Dr. Muhsinah Morris is the founder of Metaverse United, a professor, advocate, mom, and STEM innovator focused on lowering barriers to entry into the next iteration of the web, including extended reality technologies and AI-powered virtual worlds.
Key Takeaways:
- Metaverse United trains educators on using AI and XR effectively in education and developing metaverse culture.
- Dr. Morris works with the neurodivergent community, helping parents understand technologies their children interact with.
- She emphasizes the importance of inclusiveness for neurodivergent individuals in technology development.
- Dr. Morris is developing a faith-based VR app called Walk the Word to address mental health and spiritual needs.
- She advocates for responsible AI use and raising awareness about its impact on young people.
Dr. Morris's journey into technology advocacy began with her personal experiences as a neurodivergent individual and parent of a child with autism. She leverages her background in STEM and education to create inclusive technological solutions. Her work at Morehouse College's metaversity and with Metaverse United allows her to serve diverse demographics, from educators to families with neurodivergent children.
A key focus of Dr. Morris's work is helping the neurodivergent community navigate the digital world safely and effectively. She emphasizes the importance of understanding and setting guardrails for AI and other emerging technologies, especially for young users.
About Dr. Muhsinah Morris
Meet the first ever Metaversity Director, Dr. Muhsinah Lateefah Morris. She is a Morehouse Professor and Director of Morehouse in the Metaverse. She is a proud member of the inaugural HBCU IP Futures Collaborative: Powered by Michelson IP and inaugural HBCU Faculty Fellow for the Propel Center funded by Southern Company and Apple.
A BS chemistry graduate of the HBCU Clark Atlanta University. She obtained an MS & PhD from the Harvard of the South, Emory University in Biomolecular Chemistry. Dr. Morris has been part of and leading Morehouse’s Metaversity project since the Spring of 2021. She’s won awards for Teaching Excellence at Morehouse College, Best Emerging Technology and Innovation from CBRE, First Place Unconventional Innovation in Industry by T-Mobile, and Educator of the Year for 2022 by STEM Women Atlanta.
She resides in McDonough GA with her husband and five sons. One of her sons has autism and she advocates for the entire autism community as a member of the Community Advisory Council and advocacy Ambassadors for Autism Speaks. She’s a VR pioneer in education and is transforming learning globally. She is affectionately known as Dr. M.O.M. (Molder of Minds) by all her students.
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This is the Glow Up! Fabulous Conversations with Innovative Minds. Today I'm here with Dr. Muhsinah Morris, founder of Metaverse United, professor, Advocate, Mom, STEM Innovator, so many things. Dr. Morris, it is so good to see you today.
Dr. Muhsinah Morris:Good to see you too, Nathan,
Nathan C Bowser:Amazing. So, thank you for joining me on the Glow Up. We, we said that today we were going to talk about this idea around helping people find where they belong in the next internet. Can you, tell me what you've been up to at Metaverse United recently and, how you're helping people find where they belong in the next internet?
Dr. Muhsinah Morris:Absolutely so. Thank you for having me again, Nathan, and at Metaverse United, it's all about lowering the barriers to entry into what the next iteration of the web could possibly be, whether that's through extended reality technologies, whether that is through AI powered virtual worlds, So we are currently training educators on how to use AI effectively in education, how to use XR effectively in education, how to be strategic in optimizing and developing their own metaverse culture, and I work with several schools and entities that want to do it better for the community or for young people, and that's been loads of fun. Part of what we're doing at Morehouse in our metaversity is some amazing things, too. but with Metaverse United, I get to serve different demographics than I do as a professor. I get to take my professor hat off, work with the neurodivergent community more, because I have my son that has autism. So do a lot of work helping parents understand. What technologies that their children are interacting with, that's a big deal in our community. Helping with discernment of artificial intelligence tools and what's real and what's fake, what's appropriate and what's not appropriate for, Young people, young adolescents, especially, my son is 16 now, so, thinking about social media and all of the tools that are used, just helping, young people who are on the spectrum navigate this new digital world, too. So, and, and helping their parents, really, is one of the biggest things that I've been doing lately.
