STUDENTS
First Year Student Bios
Madeline Ashby
Madeline Ashby is a science fiction writer and contributor to Frames Per Second Magazine and World Changing Canada. She recently completed a thesis on anime and manga fan cultures at York University, after graduating with honours from Seattle University. Her academic writing has been published in Transformative Works and Cultures and Asian Cinema, and her fiction has been published in Nature, FLURB, and Escape Pod. You can follow her writing at escapingthetrunk.net and her study of fan culture at fandomresearch.org.
John Benjamin Cassel
John Benjamin Cassel's goal is to embed critical social judgment into the material world, giving people the interfaces to have material lives according to their personal values. To this end, he is developing a blend of both manufacturing engineering and collective intelligence that could roughly be described as 'social logistics'. By developing these interfaces speculatively, he works in the undisciplinary space between information architecture, critical theory, complex systems, computer science, futures studies, manufacturing engineering, and artificial intelligence. His work is grounded by values such as legibility, agency, conviviality, and sustainability. John prefers to work in areas that are not yet pinned down, working with novel open-source initiatives (ScenConnect), new companies (Riverglass Inc.), disruptive software products (Wolfram|Alpha with Wolfram Research), and now OCAD's new SF&I program. John holds a BS in Computer Science, with a concentration in Manufacturing Engineering.
Susanne (Zan) Chandler
Raised in the UK, Barbados and Canada, Zan has a deep Love of learning how languages work, which was nurtured by a B.A. in Linguistics and French (University of Toronto), but she is far less keen on perfecting them. The underwhelming nature of early 1990s Australian TV led her to explore photography and watercolours and opened the door to the arts world. After receiving a B.A.A. in Media Arts (Ryerson University), she produced some short films/videos that were shown on television and at festivals and then dipped her toes into the film industry. For the last decade, Zan has been working as a cultural policy analyst and researcher for the federal government. An alumna of the Canadian Film Centre Media Lab, more recently She has been exploring interactive digital media and their impact on the arts and cultural industries. A lover of cats and a fan of science fiction television, Zan recently returned to Toronto to pursue work that is more closely connected to the creative process.
Beverly Dywan
Earlier born into the clan of UGuelph-FA in the form of artists/sophist, she renewed her present shape in the ancient clan of the AOCA- ID, from which she emerged as designer, project manager and business owner. In this new form she went on to forge alliances with arts and science institutions, surrounded by the ancient residue of peoples past, and the canny residue of peoples present. For many decades she has been asked by the wise elders of many cultural tribes in Canada, the US and Hong Kong to bring their objects and thoughts forward to the newly minted offspring of its people, through the galleries of their muses. She has done this with humility, on time, and on budget. Her intent is to break through the barriers of the able bodied gods, to create access to the inner sanctum of these shrines of the blockbuster, for those mortals undermined by the prevailing social order of physical ability. To do this, she must move into the realm of the unknown, the realm of foresightful strategies and nascent innovation, the realm of the Masters. Years will be spent uncovering this path, with a gleaming light at the end, illuminating Design - in three dimensions. The name of this new Master? The name’s Dywan, Beverly Dywan.
Tyler Gilchrist
Tyler grew up in Bright’s Grove, Ontario. After graduating from Brock University with a degree in communications he spent time in Toronto, enjoying stints at Dentsu-Canada (advertising agency) and The Bay Charles Consulting Company (strategic management consultancy). From there Tyler moved to Boston where he worked for Gerald Zaltman (Professor Emeritus, Harvard Business School) at his market research and consulting firm Olson Zaltman Associates. At OZA he exploited Zaltman’s work in metaphor to explore how people understand concepts at a deep, psychologically rich level. In his spare time Tyler enjoys failing to kick-start his ’69 Triumph Daytona and not writing about himself in the third person.
