Summer 2015 Newsletter
Dear Friends, Colleagues, and Fans,
I am happy to announce several new milestones and updates from the USC Creative Media & Behavioral Health Center. To start, I would like to invite you to celebrate our five-year anniversary by sharing our newsletter as far and wide as you can through social media and/or mailing lists. You may also 'like' our Facebook page and 'follow' us on Twitter through our social buttons at the end of this newsletter. We have a brand new website, mobile-friendly, and have gotten more organized with our mailing lists.
I would like to personally thank each and every person who has ever worked on our research projects, come to our lectures, taken our classes, helped us with sponsored research, said yes to collaboration, shared resources with us, and spread good words about what we do. Every small and large gesture has made a difference!
Below are some of the most exciting news of the summer:
Two groundbreaking new degree programs have been approved by USC: an MA in Cinematic Arts with an emphasis in Media Arts, Games and Health; an MFA in Interactive Media with an emphasis in Games and Health.
A new course, IML 543, is offered for Fall 2015. The course can count toward credit in the new degree programs.
Grants & Awards
The Norlien Foundation has awarded us a grant to commercially develop and evaluate The Brain Architecture Game. This game has been played by over 11,000 policymakers, health professionals, and educators. Our partners are the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, Dr. Judy Cameron at the University of Pittsburgh and the FrameWorks Institute.
The Craig Neilsen Foundation has awarded us a grant to continue development and evaluation of Skyfarer, a mixed reality game for individuals with spinal cord injury. We are collaborating with the USC School or Social Work (Dr. Maryalice Jordan-Marsh), Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center (Drs. Phil Requejo and Sara Mulroy), and the USC Division of Physical Therapy and Biokinesiology (Dr. Yogi Matharu).
Research Updates
Our new collaboration with the Developmental Psychopathology Department at the Behavioral Sciences Institute of Radboud University Nijmegen (RUN) and Dr. Isabel Granic's students is bearing fruit. Doctoral student Adam Lobel (RUN) completed a study on real-world vs. in-game anxiety coping using the game Nevermind. A poster session of the preliminary findings was presented at ESCONS 2015 and Neurogaming 2015. Master's student Joanneke Weerdmeester (RUN) has completed a randomized controlled trial on Adventurous Dreaming Highflying Dragon with children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Jeffery Newell (USC Psychology) has completed his master's thesis study using Nevermind and Blowing Blues as study interventions.
Industry Updates
Nevermind has been released on Steam. We're very proud of alumna Erin Reynolds. Fight on!
Outreach Impact
Lastly, I was incredibly honored to conduct a workshop at the annual meeting of the American College of Psychiatrists with Dr. Dave Baron on the topic of Interactive Media & Mental Health. We wrote a short editorial about the workshop in Psychiatry Advisor. We had all participants try at least a few seconds worth of a virtual reality experience in Google Cardboard :)
I was also invited to present at the Growing Up Digital Symposium by the American Academy of Pediatrics. The report is here (institutional subscription is required). Email me directly if you want a copy.
As you can see, this summer, the Garden Lab is in full swing. I only mentioned a handful of things happening in our world. It is my pleasure to direct this center and to collaborate with so many wonderful people.
Thank you for getting to know us, for your support, patience, and kindness.
Sincerely,
Marientina Gotsis, MFA
USC Creative Media & Behavioral Health Center
Interactive Media & Games Division
School of Cinematic Arts
University of Southern California
mgotsis@cinema.usc.edu
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