Carolina Cruz-Neira Explained

Carolina Cruz-Neira
Alma Mater:University of Illinois, Chicago
Universidad Metropolitana
Occupation:University of Central Florida
Known For:Computer Engineering,
CAVE Automatic Virtual Environment
Awards:Member of the National Academy of Engineering, IEEE VGTC Virtual Reality Technical Achievement Award 2007

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 (CAVE). She previously worked at Iowa State University (ISU), University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette), University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UA Little Rock),[1] and she is currently an Agere Chair Professor at University of Central Florida (UCF).

Education

Cruz-Neira graduated cum laude with a degree in systems engineering from the Universidad Metropolitana in Caracas, Venezuela in 1987.[2] She earned a master's degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of Illinois, Chicago in 1991, and her PhD in 1995, working under computer graphics researcher Thomas DeFanti.

Work

Cave automatic virtual environment

See main article: Cave automatic virtual environment. The first CAVE was invented by Carolina Cruz-Neira, Daniel J. Sandin, and Thomas A. DeFanti in 1992.[3] For her PhD dissertation, Cruz-Neira designed and developed the CAVE Automatic Virtual Environment, its specifications, and implementation. She also designed and implemented the CAVELib software API, now a commercial product. She was the architect of the Open Source API VR Juggler, an open source virtual reality applications development framework.[4] [5] [6]

The CAVE is an immersive system that became the standard for rear projection-based virtual reality systems. The normal full system consists of projections screens along the front, side and floor axes, and a tracking system for the "user". Although they used the recursive acronym Cave Automatic Virtual Environment for the CAVE system, the name also refers to Plato's "Republic" and "The Allegory of the Cave" where he explored the concepts of reality and human perception.

There have been a couple offshoots of the CAVE technology, including ImmersaDesk, Infinity Wall and Oblong Industries' G-speak system. The ImmersaDesk is a semi-immersive system, resembling a drafting table, while the Infinity Wall is designed to cater to an entire room of people, such as a conference room. Extending this concept, G-speak supports gestural input from multiple-users and multiple-devices on an expandable array of monitors.

Academia

thumb|Video of Dr. Carolina Cruz-Neira (2016), on how virtual reality will shape the world of tomorrow|alt=Carolina Cruz-Neira on how virtual reality will shape the world of tomorrowCruz-Neira was the Stanley Chair professor in Interdisciplinary Engineering, and a co-founder of the Virtual Reality Applications Center (VRAC) at Iowa State University (ISU).[7] [8] In 2002, Dr. Cruz-Neira co-founded and co-directed the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) graduate program at ISU.

She later joined the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 2005, and in 2006, was the first CEO and Chief Scientist of LITE (Louisiana Immersive Technologies Enterprise), a Louisiana State initiative to support economic development in immersive technologies. From 2009 to 2014 she was the W. Hansen Hall and Mary Officer Hall/BORSF Endowed Super Chair in Telecommunications in Computer Engineering at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.[9]

In 2014, she was named an Arkansas Research Scholar by the Arkansas Research Alliance and moved to Little Rock to lead the Emerging Analytics Center (EAC) at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.[10]

In 2019, Cruz-Neira joined the University of Central Florida, as an Agere Chair Professor in the Computer Science Department.[11] [12]

Many of her former students are now doing leading work in VR at places such as Unity Labs, Intel, Microsoft Research, Google, DreamWorks, EA, Deere & Company, Boeing, Sony Pictures Imageworks, and Argonne National Laboratory.[13]

Other work

In 2017, Cruz-Neira was included in episode 8 "the player", in a ten part, Dutch documentary series, The Mind of the Universe (2017) by Robbert Dijkgraaf and VPRO broadcast.[14]

In January, she was invited by Dell to participate in the “VR for Good” panel at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show to demonstrate how innovators are using virtual reality to make a positive impact on society.[15]

Since June 2019, she has served as Chief Editor of VR and Industry for Frontier's in Virtual Reality Journal.

