Patrick Bender Email & Phone Number

New York, Ny, Us

VR/AR DevelopmentWorldbuilding Subject Matter Expert

Game Design and DevelopmentCurriculum Development

UI/UX for Game Design

VR/AR Course Instruction and Curriculum Development

Locomotor Control Lab

Contributed to the development of a VR-based cognitive-motor gait rehabilitation platform forindividuals with Parkinson’s. Prototyped 3 HTC Vive exercises in Unity with trackers on feet, wrists, and torso to monitor gait, steps, spinal alignment, and torso rotation. Consulted with physical therapists and patients to translate existing physical therapy into gamified virtual environments. Lead first team of engineers to create the underlying system with a focus on scalability and parametrization of exercises. Oversaw transition of project to team of graduate computer science students for final implementation. Onboarded new team members and scheduled/attended weekly meetings. Research was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the US National Institutes of Health.

Brain And Creativity Institute

Researched the viability of VR for use in fMRI for social neuroscience. Organized literature on the concepts of presence and immersion to determine best practices. Advised on the translation of existing Cyberball social experiment into VR for increased ecological validity. Identified VR’s potential both to approximate real world social encounters and provide uniquely virtual social encounters for forthcoming publication. Research supported by USC Provost’s Postdoctoral Research Grant.

Game Innovation Lab

Worked with local theater company to develop tablet-based application to provide underservedcommunities a platform to tell their own stories regarding themes of hunger, marginalization, and economic insecurity. Consulted with actors to integrate tablet into existing improvisational exercises. Responsible for wire framing and development in Java. Lead playtests and documented usability problems in maintaining a safe space for users to become vulnerable.

Managed Butterfly Lovers speculative design project, a two-player VR/AR experience designed to explore multigenerational compassion and awareness of elder abuse through a contemporary reinterpretation of the Chinese tale Butterfly Lovers. One player assumes the role of an older adult with an age-related disability (tremors) in VR (HTC Vive), and the other uses a tablet (Vuforia AR development kit) that reveals task-related information concealed from the person in VR. Players must communicate with each other to solve puzzles. Organized over 20 undergraduate students into physical prototyping, digital prototyping, research, and website teams. Oversaw undergraduate poster competition submission. Researched in partnership with USC Pacific Asia Museum and the School of Social Work supported by intramural funding.

Neurocognition Of Language Lab

Studied the comprehension of visual narratives presented as sequential images. Recruitedparticipants, managed payment slips, and attended lab meetings; Created over 500 stimuli for 2 experiments (EEG and behavioral). Assisted in running over 60 experimental participants; Personally ran over 65 behavioral participants. Experience with EEG set up and analysis.

Master Of Fine Arts - Mfa, Game And Interactive Media Design

Bachelor Of Arts - Ba, Philosophy

Philosophy