Nathan C Bowser:You just, I could, side quest on this one idea all day, right? You called out two things that I really want to highlight, right? One is almost everybody is trying to figure out, okay, this AI stuff seems like it's going to change the game. How
Dr. Muhsinah Morris:Right,
Nathan C Bowser:do I play a part? What does it mean for me? Right, is a question we're all asking, but this community that is dear to you has some very unique challenges already with, like, understanding social norms, applying context to multiple different kinds of scenarios, black and white thinking, being overly trusting or having, a strong connection. Attention to certain kinds of input and like, how does this new technology challenge or impact those things that we're already working on? what a fantastic service, to the community. thank you.
Dr. Muhsinah Morris:it's something that I have to think about, and I have been very intentional in my career making sure inclusiveness, especially for the neurodivergent, is important. I mean, I am amongst them, so I must, you know, Growing up, I was, a child that didn't speak till I was four. I clearly remember believing that people could hear my thoughts. So it was unnecessary for me to speak. I kind of do remember the moment, but just. How it dawned on me that it had to be audible, like it had to come out of my mouth. it was a process though. and it did almost feel like something was stuck in my throat. like my voice was so small inside of me and I, it took so long to. Get it Out. I actually remember that transition when it happened. And then, I'm a gifted child, twice exceptional child. So, I've always had a different kind of education. I realized, and me and my all of my friends have said that now that have gone through the gifted programs of the 80s. I think we were experimented on a bit. Like, some of these instrumental tools that they use to do psychological evaluations of children, like, I think, you know, they kind of cut their teeth on, on the 80s babies, but yeah.
Nathan C Bowser:been, in the AuDHD TikTok space enough to, have heard, the jokes about, the talented and gifted classes were really like daycare for people on the spectrum. They're so outside of what the system is used to, accommodating that, giving them some space and a little bit of focus was really helpful. whether that's, right, I think you and I spend a lot of time in, these neurodiverse conversations. there is some very strong correlations between gifted, individuals. And, neurodiverse individuals, You obviously have a vision for, where the internet, communication, AI is taking us, and also these key audiences, you know, these educators, as well as these neurodiverse families. Can you share with me a little bit of that perspective? Where do you see the internet going? And what are the challenges or areas that folks like these should be considering as they start to find their place?
Dr. Muhsinah Morris:I think our biggest challenge for personal computing, even though it's AI powered, is going to be computing power at home.
Nathan C Bowser:Mm hmm. I
Dr. Muhsinah Morris:their phone,
Nathan C Bowser:I've been loving this conversation about generationally where you do your searching and Gen Xers love a web search,
Dr. Muhsinah Morris:baby,
Nathan C Bowser:right?
Dr. Muhsinah Morris:operators.
Nathan C Bowser:yeah, my Gen Z kid loves Pinterest, right? Loves YouTube if it's educational. And there's this whole generation of folks who are just in apps, right? If it's about health, I'm in my health app. If it's about maps, I'm in my map app. Peloton tells me all my vitals, so like, those channels are so varied now, so wild.
Dr. Muhsinah Morris:It is amazing. The amount of differentiation and personalization that you can have with your digital products is just absolutely wild. And people who Well, I guess our digital natives, we'll say, that didn't see the evolution of this, but for me, it's just so fascinating, from growing up where there was one TV, if you were lucky, in the house, in the den, and you better not even touch it to, kids that are on devices and have their own entertainment with them 24 7 is, to me, still pretty fast. That happened pretty fast. and so if we think that this technology is taking off faster than even that, we better buckle up and get ready to, to really dive in. But we're going to have to, Set some guardrails too.
