In his current role as Creative Director at North Carolina State University's Department of Distance Education and Learning Technology Applications (DELTA), Mike manages a diverse team of multimedia designers. In the past few years, he has focused his efforts on the exploration, production and application of interactive 360º VR video in higher education courses and University-wide initiatives. In 2017, he received the NC State University Award of Excellence for his dedication and commitment to innovation in higher education. In 2018, Mike was acknowledged with the International Serious Play Award and Campus Technology Impact Award for an interactive 360 VR video production developed for Global Training in support of building Cultural Competencies.
Outside of the University, Mike has worked with a range of commercial entities to produce 360 VR video for marketing and entertainment while also supporting local STEaM outreach and education efforts. He has built partnerships with the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, NC Museum of Art, City of Raleigh Museum, Research Triangle Park, Duke University and RTP STEM in the Park to explore applications for virtual reality in K-12 education, outreach and community engagement.
In 2016, Mike partnered with Derek Alan Rowe from WildEyesVR to contribute to the series of science-based VR field trips for kids of all ages. One of the films produced, BugVR, was exhibited at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences BugFest event which was attended by over 35,000 visitors. He has hosted VR-based workshops and presentations for thousands of attendees across national events and has produced unique immersive installations and VR pop-ups for exhibits featuring the work of Ansel Adams and Georgia O’Keeffe. In 2018, Mike received an NSF Grant through US Ignite to explore the impact and technical feasibility of STEM-based live stream 360 VR video to rural schools.
Mike has taught animation and digital imaging at NC State’s College of Design and teaches VR and 360 filmmaking workshops for NextGen Interactions. He pioneered a 360 VR video production course at Duke TIP and has presented at SXSWedu (two years), UNC Cause, Liberact, HOW Design, Hopscotch Design, Art of Cool, RTP 180, NCMA Learn, Digital Libraries conference, International Association of Venue Managers and eLearning Guild’s Realities 360 summit.