Digital Media M.A. Students Earn Recognition for Research and Creative Work
Four students in the Digital Media master’s program at the Nicholson School of Communication and Media are making an impact through publications, international conferences, public outreach and campus awards.
Written by: Emily Dougherty | Published: June 15, 2026
Graduate students in the Digital Media Master of Arts (DMMA) program at the Nicholson School of Communication and Media’s (NSCM) are earning recognition across a wide range of scholarly and creative fields, with recent accomplishments taking them from local conferences to international exhibitions and research presentations.
João de Mendonça Salim, Shyla Nuxol, Jasmine Darman and Martuza Ferdous have showcased their work spanning game studies, generative artificial intelligence, electronic literature, immersive storytelling and digital design. Together, their achievements reflect the interdisciplinary nature of the program and the growing impact of graduate student research at NSCM.
Salim and Nuxol both earned acceptance to the 2026 Electronic Literature Organization (ELO) Conference, where scholars and artists from around the world examine how literature evolves through digital technologies and interactive media.
Darman’s interactive virtual reality experience was also selected for the event.
“I submitted my work, Story of Joe, it’s an interactive VR demo that allows users to explore a virtual hallway where they learn more about narrative design through choices they make,” she says. “I’m proud of the level of work, narrative direction, and quality I put into the demo.”
Salim’s accomplishments this year also included an upcoming publication titled, “Community Contextualization of Mobile Game Ads Through YouTube Essays” in ACM’s Games: Research and Practice journal, and a co-authored project titled “Cataloging the World Exhibition: A Living Survey of Physical World Representations in Videogames” led by Assistant Professor Sercan Sengun that will be presented at the International Conference of the Immersive Learning Research Networkin Greece this summer.
“I am proud to have shared my work this year across a range of venues,” Salim says. “I am especially grateful to Dr. Sengun for his mentorship and guidance, and for the opportunity to contribute as a co-author on his research.”
Nuxol presented research on generative AI and music production at the UCF Student Scholar Symposium and UCF Libraries AI Day, and served as an invited speaker at the UCF Alternate Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) Innovation Discovery (AVID) Conference, which aims to promote the growth of a vibrant community of professionals working in immersive technologies. Her interactive net-art project, a very friendly computer virus, was also accepted for exhibition at ELO 2026.
“It has been an exciting semester to be working at the intersection of emerging technology, design and human experience,” Nuxol says. “Presenting my work at the Student Symposium and having my electronic literature work accepted by ELO feels like a meaningful step toward conversations I hope to keep contributing to.”
Beyond research and creative production, students have also been recognized for their contributions to the university and broader community. Darman represented UCF at the Orlando Science Center’s SPARK STEM Fest, where she introduced visitors, including younger audiences, to game development and digital storytelling tools. She was also named the Nicholson School’s Outstanding Teaching and Service Master’s Student.
Meanwhile, Ferdous received both the Judges’ Choice and People’s Choice awards at the Student Scholar Symposium, a rare distinction that reflects the quality of his work and its ability to engage a broad audience.
“What stands out about this program is the space it creates for creativity and technology to come together—from the Makers Lab and the tools it puts in students’ hands, to faculty who help that work reach beyond the classroom,” Ferdous says.”I’m grateful to be part of it.”
The accomplishments of Salim, Nuxol, Darman and Ferdous highlight how DMMA students are contributing to conversations surrounding artificial intelligence, immersive media, games and digital culture while sharing their work with audiences both at UCF and around the world.