Morphonix Team
Karen Littman
President Morphonix™, Lead Design, Composer
Early on, Karen recognized the power and potential of interactive digital media. In 1990 she founded and has for 25 years been President of Morphonix LLC. Morphonix produces digital story-based games and apps that make brain science fun and comprehensible to children.
As a producer, writer, and designer, Littman has received over $7 million in grants from the federal government and foundations to develop award-winning films, games and apps.
Games such as Journey into the Brain, Neuromatrix, and Every Body Has a Brain have received numerous awards and recognition from Wired, Common Sense Media, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, the Independent Games Festival, Parents’ Choice and more.
Karens rare combination of creativity and fundraising skills make her an exceptional creative and collaborative leader and a driving force in bringing projects to fruition. The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg, a documentary film for which she was associate producer, was part of the PBS American Masters Series and won multiple awards.
Karen is a creative consultant to corporations and non-profit organizations, and is a member of professional organizations as diverse as the Society for Neuroscience and ASCAP. Other positions have included: President of Boulder Productions Inc. (which created documentary films and commercials), President of the non-profit Handicapped Information Service for the Motion Picture and Television Industry and Vice President of The Alliance, a Washington, D.C. non-profit organization specializing in research and development of education projects.
In addition to her extensive experience in developing films, computer-based programs, and digital interactive media, Karen is a professionally trained pianist, composer, and vocalist. Her songs have been produced by numerous Bay Area notables including Grammy-award winning producer Narada Michael Walden.
www.karenlittman.com
Games such as Journey into the Brain, Neuromatrix, and Every Body Has a Brain have received numerous awards and recognition from Wired, Common Sense Media, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, the Independent Games Festival, Parents’ Choice and more.
Karens rare combination of creativity and fundraising skills make her an exceptional creative and collaborative leader and a driving force in bringing projects to fruition. The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg, a documentary film for which she was associate producer, was part of the PBS American Masters Series and won multiple awards.
Karen is a creative consultant to corporations and non-profit organizations, and is a member of professional organizations as diverse as the Society for Neuroscience and ASCAP. Other positions have included: President of Boulder Productions Inc. (which created documentary films and commercials), President of the non-profit Handicapped Information Service for the Motion Picture and Television Industry and Vice President of The Alliance, a Washington, D.C. non-profit organization specializing in research and development of education projects.
In addition to her extensive experience in developing films, computer-based programs, and digital interactive media, Karen is a professionally trained pianist, composer, and vocalist. Her songs have been produced by numerous Bay Area notables including Grammy-award winning producer Narada Michael Walden.
www.karenlittman.com
Jason Johnson
Senior Software Engineer for NeuroPlay Adventures
Jason Johnson is the Software Engineer developing applications at Morphonix, LLC. He graduated in Computer Science from California Polytechnic State University, and was immediately hired to develop tools for animation at Walt Disney Feature Animation, earning multiple film credits on films like Lilo & Stitch(2002) and Treasure Plane(2002). He spent the next 10 years at Industrial Light & Magic developing tools to create visual effects for film and console games. He's credited for his contributions to War of the Worlds (2005), The Avengers (2012) as well as StarWars: The Force Unleashed(2008,2010) console game series. In the years that have followed, he's worked to develop mobile games that have been very successful and graphically groundbreaking. In his spare time, he's an avid motorcyclist, a SCUBA diver, a certified pilot and loves to garden.
Max Weinberg
Animator, Art Director for NeuroPlay Adventures
Max Weinberg is a digital artist who grew up in Santa Cruz, CA. With an interest in animation since a young age, Max set his eyes on the video game industry, also due to his game-playing passion. He attributes the time spent playing countless hours of video games to "rigorous study". Max graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a BA in Fine Art. As a student, he helped build a bridge between the art department and the computer science department to assist the video game design students by providing art assets for games. He and his team won the First Annual Sammy Award Grand Prize for Best Video Game with their iPad game, Syz E.G, in his senior year. His family has a history of animation, dating back to the Fleischers of Fleischer Studios, the animators of Betty Boop and Popeye.
Jay Leibold
Writer, Design for NeuroPlay Adventures, EBHB, Neuromatrix, and Journey into the Brain
Jay Leibold has written more than twenty-five interactive books and software titles. He has worked with everyone from Bantam Doubleday Dell and Scholastic to IBM. He started out by writing fifteen titles for the Choose Your Own Adventure series, bestselling books that first introduced interactive narrative to a wide audience. He’s also written several linear narrative novels under other names, including the Bill Damen trilogy. He has been with Morphonix since their first game about the brain for children, Journey into the Brain, and he has lived in San Francisco’s Mission District for many years.
