Andre Adame, a CSUSB Communication Studies alum, educator, and seasoned gamer, focused his research in virtual reality presence and immersion. His thesis “Fully Immersed, Fully Present: Examining the User Experience Through the Multimodal Presence Scale and Virtual Reality Gaming Variables” earned him a fully funded scholarship to the prestigious School of Informatics Ph.D. program at the University of California, Irvine. Andre will study the human/computer relationship as it promotes engagement and how this relationship can create learning opportunities for education. His experiences in ATI’s VR lab, both as an intern and researcher, allowed him to mix his hobbies with academics as he dove into the realm of VR. Andre’s academic successes were possible due to his diligent work ethic and guidance from his mentors, Dr.’s Ahlam Muhtaseb and Mihaela Popescu.