Introduction
I’m Mitu – I am twentysomething, female, a geek, and right now, most importantly, a PhD candidate. This means my life is currently consumed by my research, and being such, let’s skip over any further details about me as a person and skip straight to the details of my research. We’ll come back to me later; I’m not that important.
Research
Having completed my M.Eng Computer Engineering in 2007, I am now a PhD candidate at the University of Portsmouth, with the Creative Technologies department. My research concerns video game interfaces, specifically, affective video game interfaces. What does this mean? Well, that’s a good question.
Affective computing technologies refer to computationally ‘recognising’ emotions in a user, often through the use of multimodal sensors, including facial expressions, postural shifts, and physiological signals such as heart rate, skin conductivity, and EEG signals. Therefore, an affective interface is one that uses real-life data from the player to infer their current emotional state, and use this to dynamically adjust the game state. However, how well this actually works in a video game setting in terms of the player experience remains to be seen. The relationship between the player and the interface and the type of gameplay that arises from that is somewhat of a mystery, despite new commercial control interfaces emerging all the time.
So, given all that, here’s a bullet pointed list of some areas of research I’m (also) interested in:
- affective computing and other interesting HCI.
- pervasive games and interfaces.
- artificial intelligence & affect-based dynamic adjustment.
- autism spectrum disorders and play therapy (this was a previous area of research which I am no longer actively persuing at this stage, though may do so in future).
Of course, given all that, sometimes this also rings very true:
PHD Comics is awesome, and often a very good reflection of my actual life.
Career
Whilst we’re at it let’s talk about the rest of my career so far. After school, I spent a year before university working for a famous, large multinational IT company, where I developed internal tools in Java.
I then embarked on my MEng (Master of Engineering) Computer Engineering course at the University of Portsmouth, and every summer I worked in software development internships.
Also during my time at university, I embarked on a couple of casual entrepreneurial ventures, ranging from web hosting to mobile games development.
After graduating in 2007, I was accepted for a PhD studentship at the University of Portsmouth, and simultaneously chosen for the prestigious NCGE-Kauffman Entrepreneurship Fellowship program (aka Global Scholars Program). Some blurb:
The Global Scholars Program was founded by PM Gordon Brown in 2006, and gives specially selected engineering, science, and technology scholars the opportunity to study entrepreneurship in America. For six months, Kauffman Global Scholars study, exchange ideas, and work with U.S. entrepreneurial experts both in industry and in the USA’s top business schools. The groundbreaking program is a fast-track to gaining all the skills and knowledge usually acquired through an MBA program.
Here is a picture of me with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, just for posterity (and if you’re one of my relatives this section is probably vaguely interesting to you too. Otherwise, no.):
So I spent January-June 2008 in America (spending time all over the country, the most significant portion being at the Education Arcade at MIT in Cambridge, MA), which, overall, were hands down the best six months of my life. I then also spent some additional time in the states from September-December 2008.
Now I’m back here, and working on my PhD, and busy scheming about founding my games-related startup company once that’s finished. More about that later.
Me Again
So that’s my research, and my career; now back to me. As mentioned, and as is probably blindingly apparent from this site, I am a huge video games nerd. As well as playing games, I love designing games, thinking about games, and generally talking about games to anyone who’ll listen. Why? Because video games are awesome, yes, but also because I believe in games, and in play. I think play is one of the most fundamental and important values we have as humans, and I think we need to increasingly recognise it as something that can do genuine good in the world and teach real values.
As a sidenote, and since we’re talking about me – one of my favourite life achievements to date was running a half-marathon on behalf of a charity called Right to Play, who are creating a healthier and safer world through the power of sport and play. I enjoyed the undertaking of a seemingly impossible and collossal physical task so much that I committed myself to another one, on an even bigger scale: to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, on behalf of a new charity I am setting up with my family in Bangladesh. More details on that soon.
So apart from advocating video games for good (and for general fun), and training for crazy physical endeavours, what else do I do? Well, there’s plenty of other forms of geekery I love to indulge in, from wargaming, to anime to roleplaying. I also like eating sushi, drinking far too much Starbucks Iced Chai Tea Lattes, and wishing I lived somewhere I could go snowboarding more readily. I am currently learning guitar and have a secret pretentious music project where I write and sing and cover songs (badly); in fact, I have about two-three ’secret projects’ on the go at a time – as a result, free time is often non-existent. I also enjoy reading (I have a nascent interest in graphic novels), travelling, and learning new things.
I like sunshine, nice people, and being happy.