Jamie Morris
Sound Designer, Composer, Audio Editor for NeuroPlay Adventures
Jamie Morris is a graduate of the first Interactive Audio program at Ex'pression College. After spending several years producing music in his bedroom, he decided to follow his dreams and pursue a career in game audio. Jamie originally was strictly interested in music. During his time at Ex'pression, he studied composition, film and video game post-production, sound programming, and sound design and developed a passion for anything that makes sound.
Chris Gralapp
Artist, Medical Illustrator for NeuroPlay Adventures, EBHB, Neuromatrix, and Journey into the Brain
Christine Gralapp, Artist, Designer, is a Medical Illustrator based in the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition to her specialization in neurobiology and the special senses, her subject matter includes all things scientific, from the anatomical to the archaeological. She has contributed artwork to numerous books, journals, CD-ROMs, and other educational media.
Marieka Schotland
Research and Evaluation for EBHB and NeuroPlay Adventures
Marieka Schotland received her doctorate in Community Psychology from New York University, with a special interest in program evaluation based in school settings. She works in the Bay Area as a research evaluation consultant putting to use her academic background, strong organizational skills and passion for schools.
Laura Minnigerode
Evaluator for NeuroPlay Adventures, EBHB, Neuromatrix, and Journey Into the Brain
Laura Minnigerode is the formative evaluator for NeuroPlay Adventures, EBHB, Neuromatrix, and Journey Into the Brain. She is an instructional designer as well as a former middle school teacher. She holds a Master's in Education (in Human Development) from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and California teaching credentials.
Kelly Day
Artist, Animator for EBHB and Neuromatrix
Kelly Day is a computer graphic and visual effects artist. He has credits in several feature films including most recently in the DreamWorks film "Anchorman." During the 1990's, Kelly was a Technical Director and Producer for Walt Disney Television Animation. He began his career at Disney as a background artist, and eventually established and managed the Walt Disney Television Computer Labs. Kelly has also designed for several animated video games and network cartoon shows, including, Ghost Busters, Alvin and the Chipmunks, and Alf. He received his BA in Industrial Design, Animation and Illustration from California State University, Northridge.
Sanjeev Brar
Sound Designer, Composer for EBHB
Sanjeev Brar graduated from UC Berkeley with a BS in Astrophysics in 2005. He began his career as a science educator for the Lawrence Hall of Science and the SETI Institute. Today, Sanjeev enjoys creating music and sound at home and at work.
Andreas Hoelzl
Lead Programmer for EBHB
Gathering his experience in large scale industrial projects for the business and financial industry, Andreas came to the conclusion that there must be a more meaningful way to use his degree in computer science. As the lead programmer he now enjoys developing purposeful software that excites children and their parents alike.
Ben Gabaldon
Sound Designer, Composer for Neuromatrix
Ben Gabaldon is a sound arts graduate from Ex’pression College for Digital Arts contributing his education in composition, sound design, and multimedia management. After realizing that he spent all of his time writing music, and operating a recording studio from his home in Las Vegas, he decided to pursue an education and career in sound. Dropping everything immediately, he rushed off to the Bay Area, earned his BAS, and began his career in sound three years later. In this time, he has gained experience in nearly every realm of sound, from studio recording, live production, Foley, midi composition, to sound design for film and games.
Blake Drolson
Lead Programmer for Neuromatrix
Blake Drolson, programmer, has been programming computers since the age of 13, when he fell in love with interactive game software and the idea that you could change the code that controlled the interactions the game would provide. After graduating with a M.S. in engineering from the Electronic Visualization Laboratory at the University of Illinois in 1991, he has worked on many applications, including brain imaging,
virtual simulation, and game programming. Having worked on all aspects of game programming, he has participated in the creation of major titles and small games, including Rampage World Tour, Fun Fair, and Crashday. Now working on Neuromatrix, he is happy to be working on a title that helps children, and gives him a chance to get the nanobots out of his brain before it turns to pudding.
Julia Huff
Flash Programmer for Neuromatrix
Julia Huff graduated from Colorado State University with a BS in Biology. She began her career in web technologies in 1996 with the likes of Egghead and eBay. Today she is contributing her Flash skills to eLearning based projects. Spare time is spent riding motorcycles in the Sierras.
Warren Young, Ph.D.
Summative Evaluation for Neuromatrix
Dr. Young has more than twenty years of neuroscience imaging hardware, software development experience. He is currently the CEO of 3D Vision Systems, Inc in Irvine, CA, producing the first digital 3D stereoscopic surgery workstation. Dr. Young was the Director of Neuropharmacology Computing at The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA and a post-doctoral student at the Salk Research Institute. Dr. Young holds a PhD in Neurosciences from the University of CA, San Diego.
Penny Dyer
Curriculum Designer for Neuromatrix
Penny Dyer is the CEO of Curriculum Design Institute and the founder and President of ITTT, Innovative Tailor-made Training and Technology, a non-profit grants and evaluation group. She has a doctorate in education with over 25 years of experience in teacher education and designing curriculum.
