SPS Metaverse Center of Innovation and Opportunity Team

Vanja Bogicevic: Has led VR research with multiple publications focused on VR shaping consumer responses -primarily in consumer and tourism. She has designed a VR class – pre-COVID, and is ready to launch it.

Pierre Gervois: an adjunct Professor at SPS (Jonathan Tisch Center for Hospitality) teaching Public Relations and communications. He is working closely with American cities and counties to help them leverage their assets (and in particular arts and historic heritage) to increase the appeal of their destinations for tourism and travel. He is also a crypto-artist creating NFT’s and has been actively involved in multiple Metaverse applications and projects since 2021 which made him realize the profound impact that the Metaverse will have on all industries.

Richie Karaburun: Besides directing the HI Hub Incubator (which has some Metaverse candidates being mentored and seeking funding), Dr K’s Ph.D. dissertation was on online connectiveness and it’s correlation with influence. He is planning a class in the Metaverse for the Spring of 2023.

Vince Gennaro:Dean Gennaro developed a blockchain for sports course for continuing education and he teaches sports tech and innovation in the Tisch Institute’s executive education programs. In addition to hosting the annual Tisch Institute retreat in a virtual world, he is currently leading the development of a sports business simulation game and evaluating the launch of “Tisch Teaching Moments” as NFTs.

Lee Igel: Had his first taste of the Metaverse on Roblox that grew into his coaching city leaders on their Metaverse strategies.

Andres Fortino:  An Associate Professor, SPS Management and Systems program and teaches data analytics. In the Metaverse, he has: Put together a cross discipline course proposal on applications of virtual reality using our MASY students as the technology team members in an experiential course; Has received a recent grant to study the IP bandwidth loading effect of  with teaching VR headsets versus Zoom in the classroom; and is supervising a survey of SPS student’s opinions about the Metaverse conducted by students who will use the text responses as a final team project in their text data mining class this Spring. Dr Fortino is ready to take a group using Oculus Quest to the Rijksmuseum to visit Rembrandt’s artworks virtually and discover the answer to a wonderful mystery about his life and art. (Bring your own quest.)

Milos Bujisic: His research focused on applied marketing methodology has ventured into VR for over a decade, touching hospitality as well as consumer services and branding. At the Ohio State University, he helped launch a VR lab that was used for consumer sciences research in virtual settings. 

Christian Busch: has spent the last decade of his life analyzing how people can live more meaningful and successful lives by spotting and connecting the dots, and is excited to explore how we can cultivate serendipity in the Metaverse. 

Carolyn Kissane: Is actively following the Metaverse impact on sustainability – the issues and gains and how it could alter and impact energy demand and consumption.

Donatello Delfino: is a Clinical Professor at DAUS, where he coordinates the math and science Academic Community of Practice. Dr. Delfino is interested in leveraging Metaverse capabilities to enrich math and science courses, and learn more about how the Metaverse relates to the future of work.

Mechthild Schmidt Feist: Taught her first Metaverse course in the Fall 2006 in Second Life followed by a number of classes or class sessions until 2014. In fall 2007 she conducted a film class in Second Life with: Excerpts from Machbeth, ‘Machinima’. Another major class was: Engaged media:  SecondLife Water Bottle installation with Mirror Garden2  simulating plastic bottle use in NYU cafeterias.
She  has worked with a plethora of people at NYU IT, across some NYU schools, and presented at conferences, held Second Life workshops, and was subject and author of some articles. A 2012 class used Augmented Reality in the ‘Neighborhoods’ media + mapping class held with DCoM and German  Dessau Design students. Her own work employs Google Earth + Google maps with image overlays.  https://mechthildschmidtfeist.com/

Chyng-Feng Sun: Is planning two Metaverse courses for the Spring of 2023, focused on the Metaverse and Media, and the MEtaverse and Psychology. Chyng-Feng’s perspective is that the Metaverse will have more significance on social identity and interpersonal relationships than on the economy.

April Krasner: Considers herself to be a domestic and political poet always interested in language and how it shapes experience.   She is interested in the language and experience of the Metaverse — will it make a verse?      

Sourav Goswami Invest in and lives in real estate, with a focus on property technologies. He has not yet bought any Metaproperties, but is watching the technology closely.

Dustin Jones: In his courses on smart cities, and real estate technology, and in his interest on Real Estate Law, Dustin tackles the possible implications of the Metaverse.

Matt “Chef” Kwatinetz: Matt is a Board Member of the Burning Man Project. When Black Rock City was cancelled due to the pandemic, Burning Man decided to put all hands on deck and create five virtual worlds. The most popular, BRCvr, experienced more attendance than any previous year in the physical realm. Matt has been very involved in the Metaverse for the last two years, including not only the development of various virtual worlds but also the use of virtual reality to model real estate developments and look at design changes virtually before implementing them IRL. He has a dream of doing a city-based conference hosted by NYU in the virtual world.

Jenny McPhee: Is exploring how the Metaverse will impact writing, the way story-telling is made, told, and consumed— including the use of NFTs in the stories. 

Annelise Finegan: As the Academic Director of Translation & Interpreting and Clinical Assistant Professor of Translation at NYU SPS, she works with students applying AI (machine translation, neural language processing) as part of their preparation to be the language professionals of tomorrow. 

Kristine Rodriguez Kerr: Dr. Rodriguez Kerr is the Academic Director and Clinical Associate Professor for the fully online MS in Professional Writing program. Her research interests include new literacy studies, educational justice, online learning, and curriculum development in both traditional and non-traditional spaces of learning – including the Metaverse.

Mohammad Hamad:  has invested himself in helping people that love to write but are intimated move past their intimidation and enjoy their passion.   He is investigating taking those same kills to the Metaverse for all of us intimidated by the Metaverse and passionate to explore.

Mary Beth Roche:  President and Publisher at Macmillian Audio — with a focus on the audio format and marketing innovation is investigating how the Metaverse will change publishing, audio-creation, and brand marketing.

Italics – not edited by individual