Jacquelyn Ford Morie is an artist, scientist and educator working in the areas of immersive worlds, games and
social networks. Until 2013 she was a Senior Research Scientist at the
Institute for Creative Technologies. In 2013 she started a spin-off company called All These Worlds, to take her work in
virtual worlds and
avatars to a broader audience.
Education
Morie was formally trained as an artist and
medical illustrator but ultimately decided to pursue fine art. Her Bachelor's degree in Fine Art was awarded cum laude by
Florida Atlantic University in 1981. She next received a Master's degree in Fine Art from the
University of Florida in 1984, studying with noted photographer
Jerry Uelsmann
Jerry Norman Uelsmann (June 11, 1934 – April 4, 2022) was an American photographer.
As an emerging artist in the 1960s, Jerry Uelsmann received international recognition for surreal, enigmatic photographs (photomontages) made with his uniqu ...
.
She studied computer graphics at the University of Florida, under Professor John Staudhammer and received her Masters in
Computer Science from University of Florida in 1988. Morie received her PhD from SmartLab at the
University of East London in 2008 in immersive environments.
[ ]
Career and research
After graduation, Morie helped develop the
Computer Graphic Design and
Computer Animation
Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes (still images) and dynamic images (moving images), while computer animation refe ...
programs at the
Ringling College of Art and Design (1988–1989) .
Seeking to create new forms of artwork in the emerging field of
virtual reality, Morie accepted a researcher position at the Visual System Lab (VSL) at
University of Central Florida in
Orlando, FL
Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures relea ...
. The VSL Lab, under the direction of J. Michael Moshell, was part of the
Institute for Simulation and Training. During her time here (1990–1994) she worked on virtual reality projects for the
State of Florida and the
United States Army Research Laboratory.
Together with fellow researcher Mike Goslin, Morie created a VR artwork entitled Virtopia. Virtopia debuted at the 1992
Florida Film Festival, making it the first VR Artwork to be premièred at such a venue. It was shown in a more mature form at the 1993 Florida Film Festival and at
SIGGRAPH
SIGGRAPH (Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques) is an annual conference on computer graphics (CG) organized by the ACM SIGGRAPH, starting in 1974. The main conference is held in North America; SIGGRAPH Asia ...
1994's emerging tech venue, The Edge.
From 1994 – 1997 Morie was head of Computer technical and artistic training for
Walt Disney Feature Animation (WDFA). She developed a comprehensive year-long apprenticeship for incoming computer graphic animators. She followed this with development of similar programs for the computer graphics effects industry, at VIFX,
Blue Sky Studios
Blue Sky Studios, Inc. was an American computer animation studio based in Greenwich, Connecticut. It was founded on February 22, 1987 by Chris Wedge, Michael Ferraro, Carl Ludwig, Alison Brown, David Brown, and Eugene Troubetzkoy after their e ...
and
Rhythm and Hues Studios.
While working at WDFA, Morie was invited to take part in a 1996
National Research Council workshop entitled ''Modeling and Simulation: Linking Entertainment and Defense'', held at the
Beckman Laser Institute
The Beckman Laser Institute (sometimes called the Beckman Laser Institute and Medical Clinic) is an interdisciplinary research center for the development of optical technologies and their use in biology and medicine. Located on the campus of the ...
in
Irvine, CA. This workshop was documented in a National Research Council publication of the same name.
The workshop led to the eventual formation of the
Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT) at the
University of Southern California in 1999. In 2000, Morie joined the ICT staff as a researcher in Virtual Worlds.
Her initial work at the ICT focused on the creation of meaningful
multi-sensory, virtual environments. Two basic developments in this work included the design and use of an
infrasonic floor to produce a
subconscious "emotional score" for the virtual experience, and the invention of a scent collar that was patented in 2004.
Morie’s recent work is focused on extending virtual worlds into the health domain. Her project, Coming Home at the ICT has developed several techniques that provide relation and
stress relief for veterans of recent American conflicts. Part of this work resulted in porting ICT's Virtual Human technologies to the virtual worlds
Active Worlds,
OpenSimulator
OpenSimulator is an open-source server platform originally launched in 2007 for hosting virtual worlds and metaverse environments. It is largely compatible with the virtual world ''Second Life'' but full compatibility is not a design goal.
Fe ...
and
Second Life. This work has been featured in two 2013 documentaries: ''Dsknectd: We Need to Talk'' by Internegative Films, and ''The Mindfulness Movie''. She has published and spoken internationally on the topics of games, immersive worlds and avatars.
In 2001 she was named one of the most creative people in America by
Richard Saul Wurman in his publication: ''1000: Who’s Really Who, Richard Saul Wurman’s 1000 Most Creative Individuals in the USA''
[Wurman, Richard Saul (2001) 1000: Who’s Really Who, Richard Saul Wurman’s 1000 Most Creative Individuals in the USA. Sheer Bliss Communications, LLC]
References
External links
All These Worlds website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morie, Jacquelyn Ford
University of Southern California staff
Living people
Alumni of the University of East London
1950 births