Category: Voices of XR

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Voices of XR: Benjamin Suarez-Jimenez

speaker Benjamin Suarez-Jimenez.

VR & PTSD, Trauma, and Resilience

speaker Benjamin Suarez-Jimenez.

Dr. Suarez-Jimenez is an Assistant Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Rochester. His research program in the ZVR lab aims to use virtual reality (VR), multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and machine learning to elucidate the psychological and neural signatures of PTSD and anxiety disorders. Particularly, to delineate the contextual aspect of threat and reward learning, discrimination, and monitoring. He is specifically interested in the case where an area within a larger environment becomes associated with threat, such as the area of a neighborhood where an assault or assaults took place, or location on a battlefield where explosions occurred. Patients with PTSD and anxiety disorders often show an overgeneralization or an exaggerated response to threat in larger contexts, even in environments predicting safety. With this research, he plans to identify new brain measures to develop sensitive, personalized, and precise diagnostic and treatment tools for psychology. He was recently awarded a $3.5 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to build upon work in the ZVR lab.

Suarez-Jimenez came to the University in January 2021. He is an active member of the Neuroscience Diversity Commission and has served as a mentor for the NEUROCITY program.

Where: Zoom
When: Monday, 3/20/23 from 10:25 to 11:40am EDT
Register: bit.ly/VoicesXRSuarezJimenez

The Voices of XR speaker series is made possible by Kathy McMorran Murray and the National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Traineeship (NRT) program as part of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Training in the Science, Technology, and Applications of Augmented and Virtual Reality at the University of Rochester (#1922591).

a person wearing a hijab and a virtual reality headset reaching out to an orb with text that reads, "Voices of XR."

Voices of XR is a Studio X speaker series. Speakers are scholars, artists, and extended reality professionals who discuss their work with immersive technologies across disciplines and industries. All talks are free and open to the general public.

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Voices of XR: Damien McDuffie

speaker Damien McDuffie.

Black Terminus AR

speaker Damien McDuffie.

Damien is a creative technologist, digital archivist, and augmented reality (AR) artist and developer. He is the founder of Black Terminus AR, a camera app and no-code AR art studio in your pocket that helps bring archives to life. He aims to make AR easy for artists, brands, and museums. Black Terminus AR allows user to view and create 2D and 3D AR projects using just a phone or tablet. Its drag and drop interface empowers users to create AR content without learning a ton of code or buying a bunch of gadgets. It saves artists and curation teams time and money. Damien is also the co-founder of Wine & Bowties, a digital agency that connects world-class brands with underrepresented creatives to help develop campaigns, curate experiences, produce cultural content, and showcase artifacts. He enjoys creating culture, producing live experiences, and crafting stories for brands.

He is currently a fellow in Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Black Public Media’s visiting artists program.

Where: Zoom
When: Wednesday, 3/15/23 from 10:25 to 11:40am EDT
Register: bit.ly/VoicesXRDamienMcDuffie

The Voices of XR speaker series is made possible by Kathy McMorran Murray and the National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Traineeship (NRT) program as part of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Training in the Science, Technology, and Applications of Augmented and Virtual Reality at the University of Rochester (#1922591).

a person wearing a hijab and a virtual reality headset reaching out to an orb with text that reads, "Voices of XR."

Voices of XR is a Studio X speaker series. Speakers are scholars, artists, and extended reality professionals who discuss their work with immersive technologies across disciplines and industries. All talks are free and open to the general public.

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Voices of XR: Mike Murdoch

speaker Mike Murdoch standing with his face partially obstructed by glass with different colored circles.

Color Science & Augmented Reality

Michael J. Murdoch is an Associate Professor and Director of the Munsell Color Science Laboratory at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where he teaches topics including colorimetry, psychophysics, lighting, and imaging. He leads a research project on color appearance in augmented reality (AR) funded by a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, and additionally conducts research on displays and temporally dynamic LED lighting. A recipient of a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award, he spent Fall 2023 in Ghent, Belgium, for collaborative research with K.U. Leuven. Before coming to RIT, Mike worked for Kodak Research and Philips Research, developing color system models and human-centered designs for solid state lighting, LCD, and OLED display systems. He holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from Cornell, MS in Computer Science from RIT, and PhD in Human-Technology Interaction from Eindhoven University of Technology in The Netherlands.

