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Austin Yarger 
Austin is an international educator and Lecturer of Game Development in the University of Michigan’s College of Engineering, co-founder of the International Game Developers Association (Ann Arbor Chapter), and President of Arbor Interactive, a local game and software development firm (www.arborinteractive.com).
A long-time hobbyist game developer, Austin got his taste of professional game development in the summer of 2014 with an internship at Maxis (Electronic Arts) where he helped engineer 2015’s top selling computer game, The Sims 4. Austin has taught EECS 494 (www.eecs494.com) for 6+ semesters. His students have achieved positions at prestigious game developers such as Microsoft’s 343 Industries, Volition, Zynga, Google, Gaudium, NetEase, Jackbox Games, and Amazon Game Studios.
In addition to stops at EA Mobile and Facebook, Austin served as President of the Wolverine Soft game development organization from 2011 – 2014. He co-founded the Ann Arbor chapter of the International Game Developers Association (www.igda2.org), curates the MichiGames Arcade Cabinet, mentors the Huron High School Game Development Team, consults with technology startups in downtown Ann Arbor, and organizes multi-university exhibitions with Eastern Michigan University and Lawrence Technological University. He acquired a Bachelors and Masters degree from the University of Michigan in 2015 and 2018, respectively. His research interests include non-gaming applications of game development tools, technologies, and techniques. Learn more at www.ayarger.com.
Rushil Talla
Rushil is a Computer Science Engineering Senior at the University of Michigan. He took EECS 494 during Winter 2023, creating the 2D metroidvania platformer Otherworld. During the summer, he has continued working with Unity personally on a new game and even had the opportunity to develop a visualization tool app during an internship. Some of Rushil’s favorite games include Halo, Elden Ring, Jedi: Survivor, Minecraft, and Terraria. Outside of video games he enjoys tennis, hiking, photography/videography, and CAD/3d printing.
Alexander Kalams
Hi, I am Alex, and I am a Senior studying Computer Science interested in game development and game engines. Over the past Summer, I worked as an AR development intern at Schneider Electric where I developed an AR app in Unity which helped to speed up production. I am also a former student of EECS 494, where I created Desktop Defender, a cooperative action game where two players must protect their computer from invading malware. In my free time, I enjoy gaming and playing music on my guitar.