Team
Core Faculty List
Director
Dana Karwas
dana.karwas@yale.eduDana Karwas is the Director of CCAM and faculty at the Yale School of Architecture. Her teaching and research focuses on mechanized perception and design for terrestrial and celestial spaces. She holds a PhD in Urban Systems from NYU Engineering; an MPS from NYU’s Tisch School of the arts, and a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Kansas. At CCAM, Dana curates all programming and directs the research activities at the center. She leverages her interdiscipolinary architecture background to activate CCAM’s mission to create transdisciplinary overlaps with art, science, and engineering. Read more >>
Assistant Director
Lauren Dubowski
lauren.dubowski@yale.edushe/her
Dr. Lauren Dubowski is an artistic leader and writer. As CCAM Assistant Director, she collaborates with the team in producing, developing, and curating the center’s programming, projects, and research. From January to August 2025, she served as CCAM Interim Director and Principal Investigator of the Yale-HP Curricular Technology Project grant. Lauren received her DFA and MFA in Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism from the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. She was a Fulbright fellow to Poland and a Luce Scholar in Indonesia.
Program Manager
Matthew Suttor
matthew.suttor@yale.eduDr. Matthew Suttor is a composer and educator who is passionate about exploring the intersection of technology and music, Matthew is a longstanding member of the CCAM community, and he brings more than two decades of experience at Yale. Matthew collaborates closely with the CCAM team to develop and implement programming, as well as continue his work as a teacher and mentor. Matthew is driven by questions surrounding the creation of music from the patterns found in the natural world, the achievement of effective collaboration with AI, and the possibility of teaching creativity.
Technical Manager and Curator, Sound Art Series
Ross Wightman
ross.wightman@yale.eduhe/him
Ross Wightman is a double bassist and composer from New Jersey. He is the founder, curator and producer of the CCAM Sound Art Series as well as the founder of the CCAM Audio Composition Collective (CCAMACC), which creates virtual, multimedia musical performances for remote laptop ensemble. He teaches courses on Computer Music Composition and is faculty at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. rosswightman.net
Film Advisor
Susan Youssef
susan.youssef@yale.edushe/her
Susan Youssef is a Brooklyn-born director who lives between Amsterdam, Netherlands, where she has been making films, and Connecticut, where she is the Yale CCAM Film Advisor. She has become recognized for a diverse body of work, from her indie movies, to video art commissioned by the Tate Modern, to her time spent within the studio system in the ABC/Disney Director and NBCU Launch Programs. Susan is a member of the Directors branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Read more >>
Artists in Residence
Writer in Residence
Alex Zafiris
maquette@yale.eduAlex Zafiris is a writer based in New York. She has contributed to Bomb, Guernica, and The Paris Review Daily. Alex spearheaded, launched, and edits CCAM’s journal Maquette, an archive in motion of the creative projects and culture of CCAM.
Faculty Fellows
Faculty Fellow
Sarah Oppenheimer
Sarah Oppenheimer is an architectural manipulator whose work explores the emergent relations between human and non-human systems. Rhythms and timescales of living systems flow from body to building and back again. The viewer is transformed into an agent of spatial change. Oppenheimer lives and works in New York, USA and Rotterdam, NL, and is a Professor in the Practice at Yale School of Art. sarahoppenheimer.com
Ultra Space Faculty Fellow
Ariel Ekblaw
Dr. Ariel Ekblaw is the founder and CEO of Aurelia Institute, where she strives to bring humanity’s space exploration future to life. Through architecture R&D, education and outreach, and policy thought leadership, she is building a remarkable team and a novel FRO (Focused Research Organization) to expand humanity’s horizons and scale life in space. Ariel co-teaches the Mechanical Artifact Ultra Space class (ARCH 2238) at the Yale School of Architecture with CCAM Director, Dana Karwas.