Dr. Matthew Price is an 18+ year veteran in the Digital Media field with expertise covering broadcast, interactive, social, and non-profit media as well as team and project management. His expertise stems from 20+ years of enterprise infrastructure and network experience and more than 14 years of creative media experience in video production/editing/content development for corporate, commercial, and non-profit projects. Dr. Price is a technical pioneer in Consumer Neuroscience Research and has spent the last 8 years using his combined technical and creative skills to develop, build, and refine AV workflows for Neurological Research. As the founder of RealityScience, LLC Dr. Price has built a team of research consultants dedicated to emergent technology, immersive media, and understanding media consumption and media literacy as a part of human-machine interactions. His Ph.D. is in Media Psychology with an emphasis in Cognitive Neuroscience and his dissertation, ” Calibrating Reality with a Mind’s Mirror Postulate: Towards a Comprehensive Schema for Measuring Personal Presence” focused on developing an objective framework for measuring presence in mediated experiences using multi-modal sensor fusion analysis. Matthew is a strong advocate for education, STEAM programs, social justice and human rights reform.

Julie Krohner is a social scientist and ethnographic researcher in emerging tech, healthcare and social impact.  Her mission is to help content creators make, and buyers look for, responsible, user-driven VR experiences.  It has never been more important to understand how users are engaging with a medium than in VR/MR.  Through on-site research she is side-by-side with users during and after an experience, obtaining immediate, actionable feedback that goes well beyond user interface findings.  These data points help inform design, and in turn helps developers and brand teams optimize prototypes to assure the content and flow of the experience are meaningful and relevant to users.    

Julie brings the highest quality, most in-depth research out of academic silos to the industry leaders and content creators who need it.  User research will soon be a cornerstone of immersive design best practices – the time is now to incorporate behavioral research into every product you make, or purchase.  Julie is a Diffusion of Innovations scholar who trained with Everett Rogers, the founder of the tech adoption curve.  She speaks and writes on immersive media as an empathy machine, and the diffusion/adoption of the technology.  

Rafael E. Linera Rivera, Ph. D., (or ‘Rafa’ to most) was commissioned in 1997 as a Second Lieutenant in the Infantry Branch of the United States Military. Dr. Linera has served several assignments both domestically and abroad, including South Korea, Iraq, Mexico, Ecuador, and Afghanistan. Dr. Linera has served as Cyberspace Electromagnetic Activities & Influence Operations Chief in multiple Army and Joint-Combined Commands. Dr. Linera has earned numerous awards and decorations including the Bronze Star, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Army Meritorious Service Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters, the Major General Robert A. McClure Bronze Medal, among others. Rafa holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Psychology from Fielding Graduate University in Media Psychology, and a M.A. in Finance from Webster University, as well as a B.B.A. in Accounting from the University of Puerto Rico.