Cogswell College in San Jose, California is set to become the first school in the world to launch a Virtual Reality & Augmented Reality Certificate Program, with the first courses scheduled for this summer. Cogswell was recently listed among the Top Videogame Design Schools in North America in Princeton Review‘s annual list.
“We look forward to helping the industry make sense of the exciting recent developments in virtual reality”, says Jerome Solomon, Cogswell’s Dean of the College & Director of Game Design and Development, as well as the Conference Chair for ACM SIGGRAPH 2017. “We recognize the pain of developing around emerging VR/AR systems while at the same time the gaming industry has always led the way in finding applications for new technologies.”
Cogswell has put together a pedigreed Industry Advisory Board for the new certificate program: Fabien Bourdon, P.E., Sr. Architect, Citrix Systems; Richard Chuang, CEO and Founder of CloudPic, and two-time Academy Award Winner; Jeremy Kenisky, Director of 3D/Interactive, Geomedia, Inc.; Curt Miyashiro, Production Technology Supervisor, Jaunt VR; and Stephanie Riggs, CEO/Founder, Azimyth Creation Studio.
The VR/AR program comprises a six-course set of specialized classes in the areas of “Perceptual/Cognitive Aspects of VR/AR,” “HCI Design,” “Design for VR” and “Project-Based Iterative Application.” Classes will be offered weekday evenings and weekends to accommodate working students’ schedules, as the program’s aim is to provide computer graphics professionals with the opportunity to join VR/AR content development teams.
“It is our vision that VR and AR ultimately will impact many industries across the globe, most notably in the gaming field,” adds Prof. Timothy Duncan. “By having students learn these new areas now, they will position themselves as the next generation of technical and creative leaders within exciting new VR & AR frontiers.”
Click here for more information about the program.
