David Schwartz
Director of the School of Interactive Games and Media
David Schwartz
Director of the School of Interactive Games and Media
Education
BS, MS, Ph.D., University at Buffalo
Bio
David I. Schwartz, Ph.D. (he/him/his) has worked in the academic field of game design and development since 2001, when he founded the Game Design Initiative at Cornell University. In 2007, Schwartz moved to the Rochester Institute of Technology as a game design and development faculty member who formed the School of Interactive Games and Media (IGM) in 2011. After receiving tenure in 2011, he became IGM's Director in 2015. His current research focuses on cybersecurity gamification, critical infrastructure, geogames, digital twins, and physically-based animation.
Currently Teaching
In the News
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December 12, 2025
Digital Twins Are Changing University Campus Operations
Government Technology speaks to David Schwartz, director of the School of Interactive Games and Media, about digital twins—virtual versions of real-world spaces.
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May 27, 2025
RIT named a top 5 university to study game design
RIT was ranked No. 5 on the Animation Career Review list of Top 50 Game Design Schools and Colleges in the U.S. and No. 2 New York state.
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March 19, 2025
RIT ranked a top-10 university for game designers and developers
RIT’s game design and development program was ranked sixth at the undergraduate level and 10th at the graduate level in new international rankings from The Princeton Review.
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October 27, 2025
Schwartz and Weeden present at VDS.tech
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July 25, 2025
Schwartz presents games at DEF CON conference
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June 9, 2025
Schwartz presents at Geogames Symposium
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May 28, 2025
Schwartz facilitates Chaplaincy Game Jam