Science for Fun and Profit

My undergraduate honors thesis looked at how different types of games influence cognition. This was my first foray into science, and I was instantly hooked. I ran 100+ subjects myself, sometimes sleeping in the lab. My thesis work got me into grad school, where I zapped peoples brains with direct current electricity while they played brain training videogames. In 2013, I got my hands on an Oculus DK1 virtual reality headset, and it changed my life. Peeking my head around a Minecraft cube was the closest thing I had ever experienced to magic. In that moment, I decided to devote my life to discovering what this technology meant for the human race. 

The next week I founded a VR research lab and I quickly realized VR's potential for enhancing cognition. In 2015, I finished my PhD in Psychology and founded a company to make VR brain training games. Unfortunately, it gradually dawned on me that there’s little room for research in between securing rounds of venture capital funding. I followed my instincts to IBM Research, where I spent  the next 2.5 years establishing IBM's first dedicated VR lab. In my time there I used brain imaging and machine learning to predict memory in VR, explored early VR eye tracking tech, 3D printed custom accessories for experiments, and fired tracked Nerf guns at modded Roombas. It was one heck of a ride. 

I left IBM Research to become the XR guy at Draper Laboratories, a non-profit R&D lab in Cambridge, MA. At Draper I’ve led teams on projects across AR and VR, established an XR lab, guided XR strategy for the company, and even conducted in-person XR research with members of SOCOM. I can't go into any details, but the work has been challenging and rewarding. On multiple occasions I've been able to have a wild XR idea, pitch it, plan it, execute it, and present it from start to finish.

I'm currently an inventor at Adeia, where I come up with and prototype XR and gaming patents. I got my first XR patents while working at IBM Research, and it's been great to get back to this kind of creative work. 

My life's taken me from academia to the start-up world to industry, and I'm curious to see where it leads me next. I've come a long way, but I'm just getting started.