David Nelson, Director

David Nelson has been engaged in research efforts on Adaptive User Interfaces, User Experience Design, Battlespace Visualizations, Augmented Reality for Science Learning, Imagineering the Naval workplace and battlespace of the future, and innovative work training Sexual Assault Response Coordinators and Victim Advocates for the Army SHARP Academy.

Nelson has worked in collaboration with ARL, USC’s Rossier School of Education, as well as USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, leading a research effort on the emerging ‘Language of Immersion’ and its impact on the future of storytelling. From 2016 to 2019, Nelson served as Lead Advisor at Sony Pictures Entertainment for the Summer Innovation Program and served as the Lead Advisor to the premier 20th Century Fox Innovation Lab program as well.

Nelson is an award-winning Producer/Director, having created content in the arenas of feature films, documentaries, music videos and commercials. He is a recipient of a Hugo Award for Excellence in Television Documentary and has studied the art of storytelling for more than 20 years. David Nelson’s expertise in creating engaging immersive content for training, education and entertainment is applicable across many domains.

Rhys Yahata, Lead Programmer

Rhys Yahata has worked on various ICT projects such as the Enhanced Environment for Communication and Collaboration (E2C2), Early Synthetic Prototyping (ESP), Restoring Active Memory (RAM) Replay, One World Terrain (OWT), Open Medical Gesture (OpenMG), Team Assessment and Learner Knowledge Observational Network (TALK-ON), and the Synthetic Training Environment (STE).

Yahata also contributed to the MxR Lab’s research efforts in the field of redirected walking. He graduated from the University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering with a B.S. in Computer Engineering and Computer Science. Over his engineering career, he has received Best Poster and Best Demo awards from the IEEE Virtual Reality and ACM SIGGRAPH Conferences.

Allison Aptaker is the Project Manager at ICT’s Mixed Reality (MxR) Lab, which explores emerging human-machine interactions #HMI to propose innovative #VR #AR hardware, platform, and system solutions. In 2023, Aptaker also took on the Project Leader responsibility for ICT’s booth at Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education (I/ITSEC), which was attended by 18,000 servicemembers and technology professionals. Before joining ICT in 2014, Allison Aptaker held assistant roles in entertainment at NBC, Disney and William Morris Endeavor, before joining Vanessa K. Productions (event planning and production). “My role enables me to work on a constantly-evolving and fast-paced wide variety of future-leaning projects,” she told us. “I’m always learning something new, building new connections, troubleshooting and generally expanding my horizons towards tomorrow.”

David Cobbins is a former United States Army Non-Commissioned Officer and Combat Medic. He holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin and a graduate degree from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. David has previously worked for the Department of Veteran Affairs and Warner Brothers Studios. He currently serves a creative Producer for ICT’s Mixed Reality Lab, and as a Project Leader for the Emerging Leader Immersive Training Environment (ELITE) and the Digital Interactive Victim Intake System (DIVIS). ELITE won the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Federal Executive Board (FEB) Innovation of the Year Award, which recognizes work-related innovations in the Federal Government. DIVIS is being used as a training capstone experience at the Army’s Sexual Assault Harassment and Response (SHARP) Academy. David has also been a writer and creative consultant on game, television, film and military related projects over the last 10 years.

Dr. Deniz Marti, a postdoctoral research associate at USC ICT’s Mixed Reality Lab, specializes in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and user experience research for Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies. Her work delves into immersive mixed reality environments, aiming to enhance user experiences and optimize outcomes, particularly in military contexts. Dr. Marti’s research also encompasses artificial intelligence-based recommendation systems, focusing on usability, AI trust, and effectiveness. She earned her undergraduate degree in Industrial Engineering from Bogazici University and her Ph.D. in Systems Engineering from George Washington University. Her interdisciplinary Ph.D. research focused on bridging engineering and cognitive psychology to address socio-technical challenges, including investigating NASA engineers’ decision-making processes. Dr. Marti furthered her post-doctoral training at Harvard University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, concentrating on reasoning, design-thinking, decision-making, and problem-solving within STEM education.

Jaein is a researcher specializing in the fields of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR), currently a Visiting Scholar at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies, Principal Researcher at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology’s AI and Robot Institute, and Professor in the AI-Robot Department at KIST School.

His work focuses on 3D interaction within immersive environments, leveraging AI for innovative solutions. He have contributed to key academic forums such as CHI, IEEE VR, ISMAR, ACM VRST, and SIGGRAPH Asia, and serve on the boards of the Korean HCI Society and the Computer Graphics Society.

Spencer is a senior student at the University of Southern California (USC), currently pursuing a master’s degree in computer science with a minor in Immersive Media. As a dedicated student researcher and developer, Spencer is actively engaged at USC’s Institute for Creative Technologies, specifically within the MxR Lab. He also contributes to Scott Fisher’s Mobile & Environmental Media Lab.

Specializing in the intersection of extended reality (XR) technologies and artificial intelligence (AI), Spencer is deeply committed to exploring and understanding the evolving applications of XR. His research focuses on the synergies between XR and AI, with an emphasis on enhancing human capabilities through innovative technological integration.

Spencer brings valuable experience to his academic pursuits, having previously collaborated on projects involving the design and prototyping of astronaut-centric Heads-Up Displays (HUDs) with NASA and The Aerospace Corporation. His multifaceted background reflects a keen interest in cutting-edge technologies and their practical implications for various industries.

Patrick Lynett is a MxR collaborator / co-PI and a Professor of Civil Engineering at USC.  His research interests are directed towards a better understanding of coastal processes and their impacts on society, with a focus on predicting coastal hazards and informing stakeholders of the associated risk.  Short time-scale coastal hazards, such as hurricanes and tsunamis, are of particular interest.

Lynett was a member of the 2005 International Tsunami Survey Team to Sri Lanka, the 2005 Hurricane Katrina Coastal Impacts Survey Team sponsored by ASCE, the post-tsunami survey team in American Samoa in 2009, numerous surveys throughout the Pacific after the 2011 Japan tsunami, numerous post-hurricane surveys along the Atlantic and Gulf coastlines, and recently a survey in south-eastern Alaska to document the 200-m high tsunami generated by the Taan Fjord landslide.

Dr. Lynett has been the recipient of research grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the United States Geological Survey, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the NOAA Sea Grant Program, the Office of Naval Research, various California state agencies, and private industry.

Notable awards include the Department of the Army Commander’s Award for Public Service given for Dr. Lynett’s post-Katrina work, a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship, and the ASCE Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize.

Natali Chavez is a professional actress and a Ph.D. candidate in the Film Department of the School of Fine Arts at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, in the field of Virtual, Augmented, Mixed Reality and Cinema. She obtained a B.A. in European and International Business and Politics from the University of Macedonia, a M.Sc. in Services Management at Athens University of Economics and Business, and an Acting Diploma. She also possesses certificates, inter alia, in Pedagogy and Teaching, Artificial Intelligence, Python and Machine Learning. As an actress she has worked with various important theatrical and film directors. Her research interests lie in Virtual Actors and their expressions using anthropological, cognitive and acting theories, animation, Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence tools.

Currently she is completing her ICT Summer Internship under Dr. Andrew Gordon from Interactive Narrative Research. The result of this internship leads to a new solution for emerging filmmakers which, by taking advantage of AI workflows, offers high level quality results in lighting, scene designing etc.

As a Fulbright Visiting Research Student, she will join Mixed Reality Lab for 6months. Her main scientific aim will be a theoretical and an experimental study of acting methods translation into meaningful data in scope of creation of a virtual actor with Artificial Intelligence component and its application in cognitive sciences.