Brandon Ferderer is the director of global community at Shared_Studios and honors faculty at Arizona State University. He is a writer, performer/storyteller, educator, and expert facilitator with a doctorate in intercultural communication from Arizona State University. He has a range of experience across the private, education, and not-for-profit sectors where he has worked to harness the power of new communication technologies to bridge cultural divides through transformative conversation. He was a featured speaker as part of the Expo 2020 World Majlis in Dubai on how to leverage technology for transformative conversation. His academic and creative works have been featured in publications including "Liminalities" and "The Seventh Wave". His PhD Dissertation, "Tumbling through Space in a Gold Box" Reconceptualizing New Communication Technologies as Atmospheric" about Portals can be found here.