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Susanne Coates

Photo of Susanne Coates

Senior Web Developer, College of Arts and Humanities

(301) 314-0985

2151 Taliaferro Hall
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Tue - Wed: 9:00 am - 5:00 pm

Education

Ph.D., Neuroscience, Pennsylvania State University, College of Medicine
B.S., Biology, Virginia Commonwealth University
Certificate, Documentary Filmmaking, George Washington University, Columbian College of Arts & Science

Research Expertise

Documentary
Film
Photography

Dr. Susanne Coates is a multimedia specialist with a diverse background that spans software development, electronics, biological science, artificial intelligence, systems integration, and media production. Her personal research interests include the development of collaborative, geolocated, multi-modal storytelling paradigms and the web-based technologies to support them. Such paradigms are particularly useful to educate about complex issues – such as global climate change and environmental pollution – which span time, location, and information modality.

Over the course of her career, Dr. Coates has coded in a variety of languages for a variety of applications including artificial neural networks, robotics, nerve-to-computer interfacing, geolocation, and multimedia. As a graduate student she created the first published implementation of a parallel-processed, artificial neural network on an ad-hoc computing cluster for which she won third place in the engineering category at the Penn State Graduate Research Exhibition. She then used the software and hardware she designed to create a nerve-to-computer interface between the eye of a horseshoe crab and a computer. That work became the basis for her book, "Neural Interfacing: Forging the Human-Machine Connection." Additionally, she developed application software used by scientists to study chemical messaging in the brain. The software is currently in use in laboratories worldwide including the National Institutes of Health in the United States.

Through her previous company Techcentric Design Group, LLC, Dr. Coates worked with numerous clients for nearly a decade to create video, multimedia assets, and software. Her film work has been screened at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank, Ca.), the Environmental Film Festival (Washington, DC), the Red Rock Film Festival (Utah), and other venues. Presently, she produces documentary films focusing on women, the environment, and social justice (IMDb) through Wyld Earth Films, LLC, a production company she co-founded with Emily Wathen. Additionally, she enjoys public speaking and often speaks on subjects related to the intersection of science, technology and storytelling (Ted Talk on TED.com)

Dr. Coates joined the University of Maryland in 2014 as a Drupal/PHP developer in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. In April of 2016, she joined the College of Arts and Humanities as a Senior Web Developer where she developed a Multimedia Content Archiving and Distribution System (MCADS) used to distribute and manage content across the college’s 20+ websites. The system is written in PHP and is built on the Drupal CMS. 

For more information about Dr. Coates see: http://susannecoates.com