A record number of new faculty will join the iSchool this fall: 13 across ranks and disciplines.
"We are excited to grow and strengthen our programs even further," said Interim Dean Emily Knox. "This talented and unprecedentedly large group of new scholars helps to further ensure a bright future for the iSchool's teaching and research."
Alex Damarjian, Teaching Associate Professor
A technical artist, educator, and researcher, Damarjian is the program developer for the new MS in game development at the University of Illinois and previously served as a specialized faculty member in Informatics. His work bridges game development, immersive technologies, and interactive media and spans both the video game industry and higher education. He has worked with organizations including Netflix Games, Amazon Game Tech, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and High Voltage Software, while also teaching courses in game design, animation, video production, and digital media. His research focuses on serious games, virtual and augmented reality, human-computer interaction, and the use of interactive technologies to improve education and healthcare, especially to solve real-world problems and make complex concepts more engaging and accessible.
His published research includes the use of advanced augmented reality technologies in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder; he continues to explore how game technologies can improve learning, rehabilitation, and patient outcomes.
Damarjian has a BA and MAT from Columbia College Chicago, an MS in computing and digital media from DePaul University, an MFA in game and interactive media design from Savannah College of Art and Design, and a PhD in technology and humanities from Illinois Institute of Technology.
Katryna Starks, Teaching Assistant Professor
After serving as a specialized faculty member in Informatics since March of 2025, Starks has joined the permanent faculty at the iSchool. She specializes in game studies, interactive narrative, and the psychology of serious games. With a doctorate in psychology from the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia, she focuses her research on how video games can be leveraged to foster health-promoting behaviors, influence player identity—particularly among youth and female players—and enhance learning through prosocial impact.
She is notably recognized for developing the "Cognitive Behavioral Game Design" (CBGD) framework, a model designed to integrate psychological principles into game mechanics for therapeutic and educational purposes. In addition to her research, she has played a pivotal role in academic curriculum design, including the co-development of a Bachelor of Serious Games and the creation of an interactive narrative minor. During her studies in Australia, The Guardian included her in a roundup of "people pushing Australian gaming forward."
In addition to her doctorate, Starks holds a BS in communications from Pepperdine University and an MS in psychology from Walden University.
Butt is a makerspace and game design educator with specialties in escape room design, board games, game literacies, art, and community engagement with a focus on youth and teen services. She currently has eight years' experience developing and teaching courses around makerspaces/makerspace librarianship, board games, escape rooms, and introductory game design; prior to teaching at the university level, she worked in teen services librarianship and makerspace programming for teens.
Her current interests center around course design for experiential and project-based learning that support the growth of key design and learning skills in students, particularly those around collaboration, communication, critical thinking and handling ambiguity. She is also interested in how these experiences affect students' self-concept, identity, and evaluation of their own capacities.
She holds a BA in political science, gender & women's studies, and economics and an MSLIS from the University of Illinois.
Velazquez's work sits at the intersection of 3D art, technical art, game development, creative production workflows, and applied technology. Previously a specialized faculty member in Informatics, he brings more than 25 years of professional experience across AAA and independent games, simulation, VR, film/VFX, digital production, and tool development.
His current applied scholarship and creative practice focus on AI-assisted workflows, constrained-platform development, and the use of technical artifacts as teaching and research material.
Across his career, Velazquez has contributed to shipped games and production projects across PC, mobile, Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo platforms, with work spanning art direction, technical art, character and vehicle art, rigging, animation, tools, pipelines, simulation media, and creative leadership. He holds an associate's degree from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh.
Originally published on the School of Information Sciences News Feed.