The Grainger College of Engineering
IMMERSE Center for Immersive Computing

Program

IMMERSE Symposium - Program

April 28 & 29, 2026

 

 

Day 1 will be held at the I Hotel and Illinois Conference Center (1900 South First St, Champaign, IL 61820).

Day 2 will be held at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign (1205 W Clark Street, Urbana, IL 61801). 

Program

All times in CDT

DAY 1 - APRIL 28

Illinois Conference Center
7:30 - 8:00
Breakfast
8:00 - 8:15
Welcome
Susan Martinis, Vice Chancellor for Research & Innovation
Rashid Bashir, Dean, Grainger College of Engineering
Nancy Amato, Director, Siebel School of Computing and Data Science 
 
8:15 - 8:40
IMMERSE: an Overview of the Past Year
Sarita Adve, Computer Science, Illinois
8:40 - 9:40
Major Highlights From the Past Year 
  • Distributed XR and Remote Medicine
    Mark Cohen, Carle Illinois College of Medicine, Illinois
    Brighten Godfrey, Computer Science, Illinois
  • XR+AI and Storytelling
    Shenlong Wang, Computer Science, Illinois
    Jake Pinholster, Fine and Applied Arts, Illinois
  • A Human Experience Framework for XR
    Mike Yao, Media, Illinois
  • An Interdisciplinary Masters Degree in Immersive Computing
    Lisa Bievenue, Informatics, Illinois
10:05 - 10:30 Break
10:30 - 11:15
Keynote - Augmented Reality in the Age of Agentic AI: Why AI is the Only Way AR Succeeds and What is Still Missing?

Hrvoje Benko, University of Washington 
11:15 - 12:00
Panel on Human Interaction with Immersive Systems
Moderator: Craig Shultz, Computer Science, Illinois 
Hrvoje Benko, University of Washington
Chris Harrison, Carnegie Mellon University
Bruce Thomas,  Adelaide University
12:00 - 12:20 Q&A
12:20 - 1:30 Lunch
1:30 - 2:15 Keynote - Developers and the Complexity of XR 

Mahesh Kallahalla, Google XR
2:15 - 3:00 Panel on Implications of Distributed Compute, Next-Gen Wireless, and AI for XR
Moderator: Brighten Godfrey, Computer Science, Illinois
Mahesh Kallahalla, Google XR
Simone Merlin, Qualcomm
3:00 - 3:20 Q&A
3:20 - 3:35 Break 
3:35 - 4:00 Invited Multidisciplinary Demo Presentations 
4:00 - 6:00 Posters & Demos
6:00 - 6:45 Keynote - The Body is Along for the Ride:  The power and considerations of embodiment in constructing immersive stories
 Nonny De La Pena, Arizona State University
6:45 - 7:05 Q&A
7:05 - 9:00 Dinner
 

DAY 2 - APRIL 29

National Center for Supercomputing Applications
7:30 - 8:00
Breakfast
8:00 - 8:45
Keynote - What we Know from 30 years of Psychological Experimentation in Virtual Reality
Jeremy Bailenson, Stanford University
8:45 - 9:30
Panel on Learning with XR
Jeremy Bailenson, Stanford University 
Mina Johnson-Glenberg, Arizona State University
Jina Kang, Curriculum & Instruction, Illinois
Laura Shackelford, Anthropology, Illinois
9:30 - 9:50
Q&A
9:50 - 9:55
Breakout Charge
9:55 - 10:10 Break
10:10- 11:50 Breakout sessions
 

Session 1

Designing the Future of Immersive Research: A Holistic Human Experience (HE) Working Lab
 

Session 2

Assessing XR Technologies in Education
 

Session 3

Envisioning the Next Decade of XR Systems Research
11:50- 12:05 Break
12:05 - 12:20
Breakout Sessions Report
12:20 - 12:30
Q&A
12:30 - 1:00
Funding Landscape and Conclusions
1:00 - 1:15
Q&A
1:15 - 2:00 Boxed lunch
1:30 - 3:30
Advisory Board Meeting (closed meeting)