A virtual reality pioneer who is now a professor at the University of Central Florida landed a spot in Augmented World Expo’s first-ever Hall of Fame class.
Carolina Cruz-Neira landed on the list alongside other pioneers including the person who coined the term “augmented reality” in the 1990s, the so-called “grandfather of VR” and a Disney Imagineer.
Cruz-Neira helped develop an immersive system that became a staple in virtual reality systems and hardware in 1992. The Cave Automatic Virtual Environment, also known as “The CAVE,” consists of projection screens on the front, side and floor along with a tracking system.
She also created the Human-Computer Interaction program at Iowa State University during her storied career.
According to an online bio, her former students have continued research work in virtual reality at Unity Labs, Intel, Google, DreamWorks and Sony Pictures Imageworks, among others.
Cruz-Neira joined the UCF faculty in the College of Engineering and Computer Science in 2019.
The AWE’s XR Hall of Fame honors “the pioneers whose monumental contributions have shaped and propelled the XR industry forward.”
To see the full inaugural class, CLICK HERE.