This article is part of a series featuring recent alumni and their exit essay interviews upon program completion. Garrett Flynn earned the Master of Cinematic Arts with an emphasis in Media Arts, Games & Health and his portfolio is here.
Describe your background and how you shaped your MA studies to integrate within the program.
Before I decided to enroll in the MA in Cinematic Arts with an emphasis in Media Arts, Games, and Health (MGH) program for a Progressive Degree, I was pursuing a BS in Computational Neuroscience with a minor in Digital Studies. Mentored by Dr. Dong Song at the USC Center for Neural Engineering, I attempted to decode memory contents from depth electrode recordings in the human hippocampus before transitioning into qualitative research on the ethical, legal, and social implications of novel brain stimulation techniques. My transition to qualitative research quickly snowballed into additional efforts to engage the public with commercial brain-sensing devices and the future of neurotechnology. With support from Marientina, Dong, and a few on-campus organizations, we eventually organized our efforts under The Brains@Play Initiative to be competitive for additional support and, at least for me, structure my activities as an MA student.
The flexibility of the MGH emphasis paired with a well-defined interdisciplinary project allowed my studies to organize quite naturally. I decided to take ten units of Directed Research (nearly ⅓ of my required coursework) to focus on my self-directed efforts and, with the leftover elective credits, was even able to sneak in BME 552: Neural Implant Engineering: a graduate-level course that I’d wanted to take for several years! After having gone through the program and learning about the experiences of other alumni, I believe that the MGH emphasis can be whatever you make of it.
What core resources did you use at USC, CMBHC, and Cinematic Arts to achieve your goals?
The most important resource throughout my education at USC has been my strong connections with research faculty across Viterbi, SCA, Marshall, and other schools. Without the support of Dong and Marientina, I wouldn’t have been able to pursue some of the most impactful sources of funding and recognition I’ve had over the past few years. This has included a USC Visions and Voices Faculty Grant, the coordination of an NIH Administrative Supplement on Human Agency and Brain-Computer Interfaces in collaboration with the Goering Lab at the University of Washington, as well as the USC Annenberg Graduate Fellows Micro Seminar Series Research Grant that connected us all in the first place.
While organizing public engagement activities for The Brains@Play Initiative, I also learned how important it was to ask openly for additional support, as many on-campus organizations are very excited to support student-led projects that align with their missions. During my time in the MA program, for instance, I’ve been grateful to receive considerable financial and in-kind support from the Ahmanson Lab of the USC Sidney Harmen Academy for Polymathic Study, the USC SMART-VR Center, the Bridge Institute’s Bridge Arts + Science Alliance, USC Games, and USC Media Arts + Practice.
What were your major accomplishments during your degree?
I organized several public engagement events throughout the program, including Livewire: A Stimulating Night of Neurotechnology, the Brains and Games International Design Fiction Competition, and the BCI Game Jam 2021: Multiplayer Madness. Beyond teaching me general event organization and fundraising skills, these efforts forced me to reflect deeply on what meaningful research engagement with non-technical audiences looks like.
Following these events, I transitioned the Brains@Play Initiative into Brains@Play LLC with Joshua Brewster, whom I’d met while promoting Livewire during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pivoting from my capstone project for the Digital Studies minor, we prototyped a Progressive Web Application (PWA) for developing custom web applications controlled by any brain-sensing headset. From this early work, we’ve continued to distill several open-source libraries for high-performance, interactive web applications.
Finally, I’d also consider my development of a solid professional network to be a significant accomplishment during my degree. Broad participation in hackathons (e.g., NWB-DANDI Remote Developer Hackathon, Parkython & Rune Labs Ideathon, etc.) and workshops (e.g., Annual Meeting of the International Neuroethics Society, International BCI Meeting, etc.) has heavily contributed to this. With this accomplishment, it’s been inspiring to approach groups like the BCI4Kids Program at the University of Calgary and the Human Technology Interaction Laboratory to continue long-term collaborations with Brains@Play after my graduation.
Which classes were most helpful to your growth and education?
