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""The more difficult and complicated the subject, the more we seem to want to close the news app and open up Candy Crush," said Daniel Pacheco, a journalism professor at Syracuse University who specializes in VR storytelling. "VR can counteract this tendency because of its ability make you feel physically present somewhere and to comprehend information by exploring it in an almost physical way. It's hard to tune out or forget something you experienced as if you were there." Great storytelling is evocative and with VR can transport the viewer into another, time, place, and mindset complete with a range of emotions. Take Waves of Grace, a documentary on Liberia's Ebola crisis and how one woman used her immunity to help children orphaned by the disease's spread in 2014. The documentary's co-creator Chris Milk used 360-video to capture the protagonist's, Decontee Davis, surroundings - sights and sounds that put the viewer in the midst of an epidemic. "You relate differently to every other story you read about pandemic disease. Why? Because after that you feel like you were there, as if you stood inside an Ebola clinic while a dying victim was being treated and comforted. It can almost feel like one of your own memories," Pacheco said. "This ability to transport people's consciousness somewhere else is so powerful that I have no doubt it will change the way people relate to issues in the news.""

Nonny de la Peña had this to say about Professor Pacheco after her acceptance of an I-3 Mirror Award. "Once the [Oculus] Facebook sale happened, $2 billion dollars, you're not so nuts. But before that happened, a lot of people thought trying to do journalism in virtual reality was crazy. But there's somebody in this room who didn't. And this is really important about why innovation is crucial in journalism schools. Not only did that Hunger project start at the USC school of journalism, but a really important person here put on the goggles -- we both had been Knight Grant winners earlier -- Dan Pacheco. And he said, 'Holy shit, there's something real here.' And he invited me up to S.I. Newhouse. At that point I'm carrying 22 motion tracking cameras, huge tripods, crazy equipment, I show up with the flu and 103 degree fever. Something had broken in transport and Dan and I worked until midnight until finally one person in the lab instructed me, and I managed to fix it with a paper clip. And then the next day, Syracuse students were introduced to virtual reality. But something else happened. Dan went on to work at Gannett. He then got them interested in virtual reality. And then Gannett and USA Today began their thrust. Because of Dan's interests, S.I. Newhouse became the very first school to offer an immersive journalism class. And because of Dan's support of this medium, a lot more … many many many new minds were opened to using VR for journalism. So really in many ways, the fact that I'm here is down to having somebody like Dan Pacheco be one of the very first people in my entire trajectory to say to me, hang on, there's something real here. So, you know, I really have to thank him, and I have to thank S.I. Newhouse because I don't know if I would have had the type of trajectory I have without what happened at your school. So thank you so, so much."

Prof. Dan Pacheco has been accepted into the HoloLens developer program and will work with Newhouse students and faculty to create content for the device.

Video of Dan Pacheco's panel on VR and 360 video for journalism at the 2017 International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Italy.

Newhouse site story about participation in Chancellor's inauguration panel on the future of the university.

4/5/2014 Time Warner Cable News interview about using the Oculus Rift for immersive journalism and storytelling.

Dan Pacheco, a chair in journalism innovation in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, teaches a tech for new media course. He's working with students on using Arduino microcontrollers and sensors to "measure everything from air quality to temperature," he says. "When you connect the Arduino to the Internet, it can upload data to a database so that others can see it and compare to their own data. These citizen sensor networks provide an alternative to government-reported data sources," he says.

Professor Dan Pacheco's list of journalistic uses of drones includes "documenting the aftermath of tornadoes and other natural disasters (something Little Rock, Arkansas, station KATV did in April); providing an overhead view of such widespread environmental issues as pine-beetle infestation in his former state of Colorado; and gathering aerial footage of outdoor gatherings and travel destinations."

"Last year, I had the opportunity to take a course called "The Next News Startup," a class that was taught by Dan Pacheco, the Chair of Journalism Innovation at Newhouse. The class taught students how to think about the future of the news industry as well as work on our own media startups. Our goal was to reach readers/viewers over mobile phones, tablets, the web and various digital platforms; one student used 3D Printing to create fishing lures and another created a website to promote diversity in the workplace. Pacheco was ultimately running a 'mini accelerator.' While the course was challenging at times, it was one of my favorite college courses. I never felt as if I were in a real class, but instead I was a growing a business while pitching, getting feedback from other students, Skyping with experts, and learning the "ins and outs" of how to create a business concept."

The chairman of journalism innovation at Syracuse -- and a drone owner himself -- discusses the issues raised by the FAA's blanket ban on the commercial use of drones.

The chairman of journalism innovation at Syracuse -- and a drone owner himself -- discusses the issues raised by the FAA's blanket ban on the commercial use of drones.

"... student journalists from the Newhouse School-who will discuss news engagement with people across campus; demos of Oculus Rift, 3D scanning, DJI Phantom drone and Google Glass with Dan Pacheco, chair of journalism innovation at the Newhouse School ..."