MiXR Studios Podcast: Episodes 10-15

By | August 27, 2020

The MiXR Studios Podcast exists to educate the University of Michigan community about what is happening in XR (Extended Reality) on campus. It will share best practices and exciting learnings while helping to shape the future of teaching and learning in higher education and beyond. Visit the podcast archive at: https://ai.umich.edu/category/mixr/

Episode 10: Reimagining Construction Architecture with AR

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.


Episode 11: Creating the Next Generation of Student XR Innovators

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.


Episode 12: Launching an XR Graduate Certificate Program at the University of Michigan

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.


Episode 13: The Past, Present, and Future of XR with Guest Bryan Alexander

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.


Episode 14: Allowing dental students to explore the head and neck in XR

group reviewing VR display of human skull

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.


Episode 15: Launching Rockets and Creating a Virtual Physics Laboratory

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.