Handbook of Research on the Global Impacts and Roles of Immersive Media (Advance in Media, Entertainment, and the Arts (Amea))

Dr. Jacquelyn Morie 's 30 years of researching & creating meaningful VR experiences combines multi-sensory and perceptual techniques for VR that predictably elicit emotional responses from participants. Her company All These Worlds, LLC is active in social VR, Mindfulness applications, storytelling, stress relief experiences, avatars and immersive education & training. In 2016 she concluded a special project for NASA called ANSIBLE, a full virtual world ecosystem designed to provide psychological benefits for future astronauts who will undertake extremely long isolated missions to Mars. ANSIBLE was tested in an analog facility called HISEAS in Hawaii, where a team of six scientists was sequestered for a full year to simulate the conditions of isolation on Mars, including long communications delays. Dr. Morie also investigates the use of personal avatars for how we use them and how they affect our human selves. In 2004 she invented a novel scent release device for VR (now called called RemniScent), to aid in the evocative power of VR experiences. Her education includes advanced degrees in Fine Arts and Computer Science (MFA, 1984 & MS, 1988 from the University of Florida) and a PhD in Computer and Information Systems from Smartlab, University of East London in 2007. Morie lives on a tiny urban farm with her extended family in a 110 year old house near downtown Los Angeles, CA.

Kate McCallum is a forward-thinking multi-media producer, writer, and digital arts and media strategist with an emphasis in IP development, transmedia, and new media technology platforms. Kate served as a Board Delegate on the Producers Guild of America New Media Council for six years and on the PGA National Board for three years. She was the recipient of the 2019 Marc A. Levey Award for Distinguished Service, and as a Co-Chair, Kate helped to spearhead the creation of the PGA Social Impact Entertainment Task Force. She is a member of the TV Academy, the WFSF: World Future Studies Federation, and is Chair of the Arts & Media Node for The Millennium Project, a global futurist think tank. In 2004, Kate founded her own development and multi-media production company, Bridge Arts Media, LLC, and consults and produces for a variety of clients including Vortex Immersion Media, a company specializing in fulldome 360/VR immersive content and experience design, immersive brand experiences, VR, interactive, live mixed-media performances, and projection mapping. In 2010, Kate established the Vortex AIR: Artist-in-Residence program and innovation lab in The Vortex Dome CineTheater at Los Angeles Center Studios. Prior, Kate spent 20 years at NBCUniversal and Paramount Studios working in development and production of feature films, and broadcast and cable episodic television with some of the top showrunners and writers in the industry on such shows as; Miami Vice, Law & Order, Equalizer, Gimme a Break, Charles in Charge, and The Marshal to name a few. She produced a TV Movie for NBC called What Kind of Mother Are You? and as VP of Creative for Western Sandblast at Paramount, Kate developed and sold TV movies and off-net series concepts to outlets such as Showtime and UPN. She has produced and/or written for traditional, digital and immersive media, produced live events, industry conferences, educational workshops, concerts, currently serves as the Managing Editor for the SOC: Society of Camera Operators' quarterly magazine, Camera Operator, and is the producer and co-designer of an innovative distribution model for James Hood's MESMERICA 360, a fulldome visual music production and upcoming sequel. Kate's also been an international guest speaker and instructor on the topics of future trends in media and entertainment, and transmedia storytelling at the Hong Kong Design Institute, Singapore Media Academy, the Asian Childrens' Content Conference, XMedia LAB in Australia, the China Science Film and Video Association in Shenzhen, China, TiE Global Summit in Mumbai, India, and InventureS, Calgary, Canada to name a few. She co-produced and presented "Transmedia Storytelling and Strategy Design" for the PGA and the TV Academy, and was a featured speaker at the Global Leaders Forum in Seoul, Korea addressing the "Future of Entertainment and Media." Kate has pursued a lifelong interest in human potential and in 2004, earned an MA in Consciousness Studies from the University of Philosophical Research in Los Angeles. Kate was awarded an Alumni Achievement Award from Western Michigan University, was appointed as an honorary fellow at SNCR: Society for New Communication Research, and serves on the Advisory Board of The Studio School, Los Angeles.