Nathan C Bowser:So you started to talk about this idea before I kind of side quested us around apps, on this idea that access to computing power, Is going to be sort of a topic of like equity and access to technology, fairness in a new computing age. Are you thinking about this, like right now, and COVID really brought to light how many families don't necessarily have internet access at home, and we're starting to think about AI and metaverse, which requires extra layers of like computing power, high power processing chips, maybe additional headsets, or where, Are you thinking about, like, the whole kit, or is it just, like, a computer that can keep up with today's tech?
Dr. Muhsinah Morris:that's a whole telecom bust, kind of question. interesting.
Nathan C Bowser:Well, tell me more about this perspective around, computing power.
Dr. Muhsinah Morris:I just go into a lot of houses where I'm like, you, can you get on the internet with that? you know, like I haven't even seen, like, you're not even, you know, Windows is in the double digits now, right? So it's like when you're running single digit windows, you don't like, you don't even have viral protection. You don't even have, it's so many things. And so when you think about getting hacked, getting security, privacy, all, all those kinds of things, it's like, it starts with. Just, just what does your personal computer look like and then how secure, do you even know what that means? Do you even Do you even understand that? Like it's, it's, it's an education that needs to happen quite swiftly.
Nathan C Bowser:And there's, you know, those of us who hang out at XR conferences, think about innovative technologies on a daily, maybe are like trying to adopt and use them in our professional careers. things like AI, VR might be really accessible, like my headsets right here. but, You may not see that connection to who the everyday users of technology are and how much of a ramp up they're gonna need to get from, Windows to eight to a quest three, right? Like that's, I love that model. How are we going to get the windows eight, households onto a quest three real fast, right?
Dr. Muhsinah Morris:Right. And, and so that part is going to be the challenge. and then that's the economic issue too. as price point starts to go down, for personal computers, or you know, a very affordable Chromebook that could actually do a little bit more. perhaps, we'll see some of that. I don't think it won't happen. like I said, people walk around with mobile phones at this point. and every service figured it out. So, if they want, they figured out how to make it monthly, they figured out how to make it, if there's a market for it, if people need it, they will figure out the money.
Nathan C Bowser:Oh, I love it. Right? Like when it's undeniable that a technology is so valuable, there will be ways to make it happen. I can't wait. I remember, you know, early iPhone days, you could get wholly free phones or you'd get intense bill credits for being an early adopter. I can't wait till bill credits for my next AR glasses.
Dr. Muhsinah Morris:right.
Nathan C Bowser:so talk to me a little bit. This is a very big mission, right? in the daily lives, you know, the quality of life of people that you care about. How do you measure the impact of your work and, the mission that you're on? how do you think about success for Metaverse United?
Dr. Muhsinah Morris:as of right now, it's, That my messaging is clear and people book me to speak about it, to advise them on these issues and topics. success looks like being invited to listening sessions and being able to educate the community. Success looks like, being booked for a keynote speech, and being able to speak to educators or for professional development. that's success to me because that means that my message is going further. Or when I do trainings and I have people come from Dubai, to sit in and learn from me like that to me is, hey, I'll take that success because that means that the messaging that I'm putting out there is relevant, real and necessary on a global scale. And so that part is how I measure success and impact is who am I really affecting?
Nathan C Bowser:That
Dr. Muhsinah Morris:So, my community is very intimate. I still answer every email, every response, everything. Nothing for me is automated in that way, and I know that sounds counterintuitive to productivity, but for me, the human component of me is still very important for the people who I serve.
Nathan C Bowser:Sort of personal connection to the problem space, right, seems to be a real big part of that. So, this is one of my favorite questions to ask. The show is called The Glow Up, right, which is a notable transformation in appearance, quality, cache, all of it. So in the next six months or a year, what's the glow up you're working on for Metaverse United and this work you're doing around advising and speaking and advocating?
