Jordan Loewen-Colón

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

2026 (In preparation) Loewen-Colón, “AI and Personal Values: An Alignment Problem.” AI and Ethics, Springer.

2025 (In review) Loewen-Colón, J. and Schulz, M., “Preventing AI Colonialism: The Case for Indigenous-Informed-ABS Integration in AI Data Governance.” AI and Indigenous Studies. Springer Special Issue.

2025 (In review) Loewen-Colón, J. “Welcomed with Open Arms: A Data Justice Warning from Taíno history.” Special issue “Race, Religion, and Nationalism in the 21st Century” of the journal Religions.

2024 Loewen-Colón, J., Smith, A., “Virtual Memory, Real Power: How Memes Resist Data Colonialism.” Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies.

2023 Loewen-Colón, J. and Mosurinjohn, S., “The Age of (the Algorithmic) Aquarius: How AI Meets Our Esoteric Needs.” Journal for the American Academy of Religion, Special Issue. 

2022 Loewen-Colón, J. and Mosurinjohn, S., “Fabulation, Machine Agents, and Spiritually Authorizing Encounters.”  For a special issue of the journal Religions.

2021 Marklund, B., Loewen-Colón, J., and Saridaki, M. “Revisiting Teaching and Games: mapping out ecosystems of learning.” Gamevironments, University of Bremen. 

2019 Loewen, J.B., “Death, Fabulation, and Virtual Reality Gaming.” Gamevironments, No. 9, 202-221 University of Bremen.

2015 Loewen, J.B., “On Being Made Stupid: Developing a Religious Ethic of Anti-Propaganda.” The Journal for the Fellowship at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics, FASPE.

Selected Media Interviews, Podcasts, & New Media Essays

2025 “The Culture Clash with AI Bots,” Smith Business Insight, Queen’s University.

2025 “Working Across Sectors (Film, Gaming, AI),” Listo Calisto, Latin Forum, Toronto.

2024 “Innovation in Motion: The AI Revolution: Transforming Health,” Interview for the Centre for Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Social Impact at the Smith School of Business.

2023 The Responsible Use of AI Podcast. In partnership with Queen’s University Centre for Health Innovation and Department of Computing.

2023 The Digital Cancer Twin Project. Podcast and Digital Humanities Archive. In partnership with Queen’s University and the Center for Health Innovation. Writer & producer.

2023 AI Can Dream, But Can It Trip? Creating an AI to generate psychedelic trip narratives. Gallery Exhibit. Project lead.

2022 Realities (Altered & Virtual) | Discourse!, The Religious Studies Project. Guest Scholar.

2022 (Ongoing) “Mapping the Doctrine of Discovery Podcast“ Luce Grant Funded Project in conjunction with Skänoñh Great Law of Peace Center, the Indigenous Values Initiative, and the American Indian Law Alliance. Co-producer.

2020 “The Gamer Eats,” a food and travel documentary exploring video game developers and food culture in partnership with Handcraft Creative. Writer & director.

Books

2027 (Edited volume in progress) Machines for Making Gods: How Supergiant Games Designs Religion. (Approaching MIT Press, NYU Press, and University of Minnesota Press).

2026 (Manuscript in progress) Reality Technologies: The Promises and Problems of Tech Culture. Fortress Press.

Chapters in Edited Volumes

2026 (In preparation) Loewen-Colón, J., Sellick, M., “AI and Epistemic Awareness: How to build trust, creativity and agency while using AI.” Philosophy and Ethics of AI, Springer.

2025 Loewen-Colón, J., Amarasingam, A., and Mosurinjohn, S., “Virtual Reality and the Vulnerability of the Self: A Critical Analysis of Self-Hacking.” Security of the Self, a SHRRC-funded Project.

2024 Amarasingam, A., Loewen-Colón, J., and Mosurinjohn, S., “’We Will Always Burn the Man’: The Ecstatic Moment of Burning Man VR.” Bloomsbury Handbook of Ecstatic Religion. Bloomsbury Press.

News Articles, Book Reviews, Blog Posts, & White Papers

2025 (In preparation) Loewen-Colón, J., Foltz, C., “When AI Gives Us Confidence by Proxy.” Harvard Business Review.

2025 Loewen-Colón, J., Sellick, M., “AI tools promise efficiency at work, but they can erode trust, creativity and agency.” The Conversation.

2025 Loewen-Colón, “From Data to Values: Unmasking the Human-Like Values Shaping LLM Behaviors.” Harvard Business Review.

2025 Loewen-Colón et. al, “AI and Human Flourishing: Relationships and Communication.” White Paper published with the Harvard AI for Human Flourishing Group.

2022 Loewen-Colón, J., Henri Bergson’s Virtual, at Jewish Philosophy Place: Aesthetics & Critical Thought. Blog. Guest writer.

Selected Conference Presentations

2025 “Decolonizing AI: Nesting Access Benefit Sharing and Indigenous Data Justice.” Sustainable AI Conference. University of Bonn, Germany.

