Research that moved into practice.
My curated list of papers, reports, DARPA program archives, and essays across AI, XR, serious games, education, military mental health, and psychoacoustics.
The pattern is the same across decades: take an emerging technology seriously, test it against human problems, and transition to practice.
Landmark work
A few items explain the arc quickly: VR exposure therapy, virtual humans, DARPA-scale learning analytics, ARPA-style education R&D, and the earlier psychoacoustic work that connected games with rigorous measurement.
From clinical prototype to deployed care.
The VR therapy publications document a line of work that began as a high-risk DoD bet and became part of a broader clinical deployment lineage.
Read VR Therapy PaperAutomatic Behavior Analysis During a Clinical Interview with a Virtual Human
Studies in Health Technology & Informatics • 2016
Empirical study of SimSensei, a virtual human interviewing platform for psychological health screening.
Read ArticleResearch, Policy Reports & Federal Programs
Peer-reviewed studies and federal reports spanning VR therapy for PTSD, virtual humans for clinical screening, and national STEM strategy.
Using Educational Programming, Games, and Comics for Impact
HHS PACCARB • 2019
Invited presentation to the Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (July 10, 2019).
Read SlidesClinical VR Tools to Advance PTSD Treatment
Military Medicine • 2018
Overview of VR exposure therapy tools developed for PTSD in military settings.
Read ArticleAutomatic Behavior Analysis During a Clinical Interview with a Virtual Human
Studies in Health Technology & Informatics • 2016
Empirical study of SimSensei, a virtual human interviewing platform for psychological health screening.
Read ArticleSTEM 2026: A Vision for Innovation in STEM Education
U.S. Dept of Education • 2016
Strategic framework for the future of STEM education in America, developed during my tenure as a Presidential appointee at the Department of Education.
Read ReportSerious Games: DARPA — An Interview with Program Manager CAPT Russell Shilling, PhD
Games for Health Journal • 2012
Ferguson interview in the Games for Health Journal covering the DARPA Information Innovation Office portfolio: virtual humans for clinical interviewing, serious games for behavioral health, and the innovation model that brought programs like SimCoach and SimSensei out of the lab.
Read InterviewVR PTSD Exposure Therapy with Active Duty OIF/OEF Service Members
Int'l Journal on Disability & Human Development • 2011
Clinical results from Virtual Iraq/Afghanistan exposure therapy at San Diego Naval Medical Center. Of 20 treatment completers, 16 no longer met PTSD screening criteria post-treatment. With Rizzo, Reger, Rothbaum, Difede, McLay, and colleagues.
Read ArticleCombat-Related PTSD: Multiple Case Report Using VR Graded Exposure Therapy with Physiological Monitoring
MMVR Conference • 2008
ONR-funded case series comparing Virtual Reality Graded Exposure Therapy (VRGET) with treatment as usual in active-duty corpsmen. With Wood, Webb-Murphy, Center, McLay, Reeves, Pyne, and Wiederhold.
Read PaperCombat-Related PTSD: A Case Report Using VR Exposure Therapy with Physiological Monitoring
Cyberpsychology & Behavior • 2007
Peer-reviewed single-case report from the ONR-funded program comparing VR graded exposure therapy with cognitive behavioral group therapy in active-duty corpsmen. The first published clinical evidence from the Navy VR-PTSD line that the 2008 multi-case and 2011 Virtual Iraq/Afghanistan trials built on.
Read ArticleDARPA Program Archives
Primary source documentation from programs I managed as a DARPA Program Manager. These newsletters were produced for public dissemination and are approved for public release, distribution unlimited.
Detection & Computational Analysis of Psychological Signals (DCAPS)
DARPA Program Newsletter • May 2013
Program overview newsletter for DCAPS, a DARPA initiative to develop passive, privacy-preserving analytical tools for detecting PTSD, depression, and suicidal ideation from behavioral signals. Performers included USC/ICT (SimSensei), Raytheon/BBN, MIT Media Lab, and UCLA/CRESST. The SimSensei virtual human platform developed under this program is a direct predecessor to the conversational agent work in military mental health I continue today.
View ArchiveENGAGE: Large Population Analytics for Education and Training
DARPA Program Newsletter • November 2013
Program overview for ENGAGE, a DARPA initiative to develop data-intensive, game-based education and training systems scalable to tens of thousands of users. Performers included the University of Washington Center for Game Science, Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Academy, UCLA/CRESST, and Intific. Covered adaptive learning games including DragonBox, RoboBall, and Expedition Atlantis — early proof that large-population learning analytics could outperform traditional classroom assessment at scale.
View ArchiveGraphic Novel Art Therapy (GNAT): Online Sequential Art Authoring Tools for Therapeutic Storytelling
DARPA SBIR 11.2 Topic 003 • 2013
Program brief for the GNAT initiative, a DARPA SBIR effort to develop web-based graphic novel authoring tools enabling service members and veterans to process combat-related trauma through narrative and sequential art. Four Phase II performers — Kinection, SIFT, Intific, and E-Line Ventures — each pursued distinct therapeutic frameworks. The program seeded what later became the "Serious Comics" and "Impact Comics" terminology now used across military and civilian health and education contexts.