Michael’s website

Where: Zoom
When: Wednesday, 3/1/23 from 10:25 to 11:40am EST
Register: bit.ly/VoicesXRMikeMurdoch

Recording

The Voices of XR speaker series is made possible by Kathy McMorran Murray and the National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Traineeship (NRT) program as part of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Training in the Science, Technology, and Applications of Augmented and Virtual Reality at the University of Rochester (#1922591).

a person wearing a hijab and a virtual reality headset reaching out to an orb with text that reads, "Voices of XR."

Voices of XR is a Studio X speaker series. Speakers are scholars, artists, and extended reality professionals who discuss their work with immersive technologies across disciplines and industries. All talks are free and open to the general public.

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Voices of XR: The Ferryman Collective

Ferryman collective logo. Shows a grim reaper standing paddling in a boat.

Live Immersive VR Experiences

The Ferryman Collective is a passionate group of creative and technical professionals dedicated to bringing groundbreaking live, immersive narratives to life in virtual reality. Their company was born of the desire to explore what storytelling, interaction, immersion, and entertainment can be rather than what it has been, to define a new generation of media with live performance in XR. They are a new kind of virtual reality studio, paving the way forward in this brave new world. With a passionate team of multidisciplinary talents, Ferryman Collective aims to take you on unprecedented journeys into fantastic worlds and stories previously thought to be the stuff of dreams.

Where: Zoom
When: Monday, 2/20/23 from 10:25 to 11:40am EST
Register: bit.ly/VoicesXRFerryman

speaker Deirdre Lyons wearing a VR headset and smiling.

Deirdre V. Lyons is a Los Angeles producer and performer, with participation in over 75 film and theatrical productions throughout the west coast. Her production experience includes theater, film, webisodes and now virtual reality theater. Her VR experience started when she performed in two 180 films, The Willows and Freakin’ Weekend. She was a cast member of award-winning productions of The Under Presents and The Under Presents: Tempest from Los Angeles indie studio Tender Claws. She is a co-founder of Ferryman Collective, producing and performing in their first three productions. Gumball Dreams is their fourth production and her directorial debut. She is a sought-after speaker and an occasional lecturer at Chapman University.

speaker Stephen Butchko wearing a VR headset propped on his forehead.

Stephen Butchko received his Bachelor of Arts degree in theatre from Western Washington University. After moving to Los Angeles, he began producing and performing in independent theatrical and motion picture productions with his wife Deirdre V. Lyons. As a founding member of Ferryman Collective, Stephen began producing and performing in Virtual Reality with PARA, Krampusnacht, The Severance Theory: Welcome to Respite and Ferryman’s current production Gumball Dreams.

speaker Whitton Frank.
Photo by Wolf Marloh

Whitton Frank is a voice, film, television and theater actor from Los Angeles. Recent VR work includes the award winning shows Severance Theory: Welcome to Respite and Gumball Dreams with Ferryman Collective as well as their debut show Para. She is a company member, producer and performer with Ferryman Collective. She was an immersive actor in the groundbreaking VR worlds of Tender Claws: The Under Presents and The Tempest. She is a graduate of Carnegie Mello University and London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and is proud to have worked with many amazing theater companies in Los Angeles. In addition she is an audiobook narrator and can be found on Audible and other sites. In her copious free time she moonlights as a DJ specializing in vintage jazz, blues, and soul. 

Recording

The Voices of XR speaker series is made possible by Kathy McMorran Murray and the National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Traineeship (NRT) program as part of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Training in the Science, Technology, and Applications of Augmented and Virtual Reality at the University of Rochester (#1922591).

a person wearing a hijab and a virtual reality headset reaching out to an orb with text that reads, "Voices of XR."

Voices of XR is a Studio X speaker series. Speakers are scholars, artists, and extended reality professionals who discuss their work with immersive technologies across disciplines and industries. All talks are free and open to the general public.

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Voices of XR: Kaan Akşit

speaker Kaan Aksit.

Could holographic displays be the key to achieving realism?

