Carolina Cruz-Neira
Agere Chair Professor
- Office: L3 Harris Engineering Center Room 214
- Email: carolina@ucf.edu
- Phone: 407-823-1394
BIOGRAPHY
Carolina Cruz-Neira is a leading computer scientist and pioneer in virtual reality, best known for creating the CAVE (CAVE Automatic Virtual Environment), a groundbreaking immersive virtual reality system. She currently serves as a faculty member in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Central Florida.
Cruz-Neira’s work bridges science, engineering and art, and she has led advancements in interactive visualization and VR technology for over two decades. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the IEEE and the ACM. In addition to her research and teaching, she has held leadership roles at multiple institutions and continues to advocate for innovation and interdisciplinary collaboration in immersive computing.
EDUCATION
- University of Texas at Arlington – Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering
RESEARCH
- Virtual Reality Systems
- Design of software frameworks for hardware-agnostic applications
- Design of new VR platforms beyond headsets
- Simulation and Training
- Context-sensitive collaborative environments
- Multi-platform environments
- Applications for Virtual and Augmented Reality
- Practical applications for the use of virtual and augmented reality in a wide range of disciplines and domains
- Emerging Visual Data Analytics
AWARDS
- IEEE Fellow, 2020
- National Academy of Engineering member, 2018
- Spark Star, Museum of Discovery, Little Rock, AR, 2016
- Named among “the top 25 innovators in virtual reality,” Polygon Media, 2016
- Named one of the three “Virtual Reality Greatest Female Innovators,” University Herald, 2016.
- Winner, Sikorsky Entrepreneurial Challenge 2014 (with Dirk Reiners and Don Pierce)
- Member, National Research Council Panel on Human Factors Science for the Army Research Laboratory 2013-2015.
- 2009 Distinguished Career Award, International Digital Media & Arts Society
- IEEE VGTC Virtual Reality Technical Achievement Award 2007
- Inducted by the ACM as a “Computer Graphics Pioneer,” January 2003
- Eminent Engineer, Tau Beta Pi, April 2002
- Boeing Welliver Faculty Fellowship, Summer 2001