2025 “Let's Explore the Alignment Problem! - What do AIs Value?” Techqueria, New York.

2025 “Data Leadership and Ethics amidst uncertainty: Navigating Governance, Innovation, and Responsibility,” Big Data & Analytics Summit, Toronto.

2024 “Hallucinations, Hallucinogens, and Hyperreality: An AI Story”, Religion and Media, American Academy of Religion, San Diego.

2023 “Welcomed with Open Arms: A Data Justice Warning from Taíno history.” The Religious Origins of White Supremacy: Doctrine of Christian Discovery, Syracuse University, Syracuse.

2023 “AI and Psychedelic Health Sciences: Designing a Data-Augmented Trip Report Generator.” Practical Big Data Workshop, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

2022 “Decolonizing Design with New Media Art: The Doctrine of Discovery Podcast and VR Game.” Indigenous Religious Traditions Unit, American Academy of Religion, Denver.

2022 “How, Why, Should We Digital Twin?: Experiencing AI in Healthcare” Center for Health and Innovation Symposium, School of Computing, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

2022 “We Will Always Burn the Man”: Taking the Ecstatic Moment of Burning Man into VR.” Science, Technology, and Religion Unit and Sociology of Religion Unit, American Academy of Religion, Denver.

2022 “Simulating Empathy with Spiritual AI.” Society for Literature, Science and the Arts, University of Purdue, Purdue.

2021 “Robot Priests, Virtual Freuds, and Technodelics: A Theoretical Framework for Coupling AI and VR.” Artificial Intelligence and Religion Seminar, American Academy of Religion, San Antonio.

2020 “The Medieval Imagination at the Roots of Postmodern Technological Mysticism.” Mysticism Unit, American Academy of Religion, Boston.

2020 “Rebinding Magic: Religion, Affect, and VR Spaces.” A Digital Humanities Symposium, A. W. Mellon Graduate Program, University of Rochester, Rochester.

2019 “The Religious Experience of Mizuguchi's Tetris Effect.” Video Gaming and Religion Seminar, American Academy of Religion, San Diego.

2019 “The Religious Imaginary of Virtual Reality Technology.” Religion & the Future Conference, Columbia University.

2018 “Digital Fabulation and the Affects of Virtual Reality.” Capacious: Affect Inquiry/Making Space Conference, Lancaster.

2018 “From Religion to Video Gaming to Virtual Reality.” Religion and Video Gaming Panel, International Academy for the Study of Gaming and Religion Conference, Denver.

2018 “Bergsonian Fabulation, Death, and Virtual Reality Gaming.” American Academy of Religion, Eastern International Region Conference, Windsor, Ontario.

2018 “The (Dark) Magic Circle: The Affects of Virtual Spaces in Gaming and Religion.” Flourish and Decay: Exploring Religion in Process, Religion Graduate Student Conference, Syracuse University, Syracuse.

2017 “Hacking Perception: Techno-Entheogens, VR, and the Vulnerability of Subjectivity.” Science, Technology, and Religion Group, American Academy of Religion, San Antonio.

2017 “Transcendence Machines: Examining the Religious Consequences of Sound Self.” American Academy of Religion, Eastern International Region, Providence.

2016 “Digital Shamanism and the Body.” Encountering the Unexpected, Religion Graduate Student Conference, Syracuse University, Syracuse.

2015 “'Welcome to a New Reality’: Digital Shamanism and Its Embodied Consequences.” Science, Technology, and Religion Group, American Academy of Religion, Boston.

Grants

2025 (In Progress) Artificial Intelligence Humanities Sandpits, “AI Values Initiative” at Queen’s University, Canada (CDN $200,000).

2024 (Proposal Rejected) NFRF Exploration Grant, “Chasing the Void: Using A.I. and Two-eyed Seeing to Develop Better Psychedelic Therapy Protocols.” Co-applicant with Mosurinjohn, S. at Queen’s University, Canada (CDN $250,000).

2023 MITACS Acceleration, “Code-Crafted Consciousness: Ethical and Philosophical Considerations of AI Hallucination.” Funded by Clinia and Queen’s University (CDN $15,000).

2023 (Proposal Rejected) CIFAR Solutions for Responsible AI, Co-PI, “Using AI to create Data Augmented Trip Reports in Psychedelic Health Science,” with Danilo, B. & Simpson, A. at Queen’s University, Canada (CDN $840,000).

2022 Henry Luce Foundation. Advancing Public Knowledge on Race, Justice, and Religion in America. “Mapping the Doctrine of Discovery.” Collaborator with Arnold, P. (US $250,000).

2022 (Proposal Rejected) AAR Collaborative International Research Grant, Collaborator, “How VR Affects Implicit Religious Bias.” with Webb, J. (US $5000).

