Research
Grants / Awards
- 2015-16 University of Miami School of Communication, Research/Creative Support and Service grant ($5,000)
- 2015 Open Society Foundations grant for “Cops and Rubbers: Training and Evaluation of a Serious Game as an Advocacy Strategy for Policy Reform” ($24,160)
- 2014 Meaningful Play award for Best Overall Non-Digital Game for Cops and Rubbers
- 2014 Invoking the Pause grantee for “Games for the Caribbean Climate” ($7,000)
- 2014 Miami Consortium for Latin American and Caribbean Studies’s Interdisciplinary Group (IRG) grant for “Por Estas Calles” ($10,000)
- 2014 University of Miami Engaged Faculty Fellows, Office of Civic Engagement
- 2014-15 University of Miami School of Communication, Research/Creative Support and Service grant ($5,000)
- 2012 The New Challenge inaugural social innovation grantee for “Amiguía Americana” immigration games, formerly “AmigoLegal Games” ($10,000)
Press
- Toma el Paso in the March 2015 issue of the American Psychological Association (APA)’s Monitor magazine
- Gaming the System, University of Miami’s MIAMI Magazine, Fall 2014
- Toma el Paso (Make a Move) in University of Miami eVeritas, August 2014: Professor’s Board Game Helps Young Immigrants Plot Their Future
- University of Miami’s MFA in Interactive Media named as one of Princeton Review’s Top 25 Graduate Video Game Design Programs
- TASAF, Humans vs. Mosquitoes, and VIS-a-VIS games in Games for a New Climate: Experiencing the Complexity of Future Risks, an academic publication released by Boston University’s The Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future (2012).
- Restaurant Opportunities Centers (ROC)-United Diners’ Guide mobile application in Forbes and NPR (2012).
- Cops & Rubbers in Hivnieuws (2012).
- University of Miami’s School of Communication’s new faculty in the South Florida Business Journal (2012).
- Humans vs. Mosquitoes in the Yale School of Public Health magazine’s Spring 2012 edition.
Publications
- Carcioppolo, N., Wendorf, J., Tran, L. (2015). Serious Games, Health, and Organizing. In T. R. Harrison & E. Williams (Eds.) Organizations, Communication, and Health. London, UK: Routledge.
Peer-Reviewed Conferences
- Tran,L. (2014). “Toma el Paso: An exploration of experiential game play for unaccompanied immigrant minors in the U.S.” Presented 100th Annual National Communication Association Conference. Chicago, Illinois. Panel Title: Creative Methodologies Among Hyper-Vulnerable Latina/os.
- Tran, L., Villar, M., & Wendorf, J. (2014). “Por Estas Calles” (“Through These Streets”). Presented 100th Annual National Communication Association Conference. Chicago, Illinois. Panel Title: Creative Methodologies Among Hyper-Vulnerable Latina/os.
- Tran, L. (2014). Creative Methodologies Among Hyper-Vulnerable Latina/os. Panel chair for 100th Annual National Communication Association Conference, Latino/Latina Communication Studies Division.
- Tran, L. (2014). Social Impact Games. Presentation at 100th Annual National Communication Association Conference. Chicago, Illinois.
- Tran, L., Lang, K., Carcioppolo, N., & Beyea, D. (2014). Role-Taking as an Advocacy Strategy for Policy Reform: A Comparative Analysis of Presentation Modes in Evoking Empathy and a Willingness to Act. Games, Learning & Society (GLS) Conference, Madison, WI.
- Tran, L., Carcioppolo, N., Colantonio, S., Ewing, C., Lang, K., Beyea, D., & Beecker, J. (2014). The empty comfort of vanity: assessing the effectiveness of an interactive game to increase skin cancer prevention outcomes. Poster presented at Games, Learning & Society (GLS) Conference, Madison, WI.
- Wendorf, J. & Tran, L. (2014). Experiential role play: data games for social change in Colombia. Paper presented at the 50th Annual Society for Latin American Studies Annual Conference. London, UK. Panel Title: Visual research, creative methodologies and the position of the subject: possibilities and limitations of creative experiences.
- Tran, L. (2013). Mechanics & Outcomes: Communicating humanitarian messages with games. Presentation at International Digital Media and Arts Association (IDMAa), Laguna, CA.
- Tran, L. (2013). Cops & Rubbers: A game promoting advocacy and empathy in support of public health and human rights of sex workers. Paper presented at Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA), Atlanta, GA.
- Tran, L. (2013). Factors for communicating humanitarian messages with games. Presentation at Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA), Atlanta, GA.
- Tran, L. (2013). Safety Nets Simplified: Simulated Decision-Making in Volatile Developing Economies. Poster presented at Games, Learning & Society (GLS) Conference, Madison, WI.
- Ewing, C. Tran, L., & Fanelli, K. (2013). Building a Gameful Classroom. Presentation at Games, Learning & Society (GLS)’s Playful Learning Summit, Madison, WI.
Tran, L. (2013). Cops & Rubbers: A game promoting advocacy and empathy in support of public health and human rights of sex workers. Presentation at Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association, Washington, D.C. - Tran, L. (2012). Gaming the System: Reforming communication and legal literacy through gameplay. Poster presented at Games, Learning & Society (GLS) Conference, Madison, WI.
- Tran, L. (2011). Seeds to Soil. Panelist at Culture Lab Newcastle’s Connected Communities symposium, Newcastle, UK.
Peer-Reviewed Exhibitions
- Tran, L. (2014). Cops & Rubbers. Game exhibited at Meaningful Play, East Lansing, MI.
- Tran, L., & Ewing, C. (2014). Humans vs. Mosquitoes: The card game. Game exhibited at Meaningful Play, East Lansing, MI.
- Ewing, C. & Tran, L. (2014). Vanity. Game exhibited at Meaningful Play, East Lansing, MI.
- Tran, L. (2013). Cops & Rubbers. Game exhibited at Allied Media Conference’s Imagining a Better Future Through Play exhibition, Detroit, MI.
- Tran, L., & Ewing, C. (2012). Humans vs. Mosquitoes: The card game. Game exhibited at SOMArts, San Francisco, CA.
- Ewing, C. & Tran, L. (2012). Humans vs. Mosquitoes: The field game. Game exhibited at Come Out and Play, San Francisco, CA.
- Tran, L., Norskov, B., Jackson, M., & Dykast, H. (2012.) Magnitude. Game exhibited at U.N. Rio+20, New York, NY.
- Ewing, C. & Tran, L. (2012). Humans vs. Mosquitoes: The field game. Game exhibited at DC Games, Washington, D.C.
- Ewing, C. & Tran, L. (2012). Humans vs. Mosquitoes: The field game. Game exhibited at DC Games, Washington, D.C.