A number of creative tasks involve a process of defining, exploring, and refining search spaces. For example, procedural content generation comprises a set of creative technical practices for generating digital artifacts, such as video game levels, with the goal of a diverse, novel, and high-quality range of output to create variation in game-player experiences. Story authorship, game development, digital art creation, and more follow similar patterns. However, current digital tools that could assist with this process are mainly limited to audiences who already have a high degree of skill and confidence with programming in general-purpose languages. Furthermore, even with proficiency in these tools, they are limited in the control they offer for exploring and systematically assessing the possibility space defined by author rules. In this proposal, I argue for building on the success of solver-aided languages of tools by addressing these needs of creative practitioners.

Ph.D. Carnegie Mellon University, 2015

Postdoc UC Santa Cruz, 2015-2016

Assistant Professor, NC State University, 2016-present