Kenneth H. Perlin is a professor in the Department of Computer Science at New York University, founding director of the Media Research Lab at NYU, director of the Future Reality Lab at NYU, and the Director of the Games for Learning Institute. His research interests include graphics, animation, multimedia, and science education. He developed or was involved with the development of techniques such as Perlin noise, hypertexture, real-time interactive character animation, and computer-user interfaces such as zooming user interfaces, stylus-based input (Quikwriting), and most recently, cheap, accurate multi-touch input devices. He is also the Chief Technology Advisor of ActorMachine, LLC.
Scott Fisher is the Professor and Founding Chair of the Interactive Media Division in the USC School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California, and Director of the Mobile and Environmental Media Lab there. He is an artist and technologist who has worked extensively on virtual reality, including pioneering work at NASA, Atari Research Labs, MIT's Architecture Machine Group and Keio University.
The University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts's Interactive Media & Games Division first accepted M.F.A. students in 2002. The division currently offers both undergraduate (B.A.) and graduate (M.F.A.) programs in interactive media and game design. The programs include courses in game design, development, audio, animation, and user research as well as experimental work in gestural and immersive interfaces, transmedia design, and interactive cinema.
Michael Naimark is an artist, inventor, and scholar in the fields of virtual reality and new media art. He is best known for his work in projection mapping, virtual travel, live global video, and cultural preservation, and often refers to this body of work as “place representation”.
The Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT) is a research institute of the University of Southern California located in Playa Vista, California. ICT was established in 1999 with funding from the US Army.
Mark D. Pesce is an American-Australian author, researcher, engineer, futurist and teacher.
The USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism comprises a School of Communication and a School of Journalism at the University of Southern California (USC). Starting July 2017, the school’s Dean is Willow Bay, succeeding Ernest J. Wilson III. The graduate program in Communications is consistently ranked first according to the QS World University Rankings.
Ayanna MacCalla Howard is an American roboticist and the School Chair for Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology. She is also the Linda J. and Mark C. Smith Endowed Chair in Bioengineering in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and the director of the Human-Automation Systems (HumAnS) Lab. Currently, she is the Chair of the School of Interactive Computing in the Georgia Tech College of Computing.
Jock D. Mackinlay is an American information visualization expert and Vice President of Research and Design at Tableau Software. With Stuart K. Card, George G. Robertson and others he invented a number of Information Visualization techniques.
Niko Bolas is an American music producer, sound engineer, and consultant and business developer in the fields of virtual reality and Internet radio. In 1989, Bolas founded Fakespace Music with Mark Bolas, Ian McDowall and Christian Greuel, which, in 1995, developed the Soundsculpt Toolkit, a software interface that allowed music to communicate with the graphical elements of virtual reality.
Created in 2013, Media Arts and Practice (MA+P) is the seventh degree-granting division of the USC School of Cinematic Arts.
Ming C. Lin is an American computer scientist and the chair of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she also holds an endowed faculty position as the Elizabeth Stevinson Iribe Chair of Computer Science. Prior to moving to Maryland in 2018, Lin was the John R. & Louise S. Parker Distinguished Professor of Computer Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Immersive technology refers to technology that attempts to emulate a physical world through the means of a digital or simulated world, thereby creating a sense of immersion. Immersive technology enables mixed reality; in some uses, the term "immersive computing" is effectively synonymous with mixed reality as a user interface.
Inter-Activa Ltd is a UK digital lab that focuses in original Transmedia. They are also known for having created Machinima work since 2000, virtual world content since 2004 and having promoted the use of videogames in artistic and educational settings.
Carolina Cruz-Neira is a Spanish-Venezuelan-American computer engineer, researcher, designer, educator, and a pioneer of virtual reality (VR). She is known for inventing the CAVE automatic virtual environment. She previously worked at Iowa State University (ISU), University of Louisiana at Lafayette and is currently the director of the Emerging Analytics Center at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
Mark S Humayun is an ophthalmologist, engineer, scientist, inventor and academic – the only ophthalmologist ever to be elected a member of both U.S. National Academies of Medicine and Engineering. He is a university professor with joint appointments at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.
The Technical Committee on Visualization and Graphics (VGTC) is a constituency of IEEE Computer Society (IEEE-CS) that oversees various technical activities related to visualization, computer graphics, virtual and augmented reality, and interaction.. VGTC is one of the 26 technical committees/councils of IEEE-CS that covers various specializations of computer science and computer engineering.
Monika Fleischmann,, is a pioneering German research artist, digital media scientist, and curator of new media art. She is one of the most relevant European women artist working in art, science, and technology. She founded and co-founded departments for interactive media art such as ART+COM in Berlin, the MARS – Exploratory Media Lab and the eCulture Factory within the largest German research institutions such as GMD and Fraunhofer Society. In 1992, together with her partner Wolfgang Strauss, she received the Golden Nica of the Prix Ars Electronica in Linz, Austria for Home of the Brain (1990/1992), the first artistic Virtual Reality installation. She is the recipient of the 2018 ACM SIGGRAPH Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement in Digital Art and was elected to the SIGGRAPH Academy as a research artist that has contributed to the field of interactive media art since the 1980s to the present day. Since the mid-1980s she has been working collaboratively with the architect Wolfgang Strauss as an artist couple. As part of their research in New Media Art, Architecture, Interface Design and Art Theory, they focus on the concept of Mixed Reality, which connects the physical with the virtual world. In 2008 she was appointed Honorary Professor of Media Theory and Interactive Media Art for the cross-university course of studies for digital media at Bremen University of Applied Sciences, Academy of Fine Arts and University of Bremen. Monika is Member of the MIMA ART Board at MIMA University | Munich Institute of Media and Musical Arts.
Brett Christopher (BC) Biermann is an American conceptual digital artist, academic, and public speaker based in Southern California. The main focus of his work centers on analog futurism, or the idea that the physical and digital worlds are becoming increasingly blurred and indistinguishable from one another. An early pioneer of large-scale public space augmented reality murals, Biermann’s work investigates how emerging technologies can enable cities to become interactive spaces and engage citizens in meaningful civic discourse.
