About Us

The Project

The Voyage is a collaborative project between Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center and the Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History in Pittsburgh.  It seeks to explore new ways for museum-goers to create connections between exhibits through mobile devices.  The process of uncovering these connections will allow for an interactive journey to take place throughout the facility.  The platform will share these discoveries amongst other guests, creating an experience that is dynamic and is able to present the museum in a new light each time one visits.  By defying the notion of a museum as a static establishment and redefining it as a dynamic experience, it is our hope that we can infuse a new layer of interdisciplinary, experiential learning into the museums.

The Team

Nick Sciannameo
Producer
Nick is taking on the producer-role for the second time in an ETC project and looks forward to developing a new approach to museums along with his teammates. His interest is primarily rooted is creating a useful product which assists those unfamiliar with the Carnegie Museums to find their way around and explore historical and cultural connections between display pieces.

Daniel Aum
Artist and Filmographer
Born in Los Angeles as the middle son of the Aum family. Attended several different primary schools including a Waldorf education and various public systems. Attended boarding school after age 13 and enjoyed photography and developing film. Found interest in visual arts and filmmaking at Duke University in North Carolina. Also studied filmmaking and editing at the Accademia Dell’Arte in Arezzo, Italy where there was collaboration with theatre actors and dancers and experience in realizing and directing stories on camera.

Cintia Higashi
Programmer
Born and raised in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Cintia was early stimulated by her parents to study the Japanese language and Mathematics. Studying Japanese made Cintia a great fan of animes (Japanese cartoons), mangas (Japanese comics) and Japanese pop music. The early emphasis in Math study in an early age helped to develop her logic skills and facilitated her to start in the programming world. Today Cintia is looking to use her programming skills to make some awesome games to make the world a happier place and make the learning process less painful (or just fun!).

Madhu Guruprasad
Programmer & Co-producer
Madhu did her undergraduation in Computer Science and worked in Microsoft for 3 years. She is also a theatre actress and playwright, having worked in WeMove Theatre, a theatre group based in Bangalore, for 4 years. At the Entertainment Technology Center she hopes to unite her interest in both technology and art in innovative ways.

Allison Sommers
Artist
Allison grew up in New York City, beginning in 1959. The process is ongoing. She strayed from the primrose paths of academia after but a brief stroll in 1977 — and since then has worked as an Equity stage manager for 35 years – on Broadway, off, in music, dance, regional theatre, and national/international touring. Her life in the theatre was rocked profoundly when she discovered Virtual Worlds, and it was then she realized she wanted nothing more than to Put On Shows using the miraculous tools of the 21st century. To that end – and with her sights set unwaveringly upon attending the E.T.C. – she at last returned to school in 2010 to earn a B.A. at a ripe old age, and then found her way to Pittsburgh. Her recent studies have been in studio art, digital 2D and 3D art, and writing; she hopes to use these skills alongside the thing or two she knows about Show Business to create Virtual Theatre – in whatever form it may reveal itself.

Brenda Bakker Harger
Faculty Advisor
Shirley Yee
Faculty Advisor