Dr. Muhsinah Morris:So, I've been working on the intersection of faith, technology, and humanity. I launched Metafine Mediversity. in March, and that was a challenge to work on spirituality, mental health, physical well being, using VR, or mixed reality to create community. My biggest glow up is to solidify that into a faith based app that can be utilized, by the public. it's called Walk the Word. I've been pitching it and applying for, funding for it. There's nothing like it that exists in, in virtual reality. And my faith is a big part of what makes me special. I think sometimes people just need a different way to access tools on their own and do their own spiritual exploration, now that we can AI power these environments, it's something that I feel very, called to do because I think it's very, And no matter what you're going through, mental health has been a true challenge for most people. getting adequate therapies is a thing. Finding consistent, therapeutic regimens that work for you. That's a whole thing. And, there are ways to fill the gaps. For me, my faith really did it. scripturally immersing myself in the word worked for me. And it just came to mind that if I could actually bring the molecular world to life for people and make chemistry real and make it useful. Then I know that, by bringing the word that is supposed to be alive and real to people in a way that resonates with them and it's personalized for them, maybe people will find some more peace within themselves and in our communities.
Nathan C Bowser:I'm really struck by the, one, this app sounds amazing and, you're going to have to keep me updated as you, go through funding and production. I'm so excited to see this vision. The idea that What you learned building a molecular chemistry lab and what you learned from like applied science, you know, like from sciences has also given you like the vision and tools you need, to approach this, faith and mental health focused experience and that the having that baseline of XR or, you know, tech enabled community, tech enabled content, the accessibility, and to information and community, like, you can now just go apply it into all these different problem spaces, that you see. what a cool, learning to take with it.
Dr. Muhsinah Morris:Yeah, I, I, did church in the metaverse like on different platforms and I did that for months, no matter where I was traveling. I wanted to know how accessible it really was, how easy it was to actually do something like that. I was able to do, I mean, I know I'm me, but still I was all over the country. So for me, I found, you know, this could really work for people to connect them to the community that they want to, be a part of in a way that they have presence in that community and not just, watching the broadcast, but that I'm actually in the midst of it. I found that the people that I talked to as I was doing this that came into the room, and I spoke with had many reasons for why they did not actually have a physical brick and mortar worship space, and had a lot of ideas about, why they felt like there should be a visible place of worship in the next iteration of what the web is. So, I found that to be very, enlightening and so it feels like the right thing to do for me.
Nathan C Bowser:With every technology, we have to figure out how it's meaningful for us, how it engages, how does it change, expand, update the rules or how it works. I actually find, The most meaningful times that I have in virtual reality are when I go into a space for a specific purpose with other people. Those are the times that I enjoy the most. Either that, or I'm playing Beat Saber to clear memory. what you described is exactly that, right? Give people the ability to connect wherever they are. using technology that's becoming more and more accessible and enable some pretty cool superpowers on the way. Some, deep, deep connections, along the way.
Dr. Muhsinah Morris:absolutely.
Nathan C Bowser:Amazing. Is there anything, it sounds like you have projects both, established and long running, and you have some new big ideas in the works. Is there anything that you're looking for, right now with Metaverse United, whether it's networking, support, funding? How can, the community connect and support you?
Dr. Muhsinah Morris:Right, All of those things. Book me, book me, book me for your board, for your advisory council, for your keynote speech, for your workshops. Go to UniteTheMetaverse. com and find me, and book me. Because I have a lot to say, and I can help you strategize and find where you belong in this space, that's uniquely yours, whatever that, means for you and what you're trying to do. So that's the number one thing, and just support the effort, everyone is out here trying to, Do our best to design the future. And I always am looking for great collaborators to help do that. So you're the first person in the world that I have ever talked to about Walk the Word. Okay. And
Nathan C Bowser:Another Glow Up exclusive.
