ARA Scholar Soon to Unveil Virtual Reality at UALR
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When Carolina Cruz-Neira, the new director of UALR's still new Emerging Analytics Center, was hired last summer, she went to work right away on major center expansion.
After all, the technology that now anchors the EAC -- the CAVE system -- was invented by her in the 1990s.
Cruz's CAVE virtual-reality room is straight out of science fiction, and it'll be on full display later this spring when the EAC will be fully functional and, well, "rocking and rolling."
Recruited to UALR from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette as part of the Arkansas Research Alliance Scholars program, Cruz doesn't want folks to think she's been hiding away enjoying the balmy Arkansas winter. She recently invited Innovate Arkansas to the EAC, housed in UALR's EIT Building, to reveal a little bit of what's in store.
Imagine yourself being able to "step into" a human body and have a 3-D, close-up look around.
We'll provide just this one tease: Even Mr. Spock (RIP, Leonard Nimoy) would be impressed. This is science-fiction stuff that's now science fact, and local students, entrepreneurs and businesses will have hands-on access.
In south Louisiana, Cruz's technology was used in the oil and gas industry and had several military applications. In Little Rock, she's looking forward to working with a wide range of Arkansas companies on effective ways to introduce VR systems into their workflows that could, for example, guide consumers through stores or even "enable business developers to understand complex data relationships towards increased productivity," she said.
Later this month, Cruz will take a handful of her freshman EAC students to France to lead a session on her CAVE technology at an international VR conference. Plus, Cruz's husband, Dr. Dirk Reiners, a faculty member in the Information Science department at UALR, will lead a 2-day session on software infrastructure related to VR.
Not only invaluable experience for the students, but invaluable exposure for UALR. Cruz and her family love Little Rock and she promises that UALR is their "last venture."
"We hope to drop anchor here and have fun for however many professional years we have left," she said.
The big reveal later this spring will showcase some really amazing technology being developed at the EAC. For now, Cruz wants central Arkansas to know that its patience will be rewarded. Virtually and otherwise…