THE EDUCATOR WHO BUILT RHETORYX.
DR. BLAINE
FISHER.
PH.D. · MS · MA · NRP · PG-CERT
Classroom veteran. Geospatial scientist. Former flight paramedic. Builder of RHETORYX.
Thirteen years at Tulane training faculty in classroom technology. A PhD spent flying drones over 1,200-year-old Maya fortifications in Guatemala. Eight years before that running calls in the back of an ambulance. Strange-looking résumé. It makes more sense once you hear him teach.
BLAINE FISHER // IN THE CLASSROOM
Founder, professor, and builder of RHETORYX.
A CAREER SPENT
LEARNING TO TEACH.
Every line on the résumé above is an answer to the same question. How do you teach someone to make the right call when the stakes are real and the time is short? You don’t do it with lectures. You teach them the material, then you train them to explain it on the spot, under pressure, without a week to polish the answer. You grade what happens in that moment. RHETORYX is the platform he wished he had every semester he taught.
[ QUOTE ]“If we teach our students right, AI makes them more human than they’ve ever been.”
■DR. BLAINE FISHER, ON TEACHING WITH AI
FROM THE FIRETRUCK
TO THE FACULTY MEETING.
1999 — 2006
Volunteer Firefighter
Boothville-Venice Volunteer Fire Department
Started in emergency response out of Boothville, Louisiana. House fires, car crashes, the occasional rescue in the marsh. The training stuck.
2003 — 2005
Structural Welder
Premier Industries, Venice LA
Ship-construction welding in the Venice yards. Confined spaces, ladders in July heat, ultrasonic-inspected welds you could not afford to get wrong. Learned that craft is built in the joints nobody ever sees.
2007 — 2013
Critical Care & Flight Paramedic
Acadian Ambulance + East After Hours Urgent Care
Eight years as a paramedic, ground and air. Trauma calls, cardiac calls, behavioral-crisis calls, long-haul critical-care transports at 2 a.m. You learn to make decisions out loud while people watch. That part ended up in the platform.
2006 — 2014
First Responder, Safety & Training
Audubon Nature Institute
First time he had to train anyone other than himself. Safety programs for Zoo staff and visitors, evacuation drills, emergency preparedness for a property that hosts school groups every weekend. Won ZOOper Star Employee of the Year in 2010.
2012 — PRESENT
Senior Instructional Technology Specialist
Tulane University — Information Technology
Thirteen years inside Tulane’s central teaching-technology group. Canvas admin, faculty onboarding, the W.A.V.E. workshop series, the Preflight Bootcamp before every fall and spring semester, and a lot of one-on-one hours helping professors figure out why something wasn’t working. Over 2,000 educators trained.
2014 — PRESENT
Adjunct Professor, Emergency & Security Studies
Tulane University — School of Professional Advancement
Designed and taught the Health & Medical Issues in Emergency Management course at graduate and undergraduate levels. Twelve modules covering bioterrorism, pandemic response, crisis communication, and mental health in the middle of a disaster.
2022 — PRESENT
Adjunct Professor, Information Technology
Tulane University — School of Professional Advancement
Currently teaches AI in Modern Society, The Ethics of Technology Through Science Fiction, UI/UX Design Fundamentals, and Enterprise Applications Architecture. Also runs AI bootcamps for working professionals from outside the university.
2024 — PRESENT
Geospatial Science Researcher & Drone Operator
MissDelta — Mississippi River Delta Transition Initiative
Remote-sensing and GIS lead on a $22M, five-year National Academies initiative projecting the future of the Mississippi Delta. LiDAR, multispectral, thermal, and photogrammetry flown over the Birdsfoot region. One of fourteen institutions on the consortium.
REMOTE SENSING
AT TWO EXTREMES.
CLASSIC MAYA DEFENSIVE EARTHWORKS
DOS AGUADAS, GUATEMALA · PhD DISSERTATION · LSU 2024
LiDAR, GIS, and photogrammetry over Classic Maya fortifications. Least-cost path analysis, line-of-sight models, labor-investment calculations. All in service of a simple question: how did the people who built these earthworks defend them during the Tikal-Calakmul war, and what can the ground tell us that the codices can’t?