Susan Gorbet
Susan LK Gorbet is a creative technology strategist, designer, and artist. With degrees in psychology and computer science, Susan enjoys creating experiences that invite people to interact. In 2001, she co- founded Gorbet Design, Inc, creating architectural-scale interactive installations and artworks. At Gorbet Design, she focuses on designing strategic frameworks that create depth and meaning for an experience. Susan has been transforming cutting-edge technology into compeling experiences since the early 90's. After winning a fellowship for graduate research at Stanford, Susan spent many years working with software and websites in Silicon Valley, where she led research teams at Silicon Graphics, and was the Director of User Experience Design for Excite@Home and Snapfish. Susan also loves helping the next generation of designers get excited about designing for people. She teaches Experience Design at the Canadian Film Centre's Media Lab, at the Ontario College of Art and Design, and at Ryerson University.
Elizabeth Hassan
Elizabeth is a mechanical engineer working in forensic analysis. She has degrees from both the Queen's University and the University of Western Ontario. While at UWO her thesis work was related to biomechanics, specifically the optimization of motion data collection. A portion of this work was published in the Journal of Biomechanics. Elizabeth is currently a project engineer with MEA Forensic and her primary work is the analysis of automotive collisions, and she is also a key member of several in-house research teams. Elizabeth is presently working on a motorcycle helmet testing project. She is hoping to focus her major project on product design involving mobility and safety.
Janet Jones
Janet’s career began as an Interior Designer 20 Years ago. Along the way, she discovered the world of innovation, power to re-think how the future can be envisioned, designed, and communicated. Three years ago Janet recreated her role as Design & Communications Strategist within the Architectural firm HOK, where she had been working as a Designer for the past 10 years. While working in this capacity, she developed and drove initiatives and opportunities to articulate brand awareness through nontraditional communications tools, promoted design thinking to solve problems and create opportunity, identifying and translating trends for revenue generating and marketing purposes. Janet is fortunate to be entering OCAD not only as a student, but as a sessional instructor in the 3rd Year Industrial Design Program as well, teaching processes and techniques for advancing creativity. Always curious, always looking for new ways to work at the intersection of design, technology, and human needs, Janet brings with her a passion for creativity, and an eagerness to learn in a collaborative, multi-disciplinary culture of innovation.
Oksana Kachur
Oksana has decided to move back to Toronto, where she previously received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto. Her undergraduate education consists of Environmental Policy and Law, as well as photography and dance. Her education and curiosity has helped her to think broadly about urgent solutions to pressing topics in not only organizational changes and trends but also of human needs and well being. By combining her interest in this field with her current employment at SNC-Lavalin ProFac (a Canadian engineering firm that has expanded into real estate management), she wishes to analyze how business and policy objectives can help guide innovative strategies in the design of workplace environments and healthcare environments. Oksana believed the real estate industry, health care industry along with educational institutions are examples of the types of built environments where many aspects of business and society come together and where effective design strategies and management strategies should take into consideration user needs, values and responses. Oksana wishes to use her time at OCAD to learn some truth about user experience, human motivation, behavior and perception by exploring the relationship between health and design.
Ramtin Lotfabadi
Ramtin Lotfabadi is a Toronto based technology strategist and filmmaker with academic backgrounds in engineering (Ferdowsi University), mathematics (University of Guelph), and film (Ryerson University). Propelled by complexities emerging from the convergence of media, communication and education, in the late nineties Ramtin founded what is now Lemma Group Inc. a software and film production boutique, focusing on development and production for educational institutions and nonprofit organizations. He has worked as technologist at the University of Guelph and more recently the Ontario College of Art & Design. Ramtin is co-creator of Craft of Cinematography, a comprehensive educational video series on cinematography, and in his spare time he experiments with music, humour and other serious subjects.
Sarah Margolius
Sarah Margolius is a seasoned marketer with experience spanning the cultural, political and business sectors. Sarah’s experience includes six years as North American Marketing Director for Lionsgate and THINKFilm, two award-winning film distributors; Director of Business Development with LifeStyle Media, a full-service web, multimedia and event production company; and many years in event management and publicity doing work for such organizations as the Green Party and the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art. Sarah recently joined AIM Education as Director of Global Marketing, which includes Criterion Pictures, a leading motion picture non-theatrical distributor; Learn360, an educational media-on-demand technology and content provider; Visual Educational Centre, Canada’s leading distributor of educational programming; and International Tele-Film, Canada’s premiere distributor of training resources.
