Dennis Beck is an Associate Professor of Educational Technology at the University of Arkansas. His research focuses on and advocates for digital, educational equity for vulnerable populations, with an emphasis on culturally and linguistically diverse and special education students at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. In this stream, he has studied the influence of student and teacher avatar gender and race on expectations, perceptions and evaluations. He has also examined the use of immersive learning environments for providing life skills training for low functioning young adults on the autism spectrum. Additionally, in order to better understand the impacts of immersive environments in cyber schooling on vulnerable populations, he has studied an immersive art curation environment in partnership with a local museum. He has published in several venues, including Computers & Education, American Journal of Distance Education, Educational Administration Quarterly, and the Journal of Educational Research.