David I. Schwartz, Ph.D. (he/him/his) has been a leader in academic game design and development since founding the Game Design Initiative at Cornell University in 2001. In 2007, he joined the Rochester Institute of Technology, where he played a pivotal role in establishing the School of Interactive Games and Media (IGM) in 2011 and later served as its Director.

Dr. Schwartz’s research spans cybersecurity gamification, critical infrastructure, geogames, digital twins, and physically-based animation. He has collaborated with the Army Cyber Institute on Jack Voltaic, an open-source suite of serious games designed to educate communities worldwide about cybersecurity.

Currently, Dr. Schwartz is Area Director at RIT and continues to advance the field through projects such as developing games for the XRP open-source robot in partnership with Cornell University. His work emphasizes accessibility, innovation, and community engagement in game-based learning.