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Greetings All,
	 I am an astronomer at the University of Maine writing to you in search of science center and museum partners interested in collaborating on a project to take “Virtual Humans,” programmed using Artificial Intelligence (AI), to the next level. 
Our goal is to develop Virtual Human scientists, like Einstein, Galileo, Kepler, and Newton, that your visitors can sit down and talk with about their work, their lives, and their discoveries.  We envision a total immersion experience, where the
visitors would see the scientists in their laboratories or other work environments, and would see demonstrations of the science related to these scientists.    

BACKSTORY: I am author of 16 books, including the “Discovering the Universe” textbooks, and “What if the Moon Didn’t Exist?”, and “What if the Earth Had Two Moons?”, among other trade books.  “What if the Moon Didn’t Exist?” has
been made into 2 planetarium shows here in the U.S., 2 theater shows in Japan, and has been the theme of several TV shows.  My colleagues Bill Swartout and Chad Lane, and their staff at USC’s Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT), are
developing the Virtual Human AI software. As you probably know, virtual humans Ada and Grace have been installed at the Museum of Science, Boston by my colleagues at ICT and as you can see in this YouTube clip, the AI technology is already quite
impressive:  
[ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6kcv3zwoo8 ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6kcv3zwoo8  , as is the gunslinger AI simulation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLt4-fORft8 

	If your institution has an area devoted to astronomy or related fields, the proposed virtual humans could also be designed to reinforce your educational goals and serve as new modality for delivering your message.

	In summary, my collaborators at ICT and I are looking for partners to help develop the Virtual Human concept further and to help us acquire funding to do so.

	If you are interested in discussing this with us, please send me an e-mail at [ mailto:[log in to unmask] ][log in to unmask] and I will get right back to you.  I hope you find this as interesting and intriguing a project as we do
and I look forward to hearing from you.

Cordially, Neil


Neil F. Comins, Ph.D.
Professor, Dept. Physics and Astronomy
314 Bennett Hall
University of Maine
Orono, ME  04469  

(207) 581-1037   office
(207) 581-3410   FAX
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