The People of Virtual Peace

Virtual Peace Project Leaders

(please click the names below to reveal the bios)

The Virtual Peace Team

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  Lindsey Andrews
  Duke University Graduate Student, Department of English

  Lindsey Andrews served as a researcher and blogger for the Virtual Peace Project. She received her B.A. from the University of Southern California in 2001. Her graduate study focuses on the co-evolution of media technologies and evolutionary theory, through a literary lens, in the long 20th century.
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  Troy Bowman
  Virtual Heroes, Inc., Lead Game Designer

  Troy Bowman is a Lead Game Designer at Virtual Heroes. He is a veteran of the Entertainment Games Industry, having lended his expertise to such highly successful titles as the Midnight Club, Smuggler's Run, and Red Dead Revolver series while at Rockstar San Diego from 2001-06. Troy then joined the team at Virtual Heroes where he now applies techniques gleaned from his commercial gaming background to Serious Games such as the Virtual Peace Project.
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  Randy Brown
  Virtual Heroes, Chief Technology Officer

  For the Virtual Peace Project's interactive training content development, Randy Brown provided expert project scoping, risk management, customer support, and technical leadership. Randy enjoys working with forward-thinking organizations to create cutting-edge educational and training applications that make a difference in the world, and feels strongly that Virtual Peace is such a project.
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  Katia Dantas
  Duke University Graduate Student, International Development Policy

  Katia Dantas wrote game scenarios for the Virtual Peace Project, researching Hurricane Mitch's social impact and associated disaster relief efforts. Katia gained first-hand experience in development through her work for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Brazil, consolidating her acquired knowledge in Humanitarian Assistance at her internship this summer with the International Organization for Migration in Geneva. She is a Rotary World Peace Fellow Class VI and loves dancing, photography, and a good movie.
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  Evan Donahue
  Brown University Class of 2011

  Evan is a second year Computer Science and Modern Culture and Media concentrator at Brown University. His role in this project been primarily connected to the creation of the project website. Evan's primary interests center around networks--the people that comprise them and the technology (or lack thereof) that connects them--and he hopes through his dual-natured course of study to gain the necessary tools to better understand the cyborg-leviathan that is information society.
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  Joe Halper
  Virtual Heroes, Inc., Director of Production

  Joe Halper is the Director of Production for Virtual Heroes. A veteran of both the Entertainment and Serious Games Industry, Joe co-founded and guided the New York City based Kaos Studios as its Senior Producer from 2005-08. He likewise possesses production tenure at both Digital Illusions and Trauma Studios and was a founding member of the original 'Desert Combat' team. At Virtual Heroes, Joe echoes these efforts by managing all facets of the game production and design processes.
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  SangHee Jeong
  Duke University Graduate Student, International Development Policy

  Using her experience working for the Korean Red Cross in Sri Lanka, SangHee Jeong helped write game scenarios for the Virtual Peace Project. SangHee is a Rotary World Peace Fellow deeply interested in the climate change and global energy policy. She plans to pursue her career in human security in response to the climate change.
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  Rosie Kilgore
  Duke University Class of 2009, Program II

  Rosie worked on making several avatars for the Virtual Peace Project. She plans to use her Maya skills learned before and during the internship as a part of her later career goals which she explores in her major. Rosie also enjoys all other kinds of visual arts, dancing, and of course sleeping and eating.
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  Harrison Lee
  Duke University Class of 2011

  Harrison Lee is an undergraduate currently pursuing a Project II course of study at Duke University. He has acted as a research assistant and media specialist for Virtual Peace. In his spare time, Harrison enjoys creative writing, filmmaking, swingdancing, and the collected music of the '70s and '80s.
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  Will Mendoza
  UNC-Chapel Hill Graduate Student, City and Regional Planning

  Will Mendoza is a Rotary World Peace Fellow pursuing a masters degree in City and Regional Planning at UNC. Will studies economic development policies for communities in Latin America and Latin American immigrants in the US and EU with the goal of assisting low income groups, especially women, to gain the skills they need to improve their lives.
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  Whitney Mickens
  Duke University Class of 2008, Computer Science

  Whitney Mickens is pursuing a career in 3D design. Whitney feels that the Virtual Peace Project provided her the hands-on experience with 3D modeling and texturing she needed for a successful start to her career. She enjoys watching Turner Classic Movies and eating grapes and cheese. Yum!
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  Takayoshi Sato
  Virtual Heroes, Art Director

  Takayoshi is the Art Director at Virtual Heroes. He is an award winning Art Director (www.satoworks.com) with over 12 years experience in the games industry in both Japan and the US. His Credits include Silent Hill & Silent Hill II (Konami) and 007 Golden Eye, Rogue Agent (Electronic Arts).
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  Vanessa Sochat
  Duke University Class of 2009, Psychology

  Vanessa created avatars for Virtual Peace using Maya, including the design, modeling, and texturing of the avatars. When not creating amazing avatars she loves to run, think, and enjoy peanut M&M's. At the same time. You should see it.