Expertise

Topics:  VR Storytelling, Immersive Game Design, Digital Humanities, Entertainment and Robotics

Derek Ham is the Director of Carnegie Mellon’s Entertainment Technology Center. He is an award-winning VR director, design educator, and immersive storyteller. Trained as an architect, he earned his PhD in Design Computation from MIT, a master’s in architecture from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, and a Bachelor of Architecture from Hampton University. In his research, he continues to investigate both virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technology to find ways these tools can expand the way we work, play, and learn. His most notable projects “I Am A Man” and “Barnstormers: Determined to Win” both share a special focus on the use of virtual reality as a tool for the empathetic storytelling of African American history. As Director of the ETC he works with interdisciplinary teams across diverse backgrounds: game design, location based entertainment, and robotics in what he calls an “undisciplined” design approach, a frame of thinking that breaks down traditional rules.

Media Experience

Carnegie Mellon students invent AI pet that merges virtual reality with the physical world  — TribLive
When they pitched their idea to a committee of faculty members, Entertainment Technology Center Director Derek Ham was surprised in the similarities between the student’s idea and a prototype he had been working on. Ham felt that the entirely virtual aspect of the AI pet project had been done before, so Ham and the team combine ideas, he said.

Carnegie Mellon’s Dr. Derek Ham probes cultural innovation  — Rollingout
Visionary director of university’s Entertainment Technology Center [Derek Ham] explores how virtual reality and AI are shaping the future of Black storytelling and inclusive design.

NC State professor creates immersive Negro Leagues VR game of baseball ‘triumph’  — The News & Observer
A new virtual reality game created by Derek Ham, a VR designer and associate professor in the College of Design at N.C. State University, lets you experience this rich piece of Black history firsthand. Read more at: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article276591831.html#storylink=cpy

Beyond the Bauhaus: I AM A MAN  — American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA)
Artists Glenn Ligon, Dread Scott, and Hank Willis Thomas each referred to the placard in works that linked historical memory to contemporary identities. Designer Derek Ham published a virtual reality experience simulating Memphis in 1968. Audiences can explore the past from the vantage point of a crewman in various immersive scenes, like a shift behind a garbage truck or a strike demonstration.

‘I AM A MAN’ Puts You at the Heart of the Civil Rights Struggle, Now Available on Rift  — Road to VR
I AM A MAN is an interactive VR experience that lets you participate in the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike and the events leading up to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination. Created by Dr. Derek Ham, an assistant professor of Graphic Design at NC State University, I AM A MAN was a winner of Oculus’ 2017 Launch Pad, a program designed to help fund VR content from diverse backgrounds.