Brian Maresso

My name is Brian Maresso, I’m currently a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.  I received my Masters degree in Computer Science from UWW in 2018 preceded by my undergraduate degree in 2017 (Computer Science major, Media Arts & Game Development minor w/ Technology emphasis).  My research is primarily focused on artificial intelligence, specifically related to the synthesis of human-like behavior in video game environments.  My Masters Thesis can be found here.

I’ve been programming since 2005, picking up a variety of languages along the way.  These days I’m primarily a Java and C# developer who occasionally returns to Processing, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript when necessary.  For game development and research, I’m an experienced Unity developer.

Course History:

• CS 296A- Introduction to C# (Spring 2019)
• COMM 490- Game Jam Practicum (Spring 2019)
• CS 220- Intermediate Java (Fall 2019)
• CS 332- Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (Fall 2019)

Contact Information:

Brian Maresso

University of Wisconsin- Whitewater

Department of Computer Science

Office: McGraw 101C

Email: maressobs24@uww.edu

My lecturers are often hands-on lab exercises which require creative coding to solve problems which students find relevant and exciting.  This includes an emphasis on projects over tests and presentations over quizzes.  When students graduate, they will find that proper communication skills and project management qualities will serve them much better than test-taking strategies.  Therefore, it is my job as their instructor to facilitate these skills.  I encourage students to come up with their own project ideas so they can work on something that excites them.  After all, we only get better at programming by doing it, but nobody wants to do something that bores them.  I find that students will go the extra mile and spend more time programming when they’re making something of their own design.  I am also a believer that all software is equal- be it a console application, a mobile app, a video game, or interactive art media.  So long as assignment criteria is met, I love to see students make something creative with their code.

Outside of the classroom, my interests include:

• Sports
  • Football- Chicago Bears Season Ticket Holder (an incredibly popular trait to have as a Wisconsin teacher)
  • Hockey- Chicago Blackhawks
• Music
  • Pink Floyd
  • Father John Misty
  • The Alan Parsons Project
  • Supertramp
• Video Games
  • Rollercoaster Tycoon (1999)
  • Age of Empires II
  • Halo Franchise
  • Sid Meier’s Civilization Franchise
  • Fallout Franchise
  • Battlefield Franchise
  • Call of Duty Franchise
• Books
  • 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
  • I, Robot & The Foundation by Isaac Asimov
  • 1984 & Animal Farm by George Orwell
  • Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
  • We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
  • Contact by Carl Sagan
  • Dune by Frank Herbert
• Movies
  • 2001: A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick
  • Contact by Robert Zemeckis
  • Interstellar by Christopher Nolan
  • Moon by Duncan Jones
  • Blade Runner by Ridley Scott
  • Blade Runner 2049 by Denis Villeneuve

The purpose of this webpage is to serve as a place to store miscellaneous projects I’ve worked on which are not fit for formal research.  Some of these projects will be incredibly niche with a very narrow appeal.  None of the content found here is related to classroom material or academic research.  Students looking for classroom content should look in the Canvas page instead- any announcements or notes will be posted there instead.

If you have have questions or comments, please let me know via the content information above.