Mike Treanor

Mike Treanor is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Computer Science at American University. His research develops AI systems for interactive media that can represent complex ideas through play. He works at the intersection of artificial intelligence, interactive systems, and computational media theory, with a focus on procedural expression and interpretation. This includes how interactive systems represent and mean what they do, and how to engineer systems that carry that meaning through interaction.

His work includes generative and social AI systems, festival-recognized games, applied collaborations outside academia, and substantial program-building in computer science and computational media. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science and an M.F.A. in Digital Arts and New Media from UC Santa Cruz.

Research interests

• Computational models of social interaction
• AI-based game design and procedural content generation
• Symbolic AI and logic-based knowledge representation
• Explainable AI for interactive systems
• Evaluation of generative interactive systems
• Semiotics of computational media
• Game-based education and assessment
• Live generative tools

He can be reached at: treanor@american.edu.