Meet the Neurodome Team

NEURODOME is created by an elite league of scientists, animators, film specialists, and educators. Think of the X-Men, minus the adamantium bone claws.

Jonathan Fisher, PhD

Founder / Director

Jonathan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physiology at New York Medical College, where his work focuses on sensory neuroscience and neural prostheses. He has also developed new neuroimaging techniques for imaging electrical activity in the brain. As a performing artist, he has created events that explore the interface between art and technology.

Patrick McPike

Co-Director of 2014 Planetarium Film and Lead Technical Director

Patrick McPike is Technical Director / Visualization Engineer at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, and is the founder of Immersive Creations. Patrick has collaborated with Sesame Workshop, NASA, NCSA, and numerous other planetarium partners. His work is currently shown in planetariums around the world and his visualizations have been featured on the cover of Science magazine.

Kelley Remole, PhD

Director of Educational Outreach

Kelley is the Director of Neuroscience Outreach at the Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute at Columbia University. She combines her scientific training and informal education experience to bring the excitement of brain science to the widest possible audience. She is also the founder of the Columbia University Neuroscience Outreach (CUNO) program.

Aaron Steiner, PhD

Co-Founder, Neurodome Ambassador

Aaron Steiner is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at Pace University in Pleasantville, New York. He received his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania and conducted postdoctoral research at the Rockefeller University. His group's research focuses on understanding how the auditory system regenerates, using zebrafish as a model. In addition to research and teaching at the college level, Aaron enjoys participating in outreach events that enable him to share his love of science with the general public.

Joshua Salvi

Co-Founder, Neurodome Ambassador

Josh Salvi is an MD-PhD student at Weill Cornell Medical College and The
Rockefeller University. He currently studies the mechanical tuning of
sensory systems. His prior work focused on orthopedic tissue engineering
while at the Hershey Medical Center. He also previously served as an
Executive Director of the Weill Cornell Community Clinic and continues to
raise funds for community healthcare.

Michael Dayan, PhD

Technical Director of Clinical Neurovisualization

Michael studied fundamental physics in Paris, France, after which he briefly hesitated between applying his knowledge to finding extra-terrestrial life or improving the one of humans. Choosing the latter brought him to a PhD in novel MRI techniques at UCL in London, UK, from which his expertise in medical imaging led him to investigate neurodegenerative diseases, notably Alzheimer’s, in Rome, Italy and now at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York.

Jeanne Garbarino, PhD

Director of Media Ventures

Jeanne Garbarino is the Director of Science Outreach at The Rockefeller University, where she is working to improve the dialogue between scientists and educators, as well as facilitate communication initiatives for scientists. Jeanne is also the co-organizer of SpotOn NYC, the biology editor of Double X Science, and the managing editor of The Incubator.

Kelle Cruz, PhD

Curator of Astronomical Data Content

Kelle is an Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Hunter College. Her current scientific research focuses on studying the physical properties of low-mass stars and brown dwarfs. She has held a Spitzer Fellowship at the California Institute of Technology and her activities have been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the Sloan Foundation, the Space Telescope Science Institute. She additionally participates in outreach for K-12 community to increase awareness of gender and diversity issues in the sciences.

Advisors

Mark Subbarao, PhD

Space Visualization Laboratory Director, Adler Planetarium

Mark is interested in cosmology, particularly the large-scale structure of galaxies, their clustering properties and evolution. He is member of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey working as a developer of their spectroscopic software which automatically measures redshifts, hence 3D positions, for nearly 1 million galaxies and quasars.  Mark is also interested in scientific visualization and 3D computer graphics, and using these as tools to make this immense cosmic map accessible to the public.

Douglass Harsch

Digital Effects Artist

Douglas has been working in computer graphics and creating digital visual content for films for over 15 years. Since 2005, he has helped create three planetarium shows: Cosmic Collisions, Journey to the Stars, and The Big Bang.  He also does app development, including a children’s picture book app. He is currently finishing up a Master’s at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in the Mind, Brain and Education program.

Carter Emmart, PhD

Director of Astrovisualization

Carter was awarded an honorary Doctorate from Linkoping University in Sweden for his work in astrovisualization and has worked at NASA Ames Research Center and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). He contributed to the development of the interactive software, Uniview, now being developed by the Swedish software company SCISS AB to support Uniview as a product for planetariums, globally. Carter has presented this technology at The White House and at the TED 2010 Conference.

Project-Specific Team Members

Titi Yu

Producer

Titi is a documentary filmmaker based in Brooklyn. She has produced numerous hours of television for PBS, HBO, NBC, and The History Channel. Her independent films have screened at The Boston Film Festival, Dallas Film and Video Festival, and deadCenter Film Festival.  She is currently the Editorial Producer at Futuro Media Group.

Louise Gikow

Writer

A multiple Emmy-Award-winning writer, Louise’s work spans television, multimedia, and books for kids and adults. She wrote the two most recent planetarium shows for the American Museum of Natural History: Cosmic Collisions and Journey to the Stars.

Marjoe Aguiling

Editor

Marjoe is a producer at CNN. He has extensive experience in creating broadcast segments, trailers, and image spots. His current projects range from medicine, commercial advertising, and international news.