Mary Riordan-Karlsson, Ed.D.
Curriculum Designer for Neuromatrix
Mary is a senior curriculum designer with Curriculum Design Institute. She has a doctorate in education from University of California, Berkeley with over 20 years of experience as a teacher in New York City and Silicon Valley, a researcher, an author, a television host, and a digital media designer.
Aaron Kalb
Flash Programmer for Neuromatrix
Aaron came to Morphonix™, for part of his school's Workplace Learning Experience program. His primary role is Flash programmer for the puzzles in Neuromatrix. At Morphonix™ Aaron is also learning about and participating in various aspects of game development including design, sound, graphics and animation. In his spare time, Aaron enjoys eating Thai Food, hanging out with his friends, camping, and, of course, making computer games.
Marty Brewer
Programmer for Journey Into the Brain
Marty Brewer, Technical Director, Designer, graduated from Stanford University with a BS in Biology and emphasis in mathematics and engineering fundamentals. His programming languages include Lingo (Director), C, C++, Pascal and HTML. His experience includes developing numerous CD-ROM and web applications for children and adults. Marty is interested in the use of new technologies in the educational arena. As a student and teacher, he found that participation is an essential element of the learning process and believes that the near future will demonstrate interactive technology's ability to involve, enlighten and enrich the mind.
Tim Ayers
Project Coordinator, Webmaster for Journey into the Brain
Tim Ayers, Designer, Project Coordinator, Production Artist, and Webmaster, comes to multimedia from video production, where he has worked as a production coordinator and manager. Tim went to college in New Paltz, New York and Middlesex Polytechnic in London to study theater and film.
Madeline Preisner
Artist, Animator for Journey into the Brain
Madeline Preisner, Designer, Illustrator and Animator, has worked on CD-ROM and video games since 1991, making the switch from commercial and editorial illustration to create interactive art. Following her interests from fashion and product illustration to graphic and packaging design, Madeline worked as an Art Director for several years before opening her own studio in 1983.
Richard Manzullo
Composer, Musician for Journey Into the Brain
Richard Manzullo, Composer and Musician, fondly known as Bomer, was a composer and recording artist who composed songs and music for Journey into the Brain.
Morphonix Neuroscience Advisors and Former Child Advisors
Floyd Bloom, MD
Professor Emeritus, The Scripps Research Institute
Eric H. Chudler, Ph.D.
Research Associate Professor, Department of Bioengineering, University of Washington Director of Education of Outreach, University of Washington Engineered Biomaterials
Adam Gazzaley, MD, Ph.D.
Professor of Neurology, Physiology and Psychiatry; Director, Neuroscience Imaging Center & Neuroscape Lab; Principle Investigator, Gazzaley Lab, University of California, San Francisco
Rob Malenka, MD, Ph.D.
Pritzker Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Stanford University School of Medicine, Director Nancy Pritzker Laboratory
Nicholas Schiff, MD
Assistant Professor Neurology and Neuroscience, Cornell University
Arthur Toga, Ph.D.
Professor Neurology, UCLA, Director Laboratory Neuro Imaging, Co-Director, Division of Brain Mapping
Mark Tramo, MD, Ph.D.
Director, The Institute for Music and Brain Science, Harvard University, Massachusetts General Hospital, MIT
Jonah, 4 years old
Child Advisor for EBHB
Lydia, 7 years old
Child Advisor for EBHB
Jack, 4 years old
Child Advisor for EBHB
Tyler, 4 years old
Child Advisor for EBHB
Aidan, 5 years old
Child Advisor for EBHB
Carter, 4 years old
Child Advisor for EBHB
Munroe, 6 years old
Child Advisor for EBHB
Finnegan, 5 years old
Child Advisor for EBHB
Wyatt, 6 years old
Child Advisor for EBHB
Dane, 6 years old
Child Advisor for EBHB
Elektra Fike-Data
Teen Advisor for Neuromatrix
Aaron Kalb
Teen Advisor for Neuromatrix
Alex States
Teen Advisor for Neuromatrix
Jordan Duncan
Teen Advisor for Neuromatrix
Jarrod Blagoyevich
Teen Advisor for Neuromatrix
Katrina (Kat) Sonka
Teen Advisor for Neuromatrix
Mackenzie Ross
Teen Advisor for Neuromatrix
Maddy Ross
Teen Advisor for Neuromatrix
Natalie Day
Teen Advisor for Neuromatrix
Jacob Quinn Shenker
Teen Advisor for Neuromatrix
Ben Linsay
Teen Advisor for Neuromatrix
Kyle Blank
Teen Advisor for Neuromatrix
Mariel Price
Teen Advisor for Neuromatrix
Austin Blank
Teen Advisor for Neuromatrix
Mason Bonner-Santos
Teen Advisor for Neuromatrix