MiXR Studios Podcast

In the final episode for season one of the MiXR Studios podcast, we talk with Tom Finholt, the Dean and a Professor of Information at the University of Michigan's School of Information. Dean Finholt was instrumental in the early work in collaborating with faculty and other deans at the University of Michigan to explore what the University should be doing in terms of XR for research and pedagogy. Dean Finholt was strongly encouraged by alum and external advisory board member, Jamie Voris to invest in XR technologies broadly across the University to enhance teaching and learning. As we wrap up our first season, I couldn't think of a better person to share his insights and thoughts about where we have been and where we should go with the XR Initiative.

In this week's MiXR Studios podcast, we talk with Simone Sessolo, a lecturer IV at the Sweetland Center for Writing and the Digital Studies Institute at the University of Michigan's College of Literature Science. Simone discusses his work in teaching composition and narrative writing with augmented reality. His work focuses around the interactions that exist between computers and traditional media. In talking with Lisa Nakamura from the Digital Studies Institute, he was intrigued by the University's investments in augmented and virtual reality. This led him to create a 200 level writing course at the University of Michigan called Creating Narratives in Augmented Reality. We explore how he thinks about storytelling and digital technologies and what he would like to see the future look like at the University.

In this week's MiXR Studios podcast, we talk with Jan Stewart, the Lead Academic Technology Strategist for the University of Michigan's LSA Technology Services. Jan shares his experience and input in creating the first VR classroom for Humanities at the University. Jan was instrumental in helping shape the design and delivery of the VR courses created by UM faculty Sara Blair and Lisa Nakamura. The technology isn't the only thing that should be considered in a VR classroom and Jan thinks critically about how to deliver the safest and most effective experience for students.

In this week's MiXR Studios podcast, we have a special opportunity to hear Professor Sara Blair interview Barry Pousman, the COO and Lead Producer at LightShed.io about his transformative work in VR storytelling at the UN and Discovery Digital Networks. Professor Blair taught a course in the fall of 2019 where students explored the perspectives of VR and the novel and her students experienced some of the work that Barry created. In this unique conversation, we hear from two experts in the space of digital storytelling and how that relates to bringing about social change.

In this week's MiXR Studios podcast, we talk with Alex DaSilva, an Associate Professor of Dentistry, the Director of Learning Health Systems, and the Director of the HOPE lab at the University of Michigan's School of Dentistry. We discuss Alex's ground breaking research in the area of dentistry and pain. His lab is exploring how to use Augmented Reality to visualize pain in real time to help with the treatment and management. In addition to AR, the team is using Virtual Reality to help explore how VR meditation can help manage pain and anxiety for dental emergencies. Alex is working on the cutting edge of pain research and using XR to visualize treatment in fascinating ways.

In this week's MiXR Studios podcast, we talk with J.J. Bouchard, the manager of patient technology program at C.S. Mott Children's Hospital. J.J. helped create this amazing program at the children's hospital and is charged with bringing recreational, educational, and extended reality technology into patients' rooms. As a child life specialist, J.J. uses these technologies to connect with patients and volunteers to support these technologies in the hospital. The Mott Golf Classic donated a number of Xboxes to the hospital one year, and J.J. saw that as an opportunity to advocate for a funded position to have him manage devices and build out a program to transform how children can access life-altering technologies while they are in the hospital.

In this week's MiXR Studios podcast, we talk with Michael Nebeling, an Assistant Professor of Information at the University of Michigan's School of Information and the XR Innovator in Residence for the XR Initiative. We conducted a podcast recording in front of a live audience where we discuss Michael's new “XR for Everybody” MOOC set to come out on 11/9/2020 on the Coursera platform as well as the first year of the XR Initiative. We covered a number of topics from Michael's history of teaching AR and VR design to the incredible amount of work that he and the team at the Center for Academic Innovation put into the creation of this new MOOC specialization.

In this week's MiXR Studios podcast, we talk with Rebeca Pagels, the Executive Director of Development and Alumni Relations for the University of Michigan's School of Information, and Amy Klinke, a Senior Director for the University of Michigan's Business Engagement Center. Both Rebecca and Amy were instrumental in bringing together the XR community at the University of Michigan and helped set the stage for what would ultimately become the XR Initiative. In their work, they engaged alumni and individuals at corporations such as Disney, Lenovo, Microsoft, and Oculus to develop mutually beneficial relationships with the University of Michigan. In this episode, we explore the XR journey the University has taken over the last 4 years and what the future may look like.

In this week's MiXR Studios podcast, we talk with Dr. Prashant Mahajan, the Professor and Vice-Chair, Department of Emergency Medicine, Professor, Pediatric Emergency Medicine, and Division Chief, Pediatric Emergency Medicine at the University of Michigan's Medical School. Dr. Mahajan has been an early adopter of XR technologies within Michigan Medicine to explore how augmented reality could be used to assist emergency medicine practitioners in treating pediatric patients in the Emergency Department. In this episode, we will discuss his work with the HoloLens and some of his exciting work to aid the healthcare team to save lives.

In this week's MiXR Studios podcast, we talk with Joanna Millunchick, the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education at the University of Michigan's College of Engineering. Joanna teaches courses in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and explores crystal structures in virtual reality. She is also the associate dean of undergraduate education and is interested in understanding how we can advance undergraduate curriculum to include XR technologies to support teaching and learning.