View ArchiveBook Chapters & Foundational Work
The early research that set the trajectory: serious games, virtual human agents, auditory displays, and the psychoacoustics work that started it all.
Autonomous Virtual Human Agents for Healthcare
Book Chapter • 2015
Foundational work on SimCoach and SimSensei: virtual humans for clinical interviewing and healthcare information support. With Rizzo et al., USC/ICT.
Read ChapterAmerica's Army PC Game — Vision and Realization
U.S. Army / MOVES Institute • 2004
Exhibition booklet produced for the Game Scenes show at Yerba Buena Art Center, San Francisco. Documents the design, development, and strategic impact of America's Army — one of the first major serious games and, at launch, the Army's most effective recruitment communication tool. As Audio Engineer, I designed the multilayered sound architecture that earned the game Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Certification. Contributors include Stanford's Tim Lenoir and Henry Lowood, MIT's Zhan Li, and DARPA simulation pioneer Jack Thorpe.
View PublicationEntertainment R&D for Defense
IEEE Computer Graphics & Applications • 2003
Peer-reviewed IEEE article on how the MOVES Institute's collaboration between the U.S. military, Hollywood, and the game industry produced America's Army . With Zyda, Hiles, Mayberry, Wardynski, Capps, and colleagues.
Read ArticleVirtual Auditory Displays
Book Chapter • 2002
Chapter with Shinn-Cunningham in Stanney (Ed.), Handbook of Virtual Environments: Design, Implementation, and Applications (Lawrence Erlbaum, pp. 65–92). Why auditory cues matter in virtual environments — spatial hearing, HRTFs, the cocktail party effect, and how to engineer audio interfaces for simulation and training when the visual channel is saturated.
Read ChapterHuman Factors Military Lexicon: Auditory Displays
ARL Technical Report • 2001
U.S. Army Research Laboratory technical report (ARL-TR-2526) standardizing terminology for auditory displays, speech communication, and audio technology across DoD human factors research. Developed with the DoD Spatial Audio Display Working Group (Letowski, Karsh, Vause, Ballas, Brungart, McKinley).
Read ReportSpatial Auditory Displays for Use Within Attack Rotary Wing Aircraft
22nd Army Science Conference • 2000
Operational test of spatial auditory displays in an AH-64 Apache simulator (STRATA) at the Army Research Institute, Fort Rucker. Five trained AH-64 crews — averaging roughly 2,200 flight hours in the airframe — flew night mission scenarios with 3D audio cues for pilot and co-pilot gunner. With Letowski and Storms.
Read PaperSound Design Techniques & Architectures for Videogames
AES / ResearchGate • 1997
Applying psychoacoustics principles to interactive entertainment and training. Early work connecting laboratory auditory research to practical game audio engineering.
Read PaperThe Effect of Double Hearing Protection on Speech Intelligibility in a Simulated Aircraft Noise Environment
J. Acoustical Society of America • 1994
Navy research on how combined earplug-and-earmuff hearing protection affects pilot communication in aircraft noise — the trade-off between auditory safety and speech understanding that shapes flight-deck equipment decisions.
View AbstractForward Masking in Young Children: Rocketship Psychophysics
Current Psychology • 1992
My doctoral work at UNC Greensboro with Soderquist. Embedded a three-alternative forced-choice forward masking procedure inside an arcade-style rocketship videogame to measure auditory processing development in children aged 5 to 8 against adult controls — early evidence that gameplay could deliver rigorous psychophysics.
Read ArticleEssays & Commentary
Public-facing essays and commentary on AI, education, innovation, and policy.
Applying the DARPA Moonshot Model to Autism Technology
Medium • 2024
How high-risk, high-reward innovation can accelerate breakthrough autism technology.
Read ArticleFocus on the Problem, Not the MacGuffin
Medium • 2024
Reflections on defining core problems in technology innovation over chasing shiny distractions.
Read ArticleEthical AI in Training to Shape an Inclusive Government Workforce
ATD • 2024
Guidance on equity and ethics when applying AI in government workforce training.
Read ArticleEmbracing the DARPA Model for EdTech Innovation
Getting Smart • 2023
Using advanced research models to responsibly guide AI tools like GPT-4 in education.
Read ArticleWhat Happens When AI Doesn't Understand Students
Getting Smart • 2023
Examining risks of AI deployment in classrooms when systems misinterpret student needs.
Read ArticleDoD Needs to Train Differently
Federal News Network • 2022
A commentary on why the Department of Defense must shift toward immersive, personalized training.
Read ArticleWhy We Need a DARPA for Education
Scientific American • 2018
The case for an ARPA-style agency focused on high-impact education R&D.
Read ArticleNeed the full context?
Use the contact page for consulting, speaking, advisory, or collaboration inquiries.