MISSISSIPPI RIVER DELTA TRANSITION INITIATIVE
MissDelta · $22M, 5-YEAR · NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCE · 2024–PRESENT
Geospatial lead on a fourteen-institution consortium modeling what the Birdsfoot Delta might look like in thirty years under different climate and river-management scenarios. Drone-based LiDAR, multispectral, and thermal imagery feed the projections. A working science project, and a reason to keep flying drones.
SIX COURSES,
THREE SCHOOLS.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
AI in Action
Graduate + undergraduate
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
The Ethics of Technology Through Science Fiction
Undergraduate
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
UI/UX Design Fundamentals
Undergraduate
EMERGENCY & SECURITY STUDIES
Health & Medical Issues in Emergency Management
Graduate + undergraduate
EMERGENCY & SECURITY STUDIES
Emergency Management Training & Exercises
Undergraduate
SCIENCE & ENGINEERING
River and Stream Restoration
Co-Professor, Graduate
[ QUOTE ]“Don’t other AI. It’s another tool in our story.”
■ON FRAMING AI FOR STUDENTS
BIWEEKLY. FOR EDUCATORS.
2,000+ TRAINED.
A 90-minute workshop Dr. Fisher runs on alternate Tuesdays at Tulane. He started it before ChatGPT had a mobile app and has not stopped. More than 2,000 faculty, staff, and administrators have come through.
W.A.V.E. / 01
AI Fundamentals
W.A.V.E. / 02
AI for Course Development
W.A.V.E. / 03
AI for Research
W.A.V.E. / 04
AI Ethics
W.A.V.E. / 05
AI for Personalized Learning
W.A.V.E. / 06
AI and the Future of Higher Ed
W.A.V.E. / 07
9-5 AI: Artificial Intelligence for Daily Productivity
W.A.V.E. / 08
AI as a Second Brain
W.A.V.E. / 09
Augmented Decision Making with AI
A PUBLIC VOICE
ON AI + EDUCATION.
SELECTED TALKS
2026
4-Day AI Intensive Bootcamp for High School Students
Big Red Education, India
2025
Defensive Earthworks at Dos Aguadas — LiDAR & GIS Analysis
Society for American Archaeology, Denver
2024
Strategic Fortifications & Warfare at Dos Aguadas
South-Central Conference on Mesoamerica, Baton Rouge
2023
AI Decoded: From Neural Networks to Tomorrow’s Intelligence
TCC Federal Reserve Bank Keynote
2023
Fireside Chat: The Nexus of Technology, Pedagogy, and Equitable Learning
Top Hat on Campus
2023
Using AI to Create Your Course
CELT-ILC AI Series, Tulane
MEDIA ENGAGEMENTS
Fox 8 / WVUE
AI Bootcamp for Educators — On-Air Feature
The National Desk
FBI Warning on Manipulative Email Language
The National Desk
Federal Ban of AI Deepseek — Expert Commentary
Fox 8 / WVUE
Cybersecurity Tips for Home Internet Protection
NOLA.com / The New Orleans Advocate
Chemical Fire in Lake Charles After Hurricane Laura
iHeart Radio (Citizen Chef)
Disaster Relief Pt. 2 — From Food Line to Front Line
DEGREES, LICENSES,
CERTIFICATIONS.
Ph.D., Geography & Anthropology
Louisiana State University
Dissertation: LiDAR, GIS, and Remote Sensing of Classic Maya Defensive Earthworks at Dos Aguadas, Guatemala.
Master of Arts, Liberal Arts
Tulane University
Interdisciplinary coursework across public health, emergency management, and anthropology.
Master of Science, Healthcare Management
University of New Orleans
Healthcare economics, informatics, operational leadership.
Post-Graduate Certificate, Geographic Information Systems
Tulane University
Remote sensing, spatial analysis, ESRI ArcGIS.
Bachelor of General Studies
Southeastern Louisiana University
Minors in Health Education & Promotion and History.
Nationally Registered Paramedic (NRP)
National Registry of EMTs
Critical Care Transport and Tactical Operations Medical Technician certified.
USE WHAT HE BUILT
IN YOUR OWN COURSE.
RHETORYX is the platform Dr. Fisher wished he had in every semester he taught. Built on thirteen years of instructional-technology work at Tulane. Free for instructors. About ten minutes to set up a first assignment.