Andrew Mckee
Raised in beautiful Vancouver, Andrew was always passionate about business. During his third year of a BComm (Marketing) program at UBC, Andrew was fortunate - maybe lucky – enough to find very interesting work at a small private equity firm in Toronto. With the assistance of a courageous boss, he was immediately and continually thrown into the metaphorical deep- end. In his first two years, he found himself managing portfolio companies, hiring executive level management, and being involved in numerous acquisitions. In his most recent role, assisting with marketing for two portfolio online retail companies, he discovered his passion for the concept of design thinking. Most recently, he has taken a hiatus from work to work on some projects that will allow him freedom to explore his newly learned design thinking concepts as well as build his own truly innovative organization. Outside of professional activities, Andrew likes to dabble in Mandarin, exercise as much as possible, and read everything he can get his hands on.
Chris Meier
Chris is a health care administrator, consultant and researcher interested in changing how people navigate their health. By examining the value of social media in self-care and by rethinking the interactions patients have with their health care providers, he hopes to help make the world a little bit healthier. A photographer, musician and unabashed techie, Chris wants to bring together the realms of science, business, art and technology through design. He holds a BSc in biomedical research from the University of Guelph and an MBA from the University of Toronto. Chris currently works at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St. Michael's Hospital.
Jeffery Ranson
Jeff is a sustainability consultant with the Innovolve Group, and the operations manager for Sustainable Buildings Canada. Jeff is determined to change the way we live through building capacity for green enterprise and finding new ways to communicate complex ideas. Jeff holds an HBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario. Time well spent for Jeff: reading up on issues of the day, turning his kitchen into a workshop, and uncovering hidden treasures on city treks with his partner, Grace.
Douglas Reid
Douglas Reid is a Torontonian by good fortune of birth and upbringing, as well as preference. He worked in government immediately after graduating from the University of Toronto with a BSc. Next, he joined an international public affairs consulting company, first in their Ottawa office for a two-year stint, and then back in Toronto. After a total of five years he decided to make a modest career change, and founded his own consulting company at the same time he entered graduate school. Doug like grad school so much that he decided to remain awhile, and went on to complete three graduate degrees at three different universities, eventually accepting a job teaching strategy and international management at one of them. While married, he doesn't have kids, so lavishes quasi-parental attention on two aging Labrador Retrievers. Doug's other passions include cycling, social media, education and learning. His other big project is researching and writing a book on strategies that companies can use to exit a recessing strongly. Like most of his ideas, Doug wishes that he had thought of this one much earlier, hence inspiring further his interest in honing skills in foresight and creativity. He can be found both on Facebook (Douglas Reid) and Twitter (@douglasreid).
Jonathan Resnick
Jonathan Resnick has been working as a software developer in the healthcare information technology field for about 10 years. He is currently a principal software architect at ClearCanvas Inc., a 3-year-old Toronto-based software startup, where he focuses on product design and engineering. In addition to software development, his interests include the design of social and economic systems and the relationship between economic systems and ecological sustainability. He would like to apply the thinking and techniques he has used as a software developer to larger-scale design problems, both inside and outside of the healthcare field. He holds a B.A.Sc. received through the Engineering Science program at the University of Toronto.
Peter Rose
Peter Rose is a consultant with IndEco Strategic Consulting. He has a background in sustainable research and environmental assessment. His current interests include the design and delivery of programs which improve energy efficiency for various user groups, sustainable design and strategic planning. His strong communication and analytical skills have been widely applied at IndEco through the delivery of energy efficiency programs targeting small businesses. His ability to simplify the technical and legal requirements of these programs to a variety of business owners led to the successful delivery of the Hydro One Power Savings Blitz program 2008-2009. Peter has an educational background in scientific research specializing in ecology with applications in biomimicry, survey design, implementation, tracking and literature review. Prior to working for IndEco, Peter undertook the initial research for an integrative sustainability plan at the University of Guelph. Peter’s thorough analytic approach to project implementation ensures that challenges are identified clearly and overcome quickly and creatively.
