan Schull (GCCIS-IT)     

Dr. Jonathan Schull (GCCIS-IT)
Title: Faculty

Dr. Richard deMartino (SCOB)     

Dr. Richard deMartino (SCOB)
Title: Faculty

ichard DeMartino is assistant professor of management and international business and teaches in the fields of New Venture Creation and Business Political Economy.

DeMartino’s research interests include Corporate Venturing, Clusters and Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurial Motivations. He is concurrently working on three projects. The first, led by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, explores institutional structures facilitating the commercialization of Radical Innovation (corporate venturing)—and involves 12 companies including Kodak, Corning, IBM, 3M, General Electric and Shell Chemical. He is also working on a 25-company study that explores the character and growth potential of the Rochester Photonics Industry and a project that explores how entrepreneurial motivations differ by gender.

His articles have appeared in a number of journals including the Journal of Business Venturing, Journal of Small Business Management, and the Journal of Innovation and Product Management.

Prior to his doctoral studies, DeMartino worked in industry as a foreign currency, bond and risk trader. He continues to consult in economic development and technology-related new business ventures.

DeMartino has taught at the McIntire School of Commerce, University of Virginia, and at the Virginia Commonwealth University.

He earned his bachelor's at Roanoke College and his master's and Ph.D. at the University of Virginia.

Dr. Neil Hair (SCOB)     

Dr. Neil Hair (SCOB)
Title: Faculty
Homepage: Neil Hair blog

Neil Hair is an expert on the use of the Internet in enhancing business to consumer, business to business and consumer to consumer experiences. His research and consulting activities are cutting edge, recent projects include understanding perceptions of advertising and customer value in popular online social networks like MySpace and Facebook, personal branding in virtual space, and virtual ethnography in popular worlds such as Second Life.

Hair is also passionate about his role as a facilitator having recently won RIT's highest teaching award for new faculty in 2006-07 and RIT's highest teaching award for online learning in 2007-08. He has been awarded several research grants for pursuing pedagogy research. One such interest involves teaching the world's first program on the commercialization of Second Life.

He is a Chartered Marketer with a PhD in Management and currently on the tenure track at the Saunders College of Business as a marketing professor.

Hair has a PhD from Cranfield University, and MSc in International Marketing at Sheffield Business School, United Kingdom, a BSc in Business Administration at Cardiff Business School, United Kingdom, and a post graduate diploma in marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

For more information on Prof. Hair, visit http://www.neilhair.com/about.

Dr. Amit Ray (COLA)     

Dr. Amit Ray (COLA)
Title: Faculty