Friday 04 April @ 11:00 AM SLT, VWBPE Auditorium

Phylis West Johnson is a Professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications. She is also the founder of the School of Journalism and Mass Communications Immersive Storytelling Lab. She has authored six books in media studies, numerous research chapters and journal articles, as well as arts reviews and magazine features on gaming, sound and new media, particularly virtual and mixed reality. She has presented internationally, and has more than 20 years of professional radio experience. She is currently finishing up her current book on the Metaverse. Previous book publications include “Second Life, Media, and the Other Society”, “Machinima: The Art and Practice of Virtual Filmmaking”, and “Redefining Journalism in an Age of Technological Advancements, Changing Demographics, and Social Issues”.

More about Phylis West Johnson:
SJSU Staff Page: https://www.sjsu.edu/jmc/about-us/team/faculty/phylis-johnson.php
Blog – Future Media Journalism: https://futuremediajournalism.wordpress.com/

Saturday 05 April @ 9:00 AM SLT, VWBPE Auditorium

Rabindra (Robby) Ratan is an Associate Professor and AT&T Endowed Chair at Michigan State University’s (MSU) Department of Media and Information. He is also the Director of the Social and Psychological Approaches to Research on Technology-Interaction Effects (SPARTIE) Lab. He is an affiliated faculty member of the MSU Department of Psychology, the MSU College of Education’s program in Educational Psychology and Educational Technology, and the MSU Center for Gender in a Global Context. Dr. Ratan conducts social and psychological research on the effects of human-technology interaction, focusing on how media technologies (e.g., XR/VR/AR/MR, avatars, video games, agents/AI) influence meaningful outcomes (e.g., equity, well-being, motivation) across societal contexts (e.g., education, health, industry). He is particularly interested in the Proteus effect (i.e., avatar characteristics influencing user behaviors), human-AI interaction, gender stereotypes in gaming, and virtual meetings. In addition to conducting research on these phenomena, he has also been teaching all of his MSU classes in virtual reality since 2022.

More about Rabindra Ratan:
Website: https://www.robbyratan.com/
Faculty page: https://gamedev.msu.edu/robby-ratan-ph-d/