Video games are big business with billions of dollars on the line. Every day, data — collected on player bases, consumer reviews and development cycles — informs major decisions. At the end of the Fall 2023 semester, Kent State students presented new research to inform top video game developers like Nintendo, Riot Games, EA Sports and Ubisoft. Emerging Media and Technology majors TJ Laryea, ’26, and Noah Vongratana, ’24, spent the end of their fall semester crunching data on massive multiplayer online games. It’s common for the developers of these games to frequently update and re-rele...

Since she was a child, Caitlyn Skilton, a recent graduate of the zoology program at Kent State University, has harbored a passion for ecology, with a deep love for birds of all kinds. She chose to extend this love in her undergraduate work at Kent State. On December 1, Skilton, who also minored in photojournalism, hosted a reception for her “Flight of the Chimney Swift” immersive multimedia exhibit in the Design Innovation (DI) Hub’s Blank_Lab. A customizable room that can be utilized for a variety of different projects, presentations, and experiences—the Blank_Lab is fully equipped wit...