Dr. Bradford Mott is a 3-time graduate of the Computer Science department, graduating with a BS and MS in 1994 and 96 respectively, and culminating with a Ph.D. in 2006.

Currently, Brad is a Senior Research Scientist in the Center for Educational Informatics in the Department of Computer Science at NC State with multiple natural language processing patents to his credit. His research is in the areas of artificial intelligence and human-computer interaction with a focus on game-based learning environments, intelligent tutoring systems, natural language processing, and interactive narrative technologies. His work includes the design, development, and investigation of advanced technologies for education, training, and entertainment, including work that investigates the use of game-based learning to promote K-12 computer science and artificial intelligence education.

Dr. Mott has served as Principal Investigator and Co-Principal Investigator on projects supported by more than $20 million in funding from federal agencies and other organizations, including the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the the US Army Research Laboratory (ARL), and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Dr. Mott’s research on computational models of interactive narrative, included the design and development of the Crystal Island game-based learning environment for middle school science education. For over a decade, Crystal Island has served as a platform for extensive research investigating game-based learning, intelligent tutoring, narrative planning, self-regulated learning, and student modeling. Thousands of students across North Carolina have participated in studies using Crystal Island, which have resulted in over 100 peer-reviewed publications.

In addition to his academic experience, Dr. Mott has extensive experience in the video game industry, having served as Technical Director at Emergent Game Technologies where he created cross-platform middleware solutions for Xbox and PlayStation video game consoles. Prior to joining Emergent, he co-founded LiveWire Logic, a venture-backed AI-based enterprise software company. At LiveWire Logic, he served as the Vice President of Technology and led the design of the RealDialog™ product suite — an AI-based automated customer service solution.
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Dr. Mott is also a contributor to open-source software projects, including the Stella Multi-Platform Atari 2600 Emulator, which he originally developed and later launched as an open-source project to sustain its development. Stella has seen active development for over twenty-five years, has been used by video game enthusiasts around the world, and has received extensive use in the AI research community to develop advanced machine learning techniques to train AI agents to perform at superhuman levels through the Arcade Learning Environment and OpenAI Gym.