In this week's MiXR Studios podcast, we talk with Professor Anil Çamcı from the University of Michigan's School of Music, Theatre & Dance. Professor Çamcı is an Assistant Professor of Performing Arts Technology that teaches courses in immersive media to explore audio in virtual spaces. His work focuses on the intersection of virtual reality, human-computer interaction, and spatial audio. Professor Çamcı has been working closely with the XR Initiative to help share his expertise with other faculty on how to teach with XR.

In this week's MiXR Studios podcast, we talk with Dr. Michael Torrence, the president of Motlow State Community College. He has spent his career embracing the use of technological literacy as a platform to increase student access, engagement and success. Dr. Torrence has served as the co-chairperson for TNeCampus, a Tennessee Board of Regents statewide team leader for the integration of emerging technology and mobilization in the areas of gaming, VR, AR, and MR into teaching and learning. He has trained faculty, students, executives, and community members and developed immersive curriculum focused on STEAMB (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art/Aviation, Mathematics, and Business focused on Entrepreneurship) for all grade levels and utilized these platforms teaching undergraduate and graduate students in his own classes where VR and entrepreneurship is a norm.

In this week's MiXR Studios podcast, we talk with Thomas Schwarz, an associate professor of physics at the University of Michigan's College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. Professor Schwarz is an experimental particle physicist who works with the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland. He began exploring VR as a medium to give virtual tours of the Large Hadron Collider including 360 images and video. He and some students were able to use tools such as Sketchfab and the Oculus Quest to bring the Collider to funders and administrators in ways never before possible.

In this week's MiXR Studios podcast, we talk with Hera Kim-Berman, a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry and Program Director of Graduate Orthodontics at the University of Michigan's School of Dentistry. Hera has been one of the leading faculty at the University of Michigan to explore and push the boundaries of VR in teaching and learning. In our discussion, we talk about her work in bringing the Oculus Go headset to more than 100 first year dental students. We discuss her early work with the Emerging Technologies Group at the Duderstadt Center to experience what is possible and explore what these tools could do in her teaching.

In this week's MiXR Studios podcast, we talk with Bryan Alexander, a senior scholar at Georgetown University and a 3 time alum of the University of Michigan. Bryan completed his English language and literature PhD at the University of Michigan in 1997, with a dissertation on doppelgängers in Romantic-era fiction and poetry. Over the last 20 years, Bryan has worked to bring digital technologies to small colleges and universities and since 2013, he has consulted with higher education in the US and abroad about the future of higher education.

In this week's MiXR Studios podcast, we talk with Mark Newman, a Professor of Information at the University of Michigan' School of Information. Mark was instrumental in the early days of XR (called AVMR at the time) at the University and led the charge to create a new XR Graduate Certificate program. This journey started with a trip to Seattle around 2017 to explore what Microsoft was doing in the Mixed Reality space and visit Oculus.

In this week's MiXR Studios podcast, we talk with Beste Aydin and Matthew Kosova, co-presidents of the University of Michigan's student run Alternate Reality Initiative (ARI). Beste and Matthew were founding members of a student organization they created to provide a community and a home for students at the University of Michigan that were interested in exploring XR technologies.

In this week's MiXR Studios podcast, we talk with Matias del Campo, associate professor of architecture and urban planning, about his journey into XR and AR for construction architecture. Matias teaches courses in Generative Design Computing and Virtual Engagement at the University of Michigan's Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning.

In this week's MiXR Studios podcast, we talk with Jonathan Rule, Clinical Assistant Professor of Architecture and Urban Planning, and how he is shaping the future of architecture education through augmented and virtual reality. Jonathan teaches courses in construction and architectural design and has been exploring technologies like Google Cardboard and Unity to immersively experience architectural designs.

In this week's MiXR Studios podcast, we talk with Professor Matthew Solomon about his fascinating work in creating a VR instructional tool for students at the University of Michigan to re-create the final scene of Citizen Kane in Virtual Reality.  Students in FTVM 150, a large foundational course, worked in small teams to create their own version of this scene by manipulating a virtual camera to export video files that they edited together to complete a required course assignment.

In this week's MiXR Studios podcast, we continue our conversation with Dr. Courtney Cogburn from Columbia University and discuss her groundbreaking work in VR with 1000 Cut Journey and how it is as important as ever in the current Black Lives Matters movement. We cover a range of topics that include how her work has evolved to what her group has been doing with corporations to use VR to have a real conversation and make a change.

In this week's MiXR Studios podcast, we explore how XR can be used in humanities to advance UM's liberal arts mission. Professor Blair shares how she designed a course to frame the novel as a project aiming for the creation of immersion and used VR as the object of comparison.. She wanted to bring together a diverse group of students from across campus to examine this new media and develop a critical perspective of experiences created in XR.

In this week's MiXR Studios podcast, we explore diversity, race, ethnicity, and gender in terms of embodiment in VR. Lisa Nakamura and Chris Quintana talk about their XR experiences in the humanities and how you create an XR classroom to study affordances in society and culture.

In this week's MiXR Studios podcast, we explore nuclear engineering and how we will recreate the Ford Nuclear Reactor in Virtual Reality

In this week's MiXR Studios podcast, we learn about nursing simulations and the roots of XR from Second Life. We talk with Michelle Aebersold, a clinical Professor of Nursing at the University of Michigan to learn more about her journey into XR. Michelle has been building interactive multi-user simulations at the School of Nursing from Second Life through to VR today.

In this episode we talk with Talal Alothman, an XR Developer at the University of Michigan's College of Engineering. We hear about Talal's work with faculty and his research and experience creating better interactions and interfaces for hand gestures.

In this podcast we talk with Professor Michael Nebeling, our XR Innovator in Residence. We explore his research at the University of Michigan and the state of XR across the University.