Marquette professors David Krause and Joe Wall have created a virtual AIM Room in the metaverse
Maybe it is not time to say goodbye to the traditional
Friday afternoon AIM student stock pitches that have occurred regularly since
2005; however, this past week the program had its first metaverse presentation.
Using Meta’s Horizon Workrooms, David Krause and Joe Wall, professors in the College of Business Administration, hosted a virtual stock pitch by Bassel Fauod, a member of the AIM Class of 2023. Wearing Oculus Quest 2 VR devices, the three meet in the virtual AIM Room on Friday, February 11. They were joined by thirty AIM students who accessed the metaverse with traditional 2D video conferencing.
The three metaverse participants met across a conference
room table and discussed Fauod’s stock recommendation, Matterport (ticker: MTTR),
a technology company providing metaverse infrastructure.
Dr. David Krause, AIM director, said “I was pleasantly surprised
at how smoothly our first presentation in the metaverse occurred. It was easy
to step beyond the physical world by putting on my Oculus Quest and connecting
with their avatars. It felt like we were in the same room although we were in
separate parts of the building.”
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| Krause avatar setting up the first metaverse AIM pitch |
Not coincidentally, Bassel Fauod’s presentation focused on a stock that is heavy in the future growth of the metaverse. He said, “While Matterport’s primary target is the digital real estate market, the firm is a direct metaverse play because of its technology and huge library that will be used to build out the metaverse’s infrastructure.”
Dr. Joe Wall has also recognized the importance of pushing students to think beyond the status quo. He and Krause have been advocating greater use of technology and innovation. Sporting an avatar with a black Gatsby fedora, his avatar moved around the virtual AIM Room asking Bassel questions during the stock pitch.
Students using video conferencing to connect commented that they were surprised at how normal the event felt. One student who commented afterwards said that “it seemed like you were right there with them and after a few minutes their avatars become as normal as seeing someone’s profile picture on a Zoom call - maybe even better. It was pretty amazing and engaging.”
Krause said that the recorded video of the first
metaverse stock pitch will be posted on the Marquette AIM YouTube site next week. The metaverse has arrived in the AIM program!
