Fellows
The Department of Emerging Technology in Business + Design periodically awards the ETBD Senior Research Fellows (SRF). This fellowship is awarded to practicing interactive media professionals who have distinguished themselves in their fields. The SRF is a year-long appointment where the Fellow leads research activity, workshops, lectures, and other activities to engage the academic and professional communities in a dialogue.
The first two fellowships were awarded to Ted Smith, Ph.D. and Nick Gillespie, Ph.D.
Ted Smith, Ph.D.
EVP, Patient Engagement, Health Central
Ted is currently serving as EVP of Patient Engagement for Health Central following the acquisition of his company MedTrackAlert by Health Central in June of 2008. In this role Ted is responsible for customer database growth and activity with an emphasis on consumer research and lead generation programs. Ted co-founded MedTrackAlert in 2005. Prior to MedTrackAlert he was the Senior Vice President of Research and Intelligence, CNET Networks. Ted was responsible for the thought leadership and primary research that supports the effectiveness of CNET Networks’ products. Also at CNET Networks, Ted was the general manager of the Business sites (news.com, zdnet.com, techrepublic.com, bnet.com). Under Ted’s leadership, he grew the reach of these sites from 25MM to 32MM users per month and was responsible for a $38MM P&L.
Ted has more than a decade of research experience in the high-technology arena. Prior to moving into interactive media, he was CEO of Gartner Institute, where he built an IT workforce research business and online certification program. Earlier in his career, Ted directed the professional development programs of more than 30,000 technology professionals worldwide for Andersen Consulting, LLP (now Accenture).
Ted has a bachelor’s degree in biology and psychology from Allegheny College in Meadville, PA, and an M.A. and a Ph.D. in cognitive science from Miami University in Oxford, OH. Ted’s post-doctoral research was conducted in conjunction with NASA at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Ted holds a U.S. Patent on the use of virtual environments for education. Ted also served as Co-Investigator for the 1998 Neuroloab space shuttle mission on which his virtual reality experiments were conducted.
Ted was awarded the prestigious NASA Graduate Research Fellowship from 1989–1992 He has served in several professional advisory capacities including
- Miami University: Sr Research Fellow Interactive Media Studies 2008-Present
- Obama for America: Precinct Captain and Finance Advisor 2007–2008
- Louisville Science Center: Executive Board of Directors 2006-Present
- University of Virginia: Social Network Analysis Roundtable 2003–2005
- Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS)
- NSF Visiting Advisory Board 2001–2003
- Journal of Interactive Learning Environments Editorial Board 1998-Present
Nick Gillespie, Ph.D.
Editor-in-Chief, Reason.com and Reason.tv
Nick Gillespie is editor in chief of Reason.tv and Reason.com, which draws 2.5 million visits per month and features the staff weblog Hit & Run, named by Playboy, Washingtonian, and others as one of the best political blogs.
Gillespie served as Reason magazine’s editor-in-chief from 2000 to 2008. Under his direction, Reason won the 2005 Western Publications Association “Maggie” Award for Best Political Magazine. Gillespie originally joined Reason‘s staff in 1993 as an assistant editor and ascended to the top slot in 2000. In 2004, Gillespie edited the book Choice: The Best of Reason, an anthology of the magazine’s best articles.
The Washington Post featured Gillespie’s tenure at Reason magazine, asking, “Which monthly magazine editor argues that the spread of pornography is a victory for free expression? And that drugs from marijuana to heroin should not only be legalized, but using them occasionally is just fine? And is also quite comfortable with gay marriage? The answer is Nick Gillespie, libertarian and doctor of literature, who…is injecting [Reason magazine] with a pop-culture sensibility.”
Gillespie’s work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, Slate, Salon, Time.com, Marketplace, and numerous other publications. He was a regular contributor to the late, lamented satire site, Suck, where he wrote under the name Mr. Mxyzptlk.
He is a frequent commentator on radio and television networks such as National Public Radio, CNBC, CNN, C-SPAN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC. He has also worked as a reporter for several New Jersey newspapers and as an editor at several Manhattan-based music, movie, and teen magazines. He is almost certainly the only journalist to have interviewed both Ozzy Osbourne and the 2002 Nobel laureate in economics, Vernon Smith.
In 1996, Gillespie received his Ph.D. in English Literature from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He also holds an M.A. in English with a concentration in creative writing from Temple University and a B.A. in English and Psychology from Rutgers University. Gillespie, the father of two sons, lives in Washington, DC, and Oxford, Ohio.