Joel was born and raised in Buffalo, NY. After high school he joined the US Army's 82nd Airborne Division, serving a 15 month tour of duty in Afghanistan. Using the GI Bill, he earned a BFA in 3D Digital Graphics at Rochester Institute of Technology. After working for a short time as a visual effects artist, he went on to continue his education at Carnegie Mellon's Entertainment Technology Center, where he received his masters degree in Entertainment Technology. In his last semester his team developed the 360• film Imago. After graduating, many of the members of that final project team joined together to create Construct Studio, a VR production house focused on interactive, story driven content. Currently, he is the director of the VR narrative series The Price of Freedom, which has recently released it's pilot episode for the HTC Vive.