An Overview of Important Sites for VE Research

Universities/Academia

• Georgia Institute of Technology - Graphics, Visualization, and Usability (GVU) Center

The Virtual Environments group has research in the treatment of phobias, education, immersive design, human-computer interaction, and system software for VEs. Larry Hodges is the main faculty researcher.
 
 
• University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

UNC performs research in real-time computer graphics, both hardware and software, augmented reality systems, tracking systems, and scientific applications. Fred Brooks and Henry Fuchs are two prominent faculty researchers.
 
 
• University of Washington - Human Interface Technology (HIT) Lab

The HIT Lab is an industrially-funded research center that is currently focusing on applications of VEs to education, evaluation of interaction techniques, a retinal display system, and novel input devices. Prominent researchers include Tom Furness, Suzanne Weghorst, and Max Wells.
 
 
• Carnegie-Mellon University

The UIgroup at CMU migrated from the University of Virginia when main researcher Randy Pausch took a new position. They have produced Alice, a simple interpreted VE programming tool, and do research in HCI, 2-handed interaction, and low-cost VEs.
 
 
• University of Illinois-Chicago - Electronic Visualization Lab (EVL)

The EVL is best known for their development of the CAVE (CAVE Automatic Virtual Environment), an immersive VE setup that uses large projection screens. Within this environment, they have created several interesting applications in education, teleconferencing, etc. The group also researches uses for the combination of supercomputing and VEs. Carolina Cruz-Neira is one of the faculty members.
 
 
• Naval Postgraduate School

NPS is best known for the NPSNET work, a large-scale distributed VE system used for military simulation purposes. Within this framework, research is done on the topics of virtual navigation, input devices, and distribution strategies. Mike Zyda and Rudy Darken are two faculty researchers.
 
 
• Stanford University

VE work at Stanford is centered on displays other than the HMD, such as the virtual workbench. There is also an interesting project in the Center for Design Research that attempts to produce 3D models in a virtual space.
 
 
• University of Central Florida - Institute for Simulation and Training (IST)

IST is involved in research leading to training applications for VEs, especially military training. This has led to research in simulator sickness, 3D modeling, etc. Kay Stanney is a prominent researcher.
 
 
• Rutgers University

Rutgers is best known for work on force feedback displays for virtual environments. Grigore Burdea is a leading researcher.
 
 
• Brown University

Brown's graphics group performs research in 3D interaction, 2-handed interfaces, and telecollaboration. Andries van Dam is the leading faculty researcher.
 
 
• University of New Mexico

Researchers here have an interest in the uses of VEs for scientific visualization.
 
 
• University of Alberta

Alberta produced one of the first, and most widely-used VE libraries, the MR Toolkit. They have also done research in 3D modeling and interaction. Mark Green and Ben Watson are on the faculty.
 
 
• University of Iowa

At the Center for Computer-Aided Design, researchers developed the Iowa driving simulator, with a motion platform, wide field-of view graphics, and hi-fi audio.
 
• Iowa State University

ISU's Virtual Reality Applications Center houses the C2 and C6 projection-VR projects. Carolina Cruz-Neira, inventor of the CAVE, is one of the principal faculty researchers.
 
 
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Media Lab

The Media Lab is well-known for many projects in graphics, mobile computing, etc. Of particular interest to VEs is the ALIVE project, which incorporates the user into a large-screen display, and has research value for autonomous agents, computer vision, and interaction.
 
 
• University of Geneva

Geneva is best known for work in animation and VR with human figures. Nadia Thalmann is the director of MIRA Lab here.
 
 
• University of Pennsylvania

Work at Penn also involves the modeling and animation of human figures. The software system 'Jack' was developed here, under the supervision of Norm Badler.
 
 
• University of British Columbia

Anyone have information?
 
 

Government

• Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

The Synthesized Immersion Research Environment (SIRE) lab is working on projects involving simulator sickness, dome displays, and novel input and output devices.
 
 
• Sandia National Labs

The Virtual Reality/Intelligent Simulation Lab at Sandia does work in the fields of military and medical training, avatars, and virtual actors.
 
 
• NASA Ames Research Center

The main research at NASA Ames centers around the Virtual Windtunnel, an immersive fluid flow visualization tool. From this has come research in interaction, hardware, visualization, etc.
 
 
• Navy Research Labs (NRL)

NRL is involved in research using tools such as the Virtual Workbench for naval applications including design and planning. Work has also been done in training for hazardous duty.
 
 
• Army Research Labs (ARL)

The main VE project for ARL is our own VGIS project which is a real-time 3D Geographic Information System that has many military applications.
 
 

Industry

• Sense8

Sense8 markets the WorldToolKit (WTK), which is a primary environment-building tool for the low-end VR industry.
 
 
• Multigen

Multigen produces 3D modeling and scene-building software, including an immersive system allowing construction of virtual worlds.
 
 
• Virtual Research

Virtual Research is one of the leading makers of mid-range to high-end head-mounted displays.
 
 
• Division

This British company sells hardware and software specifically designed for real-time 3D applications, based on UNC's PixelPlanes architecture.
 
 
• Fakespace

Fakespace produces immersive displays such as the BOOM (HMD that is not worn on the head) and Immersive Workbench.
 
 
• Boeing

Boeing has used 3D graphics extensively in the design and testing of aircraft, and has also done research in the use of immersive VEs for verification of aircraft designs.
 
 
• Fraunhofer Centre for Research in Computer Graphics (CRCG)

CRCG is both academic and industrial, and does research in virtual conferencing and workbench-based VR. GVU graduate Greg Newton works here.
 
 
• Silicon Graphics (SGI)

SGI is the leading maker of high-end 3D graphics workstations. Warning: do not click on this link unless you have a few minutes to wait while it downloads.
 
 
• Mitsubishi Electronic Research Labs (MERL)

MERL is headed by Jim Foley, former GVU director. Research has focused on distributed VR, social virtual environments, etc.
 
 
• IBM T.J. Watson Research Center

Anyone have infomation?