2021 Syracuse University Engaged Humanities Mini-Grant, “Mapping the Doctrine of Discovery: A Podcast.” Co-Producer and Graduate Intern (US $5,000).

2021 Next-Generation Humanities Doctoral Internship with the Indigenous Values Initiative in partnership with the American Indian Law Alliance. Syracuse University, College of Arts and Sciences (US $5000).

2021 National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity, WriteNow Access - Spring Program (US $500).

2020 Syracuse Library Grant for Innovative Research, “Virtual Onondaga Project.” Syracuse University, Bird Library (US $1500).

Scholarships, Awards, & Fellowships

2024 The Aspen Institute Technology Hub Policy Fellowship (US $12,500).

2015-2021 Teaching Assistant Fellowship Syracuse University (US $20,000).

2015-2020 The Future Professoriate Program, Syracuse University (US $500).

2014 The Fellowship at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics (US $25,000).

2011 Latinx Space for Enrichment and Research (LASER), Scholarship for Excellence, The Ohio State University (US $1000).

2008 Co-winner of the Multicultural Award, The Ohio State University (US $500).

2005-2011 The Freshman Foundation Program, The Ohio State University (US $5000). 

Service to the Academy

2025 Technology, Innovation, and Digital Engagement Lab, Union Theological Seminary.
2022-2025 Steering Committee Member, Religion, Media, and Culture unit, AAR.
2022-2024 Steering Committee Member, Emerging Technologies unit, AAR.
2022-Present Reviewer and Editor for Gamevironments.
2019-2024 Extended Reality (XR) Working Group, Syracuse University. 
2018-2021 Non-Scientist Member, Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, Syracuse University Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center.
2016-2022 Game Studies Graduate Organization, Syracuse University.
2020 Co-Organizer, Aberrations, Religion Graduate Conference, Syracuse University.
2018-2019 Undergraduate Representative, Religion Graduate Organization, Syracuse University.
2018 Co-Organizer, Flourish and Decay, Religion Graduate Conference, Syracuse University.
2017-2018 Co-President, Religion Graduate Organization, Syracuse University.
2016 Co-Organizer, Encountering the Unexpected, Graduate Conference, Syracuse University.

Technical AI & Data Science Projects

DnD Fictionalized Data Set for Data Science Education – Github: Creating a dynamic, fictional Faerun dataset for engaging data science education and immersive evolving Dungeons & Dragons gameplay experiences.

Psychedelic Trip Report Generator – Github: This project utilized large language models and the Erowid Dataset of 70k entries to create a tool for assessing subjective elements in psychedelic experiences, with applications in synthetic drug discovery.

Video Game Review Analysis Tool – Github: Utilized sentiment analysis, unsupervised learning, and multi-class classification models to create an in-depth video game review analysis tool, specifically trained on 30k Steam reviews for the game Hades by SuperGiant Games.

Personality Score Analysis in Relation to Drug Use – Github: Aimed to understand the correlation between the 'Oscore' aspect of personality and likelihood of psychedelic drug use, with the potential to aid companies and researchers in identifying research study participants.

Selected Games

Don’t Lick the Toad Don’t Lick the Toad is a virtual reality game designed by GoodKnaves Games. Inspired by National Park Service request from 2022 warning visitors about the Sonoran desert toad, this game uses satire to teach about psychedelic experiences, animal conservation (the Sonoran desert toad) and psychedelic use.

The Partsmaker: A Digital Therapeutic A hybrid game-therapy tool designed by Supernova Immersives and supported by the Founder Institute core program that implements and explores Internal Family Systems therapy to help create self understanding and reduce anxiety and depression.

Dworfs Dworfs is a game designed by GoodKnaves Games. This real-time strategy game explores how difference makes meaning, inspired by David Lynch’s creative exercise “The Ricky Board” this game tasks players with helping grow a society of “dworfs” that appear exactly alike apart from the individual names given to them by players.

Certifications

2024 Certification in Policy Writing, The Aspen Institute.
2023 Certification in Data Science, Flatiron School.
2022 Certificate in Inclusive Pedagogy, The Status of People with Disabilities in the Profession Committee.
2020 Certificate in University Teaching, Syracuse University.
2019 Certificate of Advanced Study in Conflict Management, Maxwell School, Syracuse University.

Professional Membership

2024 - Present The Aspen Institute
2024 - Present The Harvard AI for Human Flourishing Working Group
2023 - Present All Tech is Human
2023 - Present Extremism and Gaming Research Network (EGRN)
2022 - Present Emerging Technologies Research Group
2022 - Present Psychedelic Association of Canada
2017 - Present Latinx in Gaming
2017 - Present IASGAR: International Academy for the Study of Gaming and Religion 
2017 - 2022 Religious Studies National Honor Society: Theta Alpha Kappa 
2017 - 2019 Internet Creators Guild  
2016 - Present Network for New Media, Religion and Digital Culture Studies
2013 - Present AAR: American Academy of Religion