Co-presented by Studio X, Goergen Institute for Data Science, and the Institute of Optics

Holographic displays have long been debated as the display technology that could bring true three-dimensionality, accurate color production, and retinal resolutions to our screens, including augmented reality glasses and virtual reality headsets. However, these promises of holographic displays have yet to be proven and delivered. In this talk, Dr. Akşit will introduce his group’s research work to deliver these promises and describe how they aim to provide life-like images by bridging the gap between Human-Visual Perception (HVS) and Computer-Generated Holography (CGH).

The research he will describe in this context spans from their open-source toolkit and new rendering algorithms to novel types of display hardware.

Where: Zoom
When: Monday, 2/6/23 from 3:30 – 4:30pm EST
Register: bit.ly/VoicesXRKaanAksit

Relevant Links

Course on Computer-Generated Holography and Human-Visual Perception
Our differentiable toolkit, Odak
Realistic Defocus Blur for Multiplane Computer-Generated Holography
HoloBeam: Paper-Thin Near-Eye Displays

Kaan Akşit is an Associate Professor in the Computer Science department at University College London, where he leads the Computational Light Laboratory. Kaan received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering at Koç University, Türkiye* in 2014. His M.Sc. degree is in electrical power engineering from RWTH Aachen University, Germany, obtained in 2010. Kaan received his B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Istanbul Technical University, Türkiye, in 2007. Kaan researches the intersection of light and computation, including computational approaches in imaging, graphics, fabrication, and displays. Kaan’s research works are widely known among the optics and graphics community for his contributions to display technologies dedicated to virtual reality, augmented reality, and three-dimensional displays with and without glasses. He worked as a research intern in Philips Research, the Netherlands, and Disney Research, Switzerland, in 2009 and 2013, respectively. In addition, he was a research scientist at NVIDIA, the USA, between 2014 and 2020. He is the recipient of Emerging Technologies best in show awards in SIGGRAPH 2018 and SIGGRAPH 2019, DCEXPO special prize in SIGGRAPH 2017, the best papers in IEEE VR 2017 and ISMAR 2018, and the best paper nominee in IEEE VR 2019 and IEEE VR 2021.

Recording

The Voices of XR speaker series is made possible by Kathy McMorran Murray and the National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Traineeship (NRT) program as part of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Training in the Science, Technology, and Applications of Augmented and Virtual Reality at the University of Rochester (#1922591).

person wearing a hijab and a virtual reality headset holding a virtual orb with text that reads "Voices of XR."

Voices of XR is a Studio X speaker series. Speakers are scholars, artists, and extended reality professionals who discuss their work with immersive technologies across disciplines and industries. All talks are free and open to the general public.

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Voices of XR: John Haddick

Voices of XR speaker John Haddick.

ThinkReality:  Helping Build the Enterprise Metaverse

Voices of XR speaker John Haddick.

John Haddick is a Distinguished Engineer with the Lenovo Intelligent Devices Group, which focuses on developing technologies for the ThinkReality commercial AR/VR portfolio of solutions. As the CTO of ThinkReality, John is a leading strategist for AR/VR product design and development for the company.

Prior to joining Lenovo, John was the CTO of the Osterhout Design Group, a company pioneering AR technologies, where he was in charge of new product innovations and long range product strategy across the company.

In this talk, he will describe Lenovo’s investment and development of commercial AR/VR solutions. From the ThinkReality software, one of the industry’s first cloud and device agnostic platforms, to the award-winning AR smart glasses, Lenovo is making it easier for enterprises to deploy and scale AR/VR.

The Voices of XR speaker series is made possible by Kathy McMorran Murray and the National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Traineeship (NRT) program as part of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Training in the Science, Technology, and Applications of Augmented and Virtual Reality at the University of Rochester (#1922591).

Where: Studio X & Zoom
When: Friday, April 29th from 1 to 2pm EDT
Register: bit.ly/VoXRJohnHaddick

graphic for XR speaker series entitled Voices of XR. On the bottom, is an illustration of a person in a headset reaching with neon geometric squares in the background. On the top is text that reads: "Voices of XR: A Studio X Speaker Series." On top of that, is the Studio X and River Campus Libraries wordmarks.

Voices of XR is a Studio X speaker series. Speakers are scholars, artists, and extended reality professionals who discuss their work with immersive technologies across disciplines and industries. All talks are free and open to the general public.

