Bio:

“”Never lose your childlike wonder.”” – Randy Pausch

At my core, I consider myself a passionate storyteller. Whether in industry, the non-profit sector, or academia, my mission is to create compelling content that contributes towards positive societal and environmental change, and apply rigorous theoretical and experimental approaches to identify the psychological and emotional mechanisms driving those changes. As a current Ph.D. candidate, my program of research explores how immersive media technology (i.e., VR) can contribute to prosocial attitude and behavior change in several contexts (e.g., climate change communication). I rely primarily on an experimental media effects research paradigm, integrating conceptual frameworks from social psychology, information systems, human-computer interaction, consumer psychology, and communications, to build/test immersive media content (e.g., serious games).

While I do employ a qualitative research approaches (e.g., interviews, observational data), the bulk of my studies leverage experiments to assess how users respond to immersive and interactive media content. I am currently leading several experimental research projects examining the psychological, behavioral, and affective implications of immersive environmental communication, as well as projects leveraging VR to address physical and mental health issues. In addition to experimental design and scholarly writing, I am proficient in Unity development, and thus I create and test games and simulations on various platforms for use in my studies, which requires rapid prototyping, understanding of cross-modal UI/UX principles, programming knowledge, and effective management of an interdisciplinary team of graduate and undergraduate students in my lab. My hope is to continue to learn through interdisciplinary collaborations, both on campus and beyond.

Currently, I am seeking applied research opportunities that will allow me to leverage my development, experimental design, and statistical analysis skills VR/AR/MR/XR and 360 video development skills, to create more positive social impacts. I hope to continue to learn and collaborate with interdisciplinary teams seeking to solve the world’s problems through mediated experiences.

Specialties: Unity, C#, magic leap, oculus, htc vive, hololens, virtual reality, mixed reality, 360-degree video, premiere pro, advertising, marketing, human-computer interaction, media effects, graphic design, environmental communication.