Jacquelyn Ford Morie

Jacquelyn Ford Morie is currently a Senior Researcher at USC’s Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT), working in the fields of immersive and mobile technologies with a focus on their convergence. Before ICT, she spent six years in the animation and effects industry at Disney Feature Animation, Blue Sky|VIFX and the award winning Rhythm & Hues, creating specialized training programs for both traditional and digital aspects of production. From 1990 to 1994, Morie worked as an artist, researcher and educator at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. Her Virtual Reality work at UCF’s Institute for Simulation and Training involved creating scenarios and environments designed to evoke emotional responses from their participants. In addition, she served as a Visiting Assistant Professor for UCF’s new Film and Animation Program, developing a complete Computer Animation degree specialization.

Morie has been an active member of the ACM SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics Community since 1984 and served as Director at Large on the Executive Council of ACM SIGGRAPH from 2002-2004. For the 1994 SIGGRAPH Conference she served as Co-Chair of the 1994 SIGGRAPH emerging technology venue “The Edge.” Over the years her conference activities have ranged from exhibiting artist to reviewer, to panel organizer, to presenter. She has been a vital member of the SIGGRAPH Education Committee over the years, active in both research and conference activities for the group. Morie was also instrumental in developing the ACM SIGGRAPH Digital Arts Committee, where the focus is to expand and enhance the SIGGRAPH arts community presence.

She is a member of ACM, ACM SIGGRAPH, the International Digital Games Association (IDGA), the International Visual Effects Society, Women and Games International, the International Society for the Arts, Sciences, and Technology, the Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA), and the International Society of Presence Research (ISPR). She recently earned her doctorate on theories of space and embodiment in immersive virtual environments. Her current ICT project is to create a healing center for veterans in the online virtual world, Second Life, which includes intelligent conversational agents as guides and helpers.