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Voices of XR: Sylvia Xueni Pan

speaker, Sylvia Xueni Pan.

Virtual Humans in VR

speaker, Sylvia Xueni Pan.

Dr. Sylvia Xueni Pan is a Senior Lecturer in VR at Goldsmiths, University of London. She has a BEng in Computer Science from Beihang University, an MSc in Graphics and PhD in Virtual Reality from UCL (funded by the EPSRC). Before coming to Goldsmiths, she worked as a research fellow in Computer Science at UCL and at the same University’s Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience (ICN). Her research interest is the use of virtual reality (VR) as a medium for real-time social interaction, in particular in the application areas of training and therapy. Dr Pan has developed a unique interdisciplinary research profile, with journal and conference publications on both VR technology and social neuroscience. Her work has been featured on the BBC, in New Scientist magazine and the Wall Street Journal. Her 2017 Coursera VR specialisation attracted over 100,000 registered learners globally. She co-leads the Goldsmiths Social, Empathic, and Embodied VR lab (SeeVR Lab) and the MA/MSc in Virtual and Augmented Reality programme at Goldsmiths Computing.

The Voices of XR speaker series is made possible by Kathy McMorran Murray and the National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Traineeship (NRT) program as part of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Training in the Science, Technology, and Applications of Augmented and Virtual Reality at the University of Rochester (#1922591).

Where: Studio X & Zoom
When: Friday, April 22nd from 1 to 2pm EST
Register: bit.ly/VoXRSylviaPan

Recording

Event recording available for UR faculty, students, and staff with NetID and password: bit.ly/XRSylviaPan

graphic for XR speaker series entitled Voices of XR. On the bottom, is an illustration of a person in a headset reaching with neon geometric squares in the background. On the top is text that reads: "Voices of XR: A Studio X Speaker Series." On top of that, is the Studio X and River Campus Libraries wordmarks.

Voices of XR is a Studio X speaker series. Speakers are scholars, artists, and extended reality professionals who discuss their work with immersive technologies across disciplines and industries. All talks are free and open to the general public.

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Voices of XR: Scott McEldowney

voices of xr speaker, Scott McEldowney.

“Optics of Virtual Reality”

voices of xr speaker, Scott McEldowney.

Scott McEldowney, Ph.D. is a Director, Research Scientist for Reality Labs Research, Meta in Redmond, WA. His research spans areas from novel imaging systems to exploration of emerging concepts in near to eye display. Scott was the founding member of the optics research team within Reality Labs. He built and lead a team of researchers conducting advanced research in augmented and virtual reality display systems.  Prior to Reality Labs Research, Scott was a Principal Optical Engineer for Microsoft incubating new hardware technologies. While at Microsoft, Scott helped develop and launch new 3D sensing platforms (Kinect) and was a core member of the team that developed the optic architecture for the first version of Hololens. Prior to Microsoft, Scott worked for 18 years in the Advanced Optical Technology division of JDSU developing optical components and systems for consumer electronics, medical instrumentation, and aerospace. Scott holds a MS degree in Mechanical Engineering and PhD in Optical Sciences from the College of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona.

This presentation will give an overview of Reality Labs (RL) Research, Meta and introduce many of the key elements necessary to build a successful augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR) system, focusing on optics and displays. He will present recent advances at RL Research in near-to-eye display systems in aspects such as resolution, field of view, image quality, form factor, accommodation. Making progress requires not just uncovering new technological building blocks but also developing perceptual test vehicles to establish the benefits, limitations, and requirements for future VR and AR optics and displays. 

The Voices of XR speaker series  is made possible by Kathy McMorran Murray and the National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Traineeship (NRT) program as part of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Training in the Science, Technology, and Applications of Augmented and Virtual Reality at the University of Rochester (#1922591).

Where: In person in Studio X & Virtual on Zoom
When: Friday, April 15th from 1 to 2pm EST
Register: bit.ly/VoXR415

graphic for XR speaker series entitled Voices of XR. On the bottom, is an illustration of a person in a headset reaching with neon geometric squares in the background. On the top is text that reads: "Voices of XR: A Studio X Speaker Series." On top of that, is the Studio X and River Campus Libraries wordmarks.Voices of XR is a Studio X speaker series. Speakers are scholars, artists, and extended reality professionals who discuss their work with immersive technologies across disciplines and industries. All talks are free and open to the general public.

