Hi I’m Tom, I’m a game designer who also does policy and data analysis. I currently work as a game designer in the US national security sphere, but I’ve also been a lifelong hobby gamer and lover of all things tabletop!
I’ve done a lot of different things over the years – among other things, I have:
- Taught, facilitated, and designed wargames for education as a Wargame Instructional Fellow for the US Army War College
- Received the Army Achievement Medal for Civilian Service for my work as co-designer and facilitator on the Arctic Dominance 2028 wargame
- Lead the design of The Itoora Peace Game, an in-development training simulation for humanitarian crisis workers and military personnel. I have facilitated the simulation for soldiers of the US Army Reserves Civil Affairs Command and students at the University of Pittsburgh.
- Analyzed and cleaned data for a project evaluating the ability of female adolescents to self-screen contraindications for birth control [conditions which would make use of birth control dangerous] – you can find the resulting publications here and here
- Collected and analyzed police union contracts in Allegheny County
- Built a dashboard for tracking cyber and cyber-enabled counterfeiting
- Made GIS visualizations for an advocacy group seeking to improve coverage and accuracy in the 2020 census
- Helped teachers learn how to teach robotics for grade school education at the National Robotics Engineering Center
In my spare time I design and play board games and roleplaying games; read history, political philosophy, fantasy, and science fiction (currently on an Ursula LeGuin kick, but my favorites to return to are usually from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series); wander the woods; paint miniature figurines; and very occasionally pen pieces for this website to keep in practice.
You can contact me at tvielott@gmail.com
Tom Vielott 