Awards

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The emerging future in Arkansas of "life-size" aircraft visualization in High Definition 3D. 2014-07-11. www.arkansasedc.com. Arkansas Economic Development Commission. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20140808052323/http://www.arkansasedc.com/content/emerging-future-arkansas-life-size-aircraft-visualization-high-definition-3d. 8 August 2014. 5 August 2014.
  2. Web site: Here's More on ARA Scholar Carolina Cruz-Neira of UALR. Innovate Arkansas. en. 2019-09-24. 2019-09-24. https://web.archive.org/web/20190924172600/http://www.innovatearkansas.org/blog/post/1237/heres-more-on-ara-scholar-carolina-cruz-neira-of-ualr. live.
  3. Cruz-Neira. Carolina. Sandin. Daniel J.. DeFanti. Thomas A.. Kenyon. Robert V.. Hart. John C.. 1992-06-01. The CAVE: audio visual experience automatic virtual environment. Communications of the ACM. 35. 6. 64–72. 10.1145/129888.129892. 19283900. 0001-0782. free.
  4. Web site: Dr. Carolina Cruz-Neira. ICIQ 2013. 25 March 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140325071801/http://www.iciq2013.org/dr-carolina-cruz-neira/. 25 March 2014. dead.
  5. Web site: Engineer envisions sci-fi as reality. arkansasonline.com. 24 November 2014. 13 June 2015. 19 October 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201019202209/https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2014/nov/24/engineer-envisions-sci-fi-as-reality-20/?print. live.
  6. Web site: Carolina Cruz-Neira Ph.D.: Executive Profile & Biography - Businessweek. Businessweek.com. 13 June 2015. 15 June 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150615065824/http://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=51278330&privcapId=34765937. live.
  7. Book: Cruz-Neira, Carolina. 2007-03-01. IEEE VGTC Virtual Reality Technical Achievement Award 2007. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/251839276. 10.1109/VR.2007.352453. 2007 IEEE Virtual Reality Conference. xvii. 978-1-4244-0905-1.
  8. Web site: Inside Iowa State. archive.inside.iastate.edu. en. 2018-08-28. 2019-07-18. https://web.archive.org/web/20190718183253/https://archive.inside.iastate.edu/2004/0910/accessgrid.shtml. live.
  9. Web site: Presents the Spring 2014 EECS Seminar Series, Dr. Carolina Cruz-Neira. 2014. www.eecs.ucf.edu. 2018-09-07. 2024-07-19. https://web.archive.org/web/20240719024023/http://www.eecs.ucf.edu/seminar_flyers/4February2014.pdf. live.
  10. Web site: Computer Science Distinguished Lecture: Dr. Carolina Cruz-Neira. Iowa State University. 25 March 2014. 25 March 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140325091752/http://www.event.iastate.edu/event/24589. live.
  11. Web site: Acclaimed Computer Scientist and Virtual Reality Pioneer Joins UCF Faculty. University of Central Florida. 14 February 2020. 2022-04-06. 2022-05-20. https://web.archive.org/web/20220520072810/https://www.ucf.edu/news/acclaimed-computer-scientist-and-virtual-reality-pioneer-joins-ucf-faculty/. live.
  12. Web site: Springer named director of UA Little Rock Emerging Analytics Center. 30 June 2020. University of Arkansas at Little Rock. 2022-04-06. 2022-02-26. https://web.archive.org/web/20220226053557/https://ualr.edu/news/2020/06/30/springer-director-emerging-analytics-center/. live.
  13. Book: New Media Futures. University of Illinois Press. 2018. 85.
  14. Web site: Allerhande, maar vooral literatuur: The mind of the universe (2017), tiendelige wetenschapsserie van Robbert Dijkgraaf. Swart. Rein. 17 July 2017. Allerhande, maar vooral literatuur. 2019-09-24. 2019-09-24. https://web.archive.org/web/20190924163158/https://reinswart.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-mind-of-universe-2017-tiendelige.html. live.
  15. Web site: Cruz-Neira named new member of the National Academy of Engineering. 2018-02-08. News. en-US. 2019-11-19. 2020-10-31. https://web.archive.org/web/20201031051032/https://ualr.edu/news/2018/02/08/cruz-neira-national-academy-engineering/. live.
  16. Web site: iDMAa Award Recipients. 2018. idmaa.org. 2018-08-28. 2018-08-29. https://web.archive.org/web/20180829072326/http://idmaa.org/conferences/idmaa-award-recipients/. live.
  17. Web site: ARA Scholar Carolina Cruz-Neira wows at CES 2018. Harper. Jeremy. 2018-01-27. Arkansas Research Alliance. en-US. 2019-11-19. 2023-07-16. https://web.archive.org/web/20230716123253/https://aralliance.org/ara-scholar-carolina-cruz-neira-wows-at-ces-2018/. live.
  18. News: VR's Long, Weird History. Crecente. Brian. 26 October 2016. Polygon. 6 April 2017. 19 July 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240719024054/https://www.polygon.com/2016/10/26/13401128/25-vr-greatest-innovators. live.
  19. News: Women in STEM: 3 of VR's Greatest Female Innovators. 2016-10-27. University Herald. 2018-08-28. en. 2018-08-29. https://web.archive.org/web/20180829072240/https://www.universityherald.com/articles/46301/20161027/vr-female-innovators.htm. live.
  20. Web site: National Academy of Engineering Elects 83 Members and 16 Foreign Members. NAE. 8 February 2018. 8 February 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180208182205/https://www.nae.edu/178117.aspx. live.

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