Brian Magerko Appointed James and Mary Wesley Chair for New Media Studies

Brian Magerko has been appointed as the James and Mary Wesley Chair for New Media Studies in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication. Magerko is a Regents’ Professor of Digital Media and head of the Expressive Machinery Lab. He has served as director of graduate studies for the Digital Media Program for eight years and will step down from this leadership role on July 31.  

The endowed chair appointment is a renewable, three-year term, starting on Aug. 1. The endowed professorship is supported by a gift from James and Mary Wesley, long-time Atlanta philanthropists. The chair conducts research and develops and teaches courses within the School of Literature, Media, and Communication (LMC) and has recognized expertise in digital environments across media platforms.  

"Dr. Magerko's innovative work in cognition, coding education, and creativity makes him an ideal fit to serve as our Wesley Chair,” said Amanda Murdie, dean of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, Regents’ Professor, and Ivan Allen Jr. Chair in Liberal Arts and Technology. “This chair will help advance his groundbreaking research while also supporting his transformative leadership of LMC’s Digital Media Program.” 

Magerko’s expertise lies at the intersections of computation, cognition, and the social/creative interactions between humans and artificial intelligence. His research explores how studying human and machine cognition can inform the creation of new human/computer creative experiences. He has been research lead on more than $15 million of federally funded research and has authored over 100 peer-reviewed articles related to computational media, cognition, and learning.   

His work has been shown at galleries and museums internationally, and he co-founded a music-based learning environment for computer science, called EarSketch, that has been used by about 2 million learners worldwide. Magerko and his work have appeared in the New Yorker, USA Today, CNN, Yahoo! Finance, NPR, and other global and regional outlets. 

Magerko joined Georgia Tech in 2008 as an assistant professor of digital media. He received his B.S. in Cognitive Science from Carnegie Mellon University and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Michigan.  

“Dr. Magerko exemplifies our teaching and educational mission in his work on behalf of our Digital Media program,” said Kelly Ritter, chair of LMC and professor of Writing and Communication. “He has built an already strong and forward-looking program into an even better one that provides pathways for students and fellow faculty to accomplish their own professional and intellectual goals.”