Rate My Professor Leonard Brown

Leonard D. Brown serves as Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Community, Environment, and Policy at the University of Arizona's Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, with a focus in Environmental Health Sciences. He is also Lecturer in the School of Information, College of Information Science. Brown earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Arizona in 2015, specializing in computer graphics and computer vision, with a dissertation titled 'Design, Evaluation, and Extension of Serious Games for Training in Mine Safety.' He holds a B.S. in Computer Science, summa cum laude, from West Virginia University in 1999, and completed the New Venture Development Program at the University of Arizona's McGuire Center for Entrepreneurship in 2017. His career trajectory at the University of Arizona includes Research Scientist at the Lowell Institute for Mineral Resources (2016–2020), Research Associate in the Department of Mining & Geological Engineering (2010–2014), Teaching Assistant in Computer Science (2007–2009), and Research Assistant in the 3DVIS Laboratory, College of Optical Sciences (2004–2006). Earlier roles encompass software engineering in game development at Sony Online Entertainment (2009–2010) and Octopi Game Labs (2006), as well as co-founding Desert Saber, LLC (2017–2019), commercializing university intellectual property for serious games in high-risk industries.

Brown's research centers on human-computer interaction, gamification, virtual reality, and serious games for health and safety training, particularly in mining. As co-investigator and leader for the Western Mining Safety and Health Training Resource Center, he has developed innovative games addressing hazards recognition, situational awareness, and emergency response, adopted by dozens of mining companies nationwide to train over 1,500 workers, yielding reported reductions in lost-time injuries and accidents. He has served as key personnel on grants exceeding $10 million. Notable publications include 'Toward a Systems Framework Coupling Safety Culture, Risk Perception, and Hazards Recognition for the Mining Industry' (2022), 'Gamification of Hazard Recognition in Mining with a Tabletop Card Game' (2021), 'Improving Safety Training through Gamification: An Analysis of Gaming Attributes and Design Prototypes' (2019), 'Magic Lenses for Augmented Virtual Environments' (2006), and the book chapter 'Head-Mounted Projection Display Technology and Applications' (2011). Brown received Recognition for Teaching Excellence from the Department of Computer Science in 2008 and has presented over 50 talks on his work.