Dr. Muhsinah Morris:Yeah, that is an exclusive. Like, I have literally not even opened my mouth to anyone about it. yeah, except the people that's working on the dream team to create it. but, yeah. just excited about, how I can continue to do the work and impact the most people. and. And young people, too. Like, for me, I have a mission to really help young people see themselves, as competent and able. And to really, I, I, social media, while I use it for a very positive purpose and it has been very positive in my life, my timeline is non toxic, So I have a different idea of social media. Now, I have also seen some of the harms of social media with younger people and how it's used. And it all kind of goes back to me with having digital natives that have access to tools that you did not give any rules to. If you didn't have any guardrails to that, you didn't have any parental controls that somehow you felt like it was safe. And that's the one thing as a parent, I caution about AI and the appropriate use of these tools is they're being embedded in applications that your Children already use so fast that you've got to be paying attention. You can't just have it.
Nathan C Bowser:They all did it in the last six months.
Dr. Muhsinah Morris:You gotta pay attention,
Nathan C Bowser:Attention.
Dr. Muhsinah Morris:and however I can get the word out, then I'm game to do that. and honestly, I would be doing a disservice if I did not mention our Metaversity in funding because people do want to donate to our young black men in Morehouse College, and I am the Director of Metaverse Programs there. Our program is the first of its kind. It is the blueprint for 120 metaversities around the world. And, you know, we've been rocking with, Victory XR and, Steve Grubbs and getting, AITA assistants launched and all kinds of good stuff. So, our young men are being, on the cutting edge of education and innovating. if you want to learn more about it, reach out to me too.
Nathan C Bowser:Amazing. so many just inspiring and, really humane, approaches to technology, innovation, all focused on bringing people forward and finding their place. I'm so inspired. What a great conversation today. Dr. Morris, we always like to make time, a little space, for a community shout out or spotlight. Is there a group, that's doing great work in the world that you'd like to give a little bit of time and attention to?
Dr. Muhsinah Morris:Oh my god, do I have to choose one?
Nathan C Bowser:I think you're the one with the hard out, so, you're glad to mention as many as you can handle.
Dr. Muhsinah Morris:Okay, great. XR Women is doing wonderful things for women in this space. I did win the Trailblazer of the Year award, but when I say this is a group of women, bad women doing their thing that always get together, wonderful community, very supportive. You want to be a part. You want to support them, XR Women. So that's, that's, that shout out. Another community I want to shout out is Gatherverse. So Gatherverse with Christopher Lafayette. I want to shout out, the Virtual World Symposium was today, and is going on. And so he's been, like, on Gatherverse type, like, rocket ship straight to space, connecting communities all over the different continents. And I think that is amazing. So join that community and keep up. Shout out to Morehouse, Metta House Scholars. shout out to my team, shout out to my faculty, shout out to the folks that work with me and make me as great as I am. And, Really my family, like my family and my husband and my five sons who know what it takes to get this done. So Dr. Morris doesn't just pop up and show up in these cities across the world. She has a lot of support from a very supportive husband and, children and family. And so thank you to my community for Standing in the gap when I'm on the go.
Nathan C Bowser:Hell yeah. I'm so pleased that you brought us to this point, right? That founders cannot do, cannot make big ideas happen on their own. We need support. We need community. We need people we can lean on. And we need to be mindful of our human bodies and support them as well as our big innovative ideas.
Dr. Muhsinah Morris:Which means that, you know, when you see less of me, just know that more is happening, is coming up. And I think I've, I've gotten okay. with rest because I don't like when my body makes me rest. You see,
Nathan C Bowser:true. This, was something I learned the hard way.
Dr. Muhsinah Morris:I will tell you no. If it means that I can, it's going to save my mind and my life, that'll be a hard no. especially if it's going to cost me because the mental load of maintaining life alone is a lot. So yeah.
Nathan C Bowser:Full of great advice and advocacy for a humane approach to technology and for, tools, but only when you have a strategy and rules for how you're going to use them, and how they're going to help bring everybody into this next generation of the internet. Dr. Muhsinah Morris. It is always a pleasure to talk with you. Thank you so much for joining us here on The Glow Up.
Dr. Muhsinah Morris:Thank you for having me, Nathan.