Lecturer in Architecture, Clemson University
George Schafer, a registered architect, is currently a Lecturer in Architecture at the School of Architecture. He holds a Ph.D. in Planning, Design & the Built Environment from Clemson University (2015), a Master of Architecture from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design (1996) and BA in Architecture from Clemson University. George was professor-in-residence for the 2015-2016 academic year at the Daniel Center for Building Research and Urban Studies located in Genoa, Italy. In 2014 George received the Excellence in Teaching Award for Clemson University’s College of Architecture, Arts & Humanities.
George’s research focus is in cyber-physical systems, the user experience, and technology-enhanced literary texts and tools. His ongoing research explores the intersection between the domains of architecture, human-computer and robot interaction, library/information science and education through the design and evaluation of full-scale cyber-physical prototypes for children’s literacy attainment. George's most recent studies feature prototypes at two scales – the LIT Room, a room-scale installation for a public library’s children’s room; and the LIT KIT, a portable cyber-physical system for deployment classrooms and homes. In 2012, the LIT Room concept – which hypothesized that children’s literacy can be cultivated in an environment that is at once digital, physical and evocative of picturebooks – won funding from the National Science Foundation. George’s ongoing research has been featured internationally in conference proceedings and academic journals. Most recently, his paper, entitled “Words Become Worlds: The LIT Room, A Literacy Support Tool at Room-Scale,” won Best Paper at the 2018 Designing Interactive Systems (DIS) conference in Hong Kong.
Email: gschafe@g.clemson.edu