Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Prof. Bess was introduced to video games at a very early age. After studying Computer Animation and Interactive Media at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, he began work as a 3D modeler and assistant manager for a company working with the Naval Research Laboratory. At that point, he decided to return to his first love and pursue an MS in Interactive Entertainment that led to a job at Electronic Arts working on the NBA LIVE video game franchise. In late 2018 he began traveling Asia and was offered a position here in SUNY Korea teaching game design and other design-related courses.
Teaching
Prof. Bess incorporates a hybrid of teaching styles, including problem-based learning and collaborative pedagogy. Courses are designed to be a mix of lectures and opportunities for students to engage with their peers. In EST 310 - Design of Computer Games, students learn how to approach game design by engaging in both active and passive play. At the end of the semester, students are put into small teams and implement their acquired knowledge to create physical prototypes of their ideas. This approach allows for a deeper understanding of iterative design and the benefits of rapid prototyping.
Other courses that Prof. Bess teaches include:
EST 100 - Designing, Producing & Presenting Multimedia Projects
EST 204 - Modern Digital Technology and Innovation
EST 305 - Applications Software for Information Management
Past and Present Research
Currently, Prof. Bess is working on a GCC granted research project with Dr. Suzana Brown and two other professors from universities in Greece and America. The goal is to redesign the foot of a crutch to improve its performance in muddy and uneven terrain. As this is a humanitarian grant, these crutch shoes are designed to aid Rohingya refugees currently located inside camps in Bangladesh.
As the designer for the project, Prof. Bess uses his skills to ideate, iterate, and test the performance of various designs. Responsibilities have also come to include project management to ensure timely deliverables to GCC. The project has yielded one paper for the International Conference on Intelligent Human-Computer Interaction and one journal paper published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Soon the team will apply for an additional grant that would see the design rolled out to a larger market in Bangladesh.