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), with plenary sessions in the Chancellor Ballroom.

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), in the auditorium. 

Program

All times in CDT

DAY 1 - APRIL 28

Illinois Conference Center, Chancellor Ballroom (unless otherwise noted)
An overflow room will be available in Lincoln
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
9:40 - 10:05
 Q&A
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 
Moderator: Craig Shultz, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Illinois
11:15 - 12:00
Panel on Human Interaction with Immersive Systems
Moderator: Craig Shultz, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Illinois
Joe Artuso, OpenBCI 
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 
Moderator: Brighten Godfrey, Computer Science, Illinois
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
Humberto La Roche, Cisco
Simone Merlin, Qualcomm
Chowdary Yanamadala, Arm
3:00 - 3:20 Q&A
3:20 - 3:35 Break 
3:35 - 4:10
Multidisciplinary Demo Presentations by Visiting Teams 
Moderator: Elahe Soltanaghai, Computer Science, Illinois
 
  • Hummingbird VR and Live Theater Performances
    • Daria Tsoupikova, University of Illinois Chicago
  • WordPlay Party: Towards Collaborative XR Application Latency Guarantees for Parkinson’s Rehabilitation
    • Maria Gorlatova, Duke University
  • Networked iGYM for AR Exergames
    • Jiasi Chen, University of Michigan
  • XR90 Holographic Surgical Navigation
    • Peter Braido, MediView
  • OmnifyXR Interventional Suite
    • Peter Braido, MediView
  • INSTRUMENT | One Antarctic Night: a Social Multiplayer VR Arena Experience 
    • Ruth West, University of North Texas
  • Real-Time Quantification of Attention, Stress and Cybersickness via Multimodal Physiological Data During VR and XR Experiences
    • Joseph Artuso, OpenBCI
  • Reading of the Mind! 
    • Reza Khanbabaie, Cognixion
  • AI Recall
    • Sanghamitra Bhattacharya, Qualcomm
4:10 - 6:10 Posters & Demos (Heritage 1+4, Honors, Technology rooms)
6:10 - 6:55 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
6:55 - 7:15 Q&A
7:15 - 9:00 Dinner
 

DAY 2 - APRIL 29

National Center for Supercomputing Applications (Auditorium, unless otherwise noted)
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
Moderator: Robb Lindgren, Education, Illinois 
8:45 - 9:30
Panel on XR Applications for Learning and Education
Moderator: Robb Lindgren, Education, Illinois 
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

Location: NCSA 1030

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

Organizer: 
Mike Yao, Institute of Communications Research, Illinois
 

Session 2 

Location: NCSA 1040

Assessing XR Technologies in Education

Organizers: 
Cedric Dumas, Carle Illinois College of Medicine, Illinois
Jina Kang, Curriculum & Instruction, Illinois
Laura Shackelford, Anthropology, Illinois
 

Session 3

Location: Siebel School of Computing and Data Science 2405 

Envisioning the Next Decade of XR Systems Research

Organizer: 
Tarek Abdelzaher, Computer Science, Illinois
11:50- 12:05 Break
12:05 - 12:20
Breakout Sessions Report
12:20 - 12:30
Q&A
12:30 - 1:00
Toward a Decadal Plan for Immersive Computing: Research, Funding, and Community
Moderator: Sarita Adve, Computer Science, Illinois
Sudharman K. Jayaweera, National Science Foundation
Hrvoje Benko, University of Washington 
1:00 - 1:15
Q&A
1:15 - 2:00 Boxed lunch
1:30 - 3:30
Advisory Board Meeting (closed meeting) - Siebel 2405
2:00 - 5:00
INSTRUMENT | One Antarctic Night: a Social Multiplayer VR Arena Experience
Visit the IOAN exhibit from Ruth West (UNT) at the Siebel Center for Design (SCD), 1208 S 4th St, Champaign, IL 61820.
A shuttle but will depart at 2:00pm from NCSA to the I Hotel, with a stop the SCD exhibit.
6:00 - 9:00
Dinner for non-UIUC guests and IMMERSE leadership (by invitation) - Big Grove Tavern, 1 E Main St, Champaign, IL 61820