Dr. Carolina Cruz-Neira, director of the Emerging Analytics Center at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, chaired an international virtual reality conference Dec. 7-9 at the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock. 

The conference brings together researchers, developers, and academics to share their expertise on virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, and 3-D user interfaces.

ICAT-EGVE 2016 is the merger of the International Conference on Artificial Reality and Telexistence (ICAT) and the Eurographics Symposium on Virtual Environments (EGVE).

Cruz-Neira, a member of the ICAT International Steering Committee, served as the conference co-chair, along with Kiyoshi Kiyokawa of Osaka University in Japan.

The conference’s keynote speakers included Scott Parazynski, a decorated physician and astronaut recently inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, and Rudolph Darken, professor of computer science at the Naval Postgraduate School.

In his Dec. 8 keynote address, “Extreme Environments as a Catalyst for Innovation,” Parazynski highlighted defining moments of his career when perseverance and multidisciplinary collaboration sparked innovative solutions under the most extreme conditions.

Parazynski is a veteran of five spaceflights, spending 47 hours on spacewalks. He holds the distinction of being the only person to have both flown in space and summited Mt. Everest.

Darken’s Dec. 9 keynote speech, “Innovation, Entrepreneurialism, and Intellectual Property from a Technologist’s Point of View,” will cover the key elements of taking an idea from conception to a commercialized product, especially in a university setting.

Additional members of the Emerging Analytics Center who were instrumental in the organization of the conference, include:

•      Dirk Reiners, EAC chief scientist, who served as a program chair and web chair
•      Tom Coffin, EAC senior visualization and operations manager, who served as a demo chair
•      Carsten Neumann, EAC senior research scientist, who served as a web chair
•      Kendra Boyle, EAC business/program project manager, and Rose Rains, EAC innovative idea development associate, who served as the local organizations committee
•      Jason Zac, EAC lead artist, who led design, art, and animation work for the conference

For more information, visit the ICAT-EGVE 2016 website or contact Kendra Boyle at 501.682.2310 or eacevents@ualr.edu.