Brenda Laurel, Ph.D. is Principal at Neogaian Interactive. She is an advocate for diversity and inclusiveness in video games, a “pioneer in developing virtual reality”, a public speaker and an academic. She is also a board member of several companies and organizations. She was founder and chair of the Graduate Design Program at California College of the Arts (2006 – 2012) and of the Media Design graduate program at Art Center College of Design (2000-2006). She has worked for Atari, co-founded the game development firm Purple Moon, and served as an interaction design consultant for multiple companies including Sony Pictures, Apple, and Citibank. She has written the books The Art of Human-Computer Interface Design, Utopian Entrepreneur, Design Research: Methods and Perspectives, and Computers as Theatre.