Dr. Jacquelyn Ford Morie has pioneered the use of VR to deliver meaningful experiences that enrich people’s lives. In the early 1990s, she was a researcher at the UCFs Institute for Simulation and Training, developing techniques for VR that predictably elicit emotional responses from participants, using psychology and art to create environments that ranged from disquieting to nostalgic. 

In 2011 Morie founded All These Worlds, LLC to promote more uses for VR technology. For NASA, she created a virtual ecosystem, ANSIBLE, to provide psychological benefits for astronauts who will undertake extremely long missions. It was tested in the HISEAS facility in Hawaii, with a team of scientists sequestered for a year to simulate being on Mars, including communications delays. ANSIBLE provided benefits which alleviated many effects of social isolation and sensory deprivation.

With degrees in both Fine Art and Computer Science, Dr. Morie is currently on the boards of several future-oriented companies. She is senior advisor to XPRIZE’s ANA Avatar Prize, which challenges teams to create a robotic avatar people can inhabit from a distance. Her recent book, co-edited with Kate McCallum, The Handbook of Research on the Global Impacts and Roles of Immersive Media, provides a broad look at the state of immersive technologies.