CTIN 510: Research Methods for Innovation, Engagement, and Assessment introduced me to many ways to conduct qualitative research and, specifically, the practice of conducting a systematic literature review. This experience would be foundational to developing my ideas around web-based neuroscience research and helped immensely with executing my Integrative Project.
Given that I didn’t have a background in games, CTIN 541: Design for Interactive Media was probably the most engaging of all of my classes. It stretched my mind to understand the foundations of game design and gave me the responsibility to develop a game in Unreal Engine with a small team! While this was also the most stressful of my classes in the MA program, I also feel that I’d grown the most after this experience.
How did you use your directed research time?
My directed research time was spent organizing public engagement events, developing software prototypes for Brains@Play, and devoting extra time to related assignments and suggested readings in my classes (e.g., CTIN 510). Consistent with the self-directed nature of the MA program, this allowed me to practice my craft and experiment with new creative and professional practices (e.g., entrepreneurship, external collaborations, etc.) without the pressure to produce some monolithic output before the Integrative Project.
Summarize your integrative project.
My Integrative Project is a perspective paper, “Developing Brain-Computer Interfaces with Everyone” which was co-authored with Josh, Marientina, and Dong and submitted to the Frontiers Special Issue on BCIs: Research and Development in Children. In this paper*, we presented a framework for conducting “Research Engagement Always And With Everyone” (REAAWE) in the field of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), which use physiological sensors and advanced computational techniques to convert brain activity into artificial outputs that allow people with severe motor deficits to control and communicate with their world. Given that it’s currently challenging to deliver these systems into end-users’ homes, we propose a web-based software ecosystem that could simplify the distribution of applications and enable REAAWE for the next generation of BCI systems.
Where do you wish to be in 1, 3, 5, and 1,0 years?
While I’ll undoubtedly be involved in other organizations over the next few years, I’ll focus on how I see my work with Brains@Play expanding shortly.
- 1 Year: I hope to have secured enough contracts with research and industry partners to support myself through the Brains@Play brand. We will release our core APIs and revamp our public image to launch our offerings to the broader development community effectively.
- 3 Years: I hope to be managing a remote team of 5+ people with interdisciplinary backgrounds working to integrate JavaScript into neuroscience research pipelines to support research engagement and make our outputs accessible from home. At this point, I’ll hopefully have established myself as a vocal thought leader in both Open Web and neurotechnology communities.
- 5 Years: I hope to have continued to expand the team as we take significant steps toward fulfilling REAAWE in the field of BCIs. Active partnerships with BCI researchers and other businesses hopefully support the viability of browser-based tools to simplify the distribution of this technology to the homes of people with disabilities and other end-users.
- 10 Years: I hope to be actively maintaining the tools built by Brains@Play for use in the homes of people with disabilities.
What do you think is the biggest challenge in interdisciplinary work?
You’ll often deal with people and organizations (e.g., funding institutions, collaborators, etc.) operating in single disciplines during your interdisciplinary career. In these cases, it’s essential to quickly speak others’ disciplinary languages to gain support and collaborate effectively on long-term projects. On the other hand, it’s also vital to maintain the larger vision of what you’re doing in your own language without getting drawn by the aims of those you’re engaging with. Your interdisciplinary work will navigate a path that few others have explored, and consequently, it often feels risky to move forward. Staying the course is a recurring interdisciplinary work challenge and its greatest reward.
What recommendations do you have for other students in your program for them to be successful?
Since I entered the MGH program with a robust technical practice, I often felt uncomfortable closing my code editor to pursue non-technical or adjacent technical work, whether conducting a literature review, writing a perspective paper, or even learning Unreal Engine! Nevertheless, I feel I’ve succeeded the most when I let go of my existing commitments to immerse myself in the new practice for multiple weeks. Regardless of your background, I’d encourage you to commit to immersing yourself in the practices you’re taught in the program—even to actively seek out practices that seem completely outside your interdisciplinary niche.
As you approach your Integrative Project, this niche will (and should!) become increasingly defined. Yet, while demonstrating depth through your research output is important, your personal growth will, arguably, always be the primary outcome of the MGH program. Find ways to expand your artistic, research, or otherwise practice through the process. You never know where you might end up!
* The final paper was published and presented at the ACM PETRA conference.