Next steps for VRARA Universities & Colleges Committee, and Welcome Jon Gress as Co-Chair

See the latest VR & AR solutions at our VR/AR Global Summit ONLINE Conference+Expo Sept 16-18

We are thrilled to announce Jon Gress (see bio below) as Co-Chair for our University & Colleges Committee

Join our next Online Meet on July 1st!

I’m very excited about the amazing progress I’ve seen in the VRARA and all the incredible people, talent, events, meetings and developments. I’d be pleased to co-chair the Committee and look forward to helping the VRARA continue to lead these exciting new immersive technology industries to a future of excellence.
— Jon Gress

Feel free to email Jon with your ideas for projects or research for the Committee.


About the Committee

This committee shares and creates best practices, guidelines, and call to actions for university curricula and research relating to VR and AR. We meet every month online (next Online Meet is July 1st) to present recent case studies, projects, research, and enable a forum to discuss common problems and solutions. We have published a Report that features over 40 institutions that teach VR/AR. Plus, the active participants get preference to speak at our chapter events and Global Summits.

Jon Gress Bio

Jon Gress is the Academic Director, The Digital Animation & Visual Effects School at Universal Studios, Orlando, FL

With over 30 years of experience in motion picture, visual effects, immersive media technologies & production, Jon Gress has been on the cutting edge of digital production technologies since their beginnings. He has trained thousands of filmmakers and visual effects artists from all over the world, who have gone on from his training to secure jobs in top visual effects companies and have worked on blockbuster movies and award winning television series including:

24, 47 Ronin, Almost Human, Ant Man, Assassin's Creed, Captain America, Conan The Barbarian, CSI, Die Hard, Dredd, Fringe, Game of Thrones, GI Joe, Godzilla, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, Harry Potter, Hawaii Five-O, Hugo, Iron Man, James Bond, John Carter, Life of Pi, Lost, MIB 3, Mirror Mirror, Narnia, Need for Speed, Oblivion, Olympus Has Fallen, Oz, Pacific Rim, Pirates of the Caribbean, Riddick, RIPD, Serenity, Snow White and the Huntsman, Spiderman, Stolen, Superman, Star Trek, Star Wars, Terra Nova, The Avengers, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Expendables, The Fast and the Furious, The Great Gatsby, The Green Hornet, The Green Lantern, The Hobbit, The Hulk, The Hunger Games, The Mechanic, The Twilight Saga, The Walking Dead, The Wolf of Wall Street, Thor, Titanic, Total Recall, Transformers, White House Down, Wolverine, X-Men, and many many more).

Jon is an active member of The Visual Effects Society, a published Pearson Higher Education author ("Digital Visual Effects & Compositing", the complete college curriculum textbook & instructor’s guide used in colleges all over the world), has been a regular writer/columnist for motion picture industry trade publications and has produced, directed and supervised hundreds of motion picture, television, VFX and cutting edge interactive multimedia & immersive productions (for institutions ranging from small independent to Fortune 100) since 1998.

Jon brings to The Digital Animation & Visual Effects School at Universal Studios, Orlando FL decades of expertise, research and development in cutting edge visualization technologies such as 3D Stereoscopic Imaging, 3D Photogrammetry, 360 & 180 VR photo/video, 3D motion tracking, capture & motion control, the integration of these into a the real-time visualization, VR, AR, MxR & Virtual Production development for Motion Pictures, Games, 3D Visual Effects and Fully Immersive Virtual Experiences.