Shajey Rumi
Shajey likes to build products, improve processes and enable sustainable organizations. He has worked for both startups and Fortune 100 companies internationally. Shajey began his career in sales & marketing for Merck and later for Nestle, right after finishing his MBA. This experience helped him move to a technology consulting firm in NY city building process optimization solutions for clients like Bank of America, Federal Reserve, and Compaq. In 2005 he joined Deloitte, as part of their enterprise applications practice. Experiences with building a number of solutions for various clients enabled him to transition to product management. In recent years he has built intelligent devices, new media solutions, and mobile applications. In his spare time Shajey is a bicycle enthusiast, a budding skier and a bathroom singer. After conquering Ontario, he plans to ski in Quebec next winter. And to ensure his singing success he recently joined a Cantata class at Royal Conservatory of Music.
Shajey blogs at www.ShajeyRumi.com and Twitters @shajeyRUMI.
Spencer Saunders
Spencer comes from a diverse background that includes a variety of new media endeavours, including production and post-production in both film and television, photography, and print design for both corporate and non-profit clientele. He has shown his film and video work throughout Canada, and has facilitated workshops on video production & post-production as well as all aspects of web development from coding to design. After completing a BFA in New Media at Ryerson University in 2001, Spencer started Communicate New Media, which has since grown to provide a variety of web development services and solutions specific to the online marketing industry. Specialties include interface design and development, online promotion consulting and implementation, Internet application development, content management solutions and usability consulting. High profile clients include Coke, Rogers, GM, Hbc, Loblaw Companies Limited, Deloitte and GlaxoSmithKline. Spencer's current area of interest is in data visualization systems and explorations in interface design.
Gabe Sawhney
Gabe is a creative technologist and producer working in mobile, web, video and interactive installation. Gabe is co-founder of Wireless Toronto, a volunteer community wireless group that helps small businesses and managers of public spaces to offer free wireless Internet access to their visitors. Gabe was the co-founder of [murmur], the celebrated location-based participatory audio installation. He is a partner in Echo Mobile, a boutique consultancy and design firm. Gabe is on the board of directors of Heritage Toronto, the mobile committee of Interactive Ontario, and the steering committee of the Mobile Experience Innovation Centre. He studied architecture, film and semiotics at the University of Toronto, and was a resident at the CFC Media Lab in 2002. Gabe has spoken at conferences and festivals in Canada, the US, the UK, Australia and Brazil.
Karl Schroeder
I was born September 4, 1962 in Brandon, Manitoba. My family are Mennonites, part of a community which has lived in southern Manitoba forover one hundred years. I am the second science fiction writer to come outof this community -- the first was A.E. van Vogt--and the third internationally successful SF writer born in Brandon, the first two being Douglas Hill and E.M. Hull. I moved to Toronto in 1986 and married Janice Beitel in April 2001; our daughter Paige was born in May 2003. We live in East Toronto. I am the author of eight published novels, one short story collection and one non-fiction book, as well as numerous short stories and articles. Since 2002 I divide my time between writing fiction and consulting in the area of Strategic Foresight (technology foresight, chiefly in scenario design).
Shelley Simmons
Shelley has over 10 years experience in the digital marketing and entertainment spaces. Her work includes online campaigns, social networking strategies and producing interactive narratives. She has also done pioneering research and development in online investor relations. She has held positions at Thomson Financial, Sulake Canada (Habbo Hotel) and Syncapse Corporation and has worked with clients including Astral Media, 3M, Lavalife and Cadbury. She has produced an interactive short film at the Canadian Film Center (Meanwhile.ca) and an interactive instillation at the Pearson Airport (touchandgoproject.ca). She has also worked on online gaming narrative for a CBC TV production, The Border. Shelley holds a BFA Honours in Fine Arts Cultural Studies from York University. In her free time you can catch her playing Ultimate Frisbee, downhill skiing, running along the lakeshore or wandering through a Queen West gallery. Or she may catch you to play a strategic board game, Catan!
Last Modified:04/01/2010 3:16:17 PM
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