Joshua McCoy

Joshua McCoy is an Assistant Professor of Cinema and Digital Media and Computer Science at the University of California, Davis, holding a Ph.D. in Computer Science from UC Santa Cruz. His cross-disciplinary research focuses on game technology, artificial intelligence, social science, and design, aiming to create socially engaging playable experiences that address societal challenges through innovative computational approaches.

Research interests include:

• Integration of AI with social science models for character behavior
• Procedural narrative generation and emergent storytelling systems
• Social simulation architectures in gaming environments
• Experimental interfaces for embodied interaction

His publications demonstrate strong focus on AI-driven narrative systems, procedural content generation, and social agent modeling, with recent work advancing generative storytelling techniques and game mechanics ontology.

Key achievements include developing the award-winning Prom Week social simulation game, which pioneered AI systems for character interaction and was utilized in DARPA-funded military training programs for social scenario practice.