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Voices of XR: David Chalmers

speaker David Chalmers.

“From the Matrix to the Metaverse”

speaker David Chalmers.

David Chalmers is a leading philosopher of consciousness and philosophy of the mind. He is Professor of Philosophy and Neural Science at New York University. He is the Co-Director of the Center for Mind, Brain, and Consciousness. He is also Honorary Professor of Philosophy at the Australian National University and Co-Director of the PhilPapers Foundation. He studies the foundations of cognitive science, physics, and technology, as well as philosophy of language, metaphysics, and epistemology, and many other areas.

He will discuss his new book, Reality+, which focuses on the philosophical implications of virtual and augmented reality. He argues that virtual worlds are not second-class worlds and that we can live a meaningful life in virtual reality.

The Voices of XR speaker series  is made possible by Kathy McMorran Murray and the National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Traineeship (NRT) program as part of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Training in the Science, Technology, and Applications of Augmented and Virtual Reality at the University of Rochester (#1922591).

Where: In person in Studio X & Virtual on Zoom
When: Wednesday, April 6th from 12 to 1pm EST
Register: bit.ly/VoXRDavidChalmers

Recording

Event recording available for UR faculty, students, and staff with NetID and password: bit.ly/XRDavidChalmers

graphic for XR speaker series entitled Voices of XR. On the bottom, is an illustration of a person in a headset reaching with neon geometric squares in the background. On the top is text that reads: "Voices of XR: A Studio X Speaker Series." On top of that, is the Studio X and River Campus Libraries wordmarks.

Voices of XR is a Studio X speaker series. Speakers are scholars, artists, and extended reality professionals who discuss their work with immersive technologies across disciplines and industries. All talks are free and open to the general public.

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Voices of XR: Muhsinah Morris

speaker Muhsinah Morris, Ph.D.

VR Pioneer in the Higher Education Metaverse

speaker Muhsinah Morris, Ph.D.

Muhsinah L. Holmes Morris, Ph.D., is the Director of “Morehouse in the Metaverse,” a VR Project at Morehouse College and Assistant Professor of Education for the Morehouse Center for Excellence in Education (ECEE). She is an alumna of Clark Atlanta University (BS) and Emory University (MS, PhD). She teaches her chemistry courses in VR on Morehouse’s digital twin campus created by VictoryXR on the Engage Platform.

Her research encompasses working in the Morehouse Makerspace Exploration Center, 3D Printing Specialized Laboratory Equipment for those with Autism and other Developmental Disorders. She is the PI of the Morris Research and Innovation Group, where they research and develop technologically innovative solutions for those with autism. Dr. Morris won the 2021 Vulcan Teaching Award of Excellence and launched her Advanced Inorganic Chemistry course in virtual reality in the spring of 2021 in the digital twin campus. She is a pioneer in this space as the chemistry content in VR is limited to non-existent. Wife to a gamer and mom to five sons, she is an inventive autism mom, a volunteer advocacy ambassador, National Community Advisory Council member, and grant review committee member for Autism Speaks. Her purpose in life is to create inclusivity in STEAAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, agriculture, and math). She believes that VR provides a pathway for creating that inclusion through immersive education, vocational rehabilitation services, and therapeutic experiences.

The Voices of XR speaker series  is made possible by Kathy McMorran Murray and the National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Traineeship (NRT) program as part of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Training in the Science, Technology, and Applications of Augmented and Virtual Reality at the University of Rochester (#1922591).

Where: In person in Studio X & Virtual on Zoom
When: Friday, March 25th from 1 to 2pm EST
Register: bit.ly/VoXRMuhsinahMorris

Recording

graphic for XR speaker series entitled Voices of XR. On the bottom, is an illustration of a person in a headset reaching with neon geometric squares in the background. On the top is text that reads: "Voices of XR: A Studio X Speaker Series." On top of that, is the Studio X and River Campus Libraries wordmarks.

Voices of XR is a Studio X speaker series. Speakers are scholars, artists, and extended reality professionals who discuss their work with immersive technologies across disciplines and industries. All talks are free and open to the general public.