Nathan Stevens, MS ICT (May 2018)

Nathan Stevens, College Media Officer for the College of Communication and Information at the University of Kentucky, graduated from UK with a bachelor’s degree in telecommunications, which is now called media arts and studies.

Prior to working for the university, Stevens worked in television production at WTVQ (ABC 36) and WDKY (Fox 56) as a commercial and promotions producer. He shifted to teaching in the early 2000s before landing a 13-year job as an IT specialist with UK’s School of Journalism and Media.

Today, Stevens oversees video production and the CI CoLab, a collaborative learning lab in the College of Communication and Information. In the lab, he assists in research development and usability testing, along with Jesse Stallsworth, director of the CI CoLab and fellow graduate student.

“Some of the challenges of my job include springing new ideas to keep all the parts running. This entails brainstorming new ways to develop promotions for the college, searching new technology to test out in our lab from outside vendors, and simply sitting down and finding new problems to research,” Stevens said. “The rewards are much greater than the work put into the challenge, as I get to see the lab grow and maybe even help push innovation and research further than it previously might be.”

Stevens will earn a Master of Information Communication Technology in May 2018.

“ICT has opened my eyes to a bigger world of research that I had not thought existed. It has provided me the opportunity to find and develop research that is going to be impactful on a local and worldwide scale,” Stevens said.

Stevens research proposal, “Using Virtual Reality to Lessen Anxiety and Isolation” focuses on developing a virtual reality (VR) game that helps distract pediatric cancer patients from their hospital environment, thus lowering their anxiety.

When he’s not working or spending time with his children, Stevens watches movies and reviews video games and movies. His advice to students is to “Make the world a better place, don’t delay.”