Two Los Angeles-based new media experts will speak at Iowa State on the development and applications of media in various industries Sunday.

Larry Tuch, screenwriter and creative consultant, will speak about “Storytelling in Virtual Environments” at 7 p.m. Sunday in the Howe Hall Auditorium.

He will be followed by Steven Berman, associate director of the Strategic Business Alliance and Convergence Technologies as well as chairman and chief executive officer of Berman & Company, at 8.pm. Berman will speak on “Intellectual Property, University Research and Industry Partnerships.”

Both men are involved with Iowa State’s multimedia Sept. 11 memorial “Ashes to Ashes/ Dance Driving,” which melds music, art and the voices of New Yorkers in the university’s C6 virtual reality theater.

“Larry and Steve’s expertise will be invaluable to the Ashes to Ashes memorial exhibit team as we create our immerse sonic and dance environment in the C6,” said Anne Deane, assistant professor of music and one of the principal developers of “Ashes to Ashes.”

Tuch will lecture on emerging entertainment technology and his experience with the University of Southern California’s Institute for Creative Technologies, as well as Paramount’s StoryDrive engine.

The StoryDrive engine is now being used by the Department of Defense to train officers to handle crises, and Tuch has been writing various training scenarios, ranging from a homeland bioterrorist attack to a conflict in the Persian Gulf.

“I have been working with Steve for the past three years at the University of California systemwide. He enabled many contacts for the New York interviews and will continue to provide leadership toward establishing a permanent memorial exhibit,” said Deane, who has worked as a composer in immersive environments such as the C6.

Berman will lecture about how digital media is partnered with industry, and how university research, enterprises and large corporations interact to make money for the economy.

“It brings together the best of technical and creative humanities aspects of the university,” said Pat Miller, director of the Lectures Program.