The XR Lab purpose is to advance the study and design innovation with emerging technologies in the areas of virtual, augmented, mixed reality and AI.
FOUR BUILDING BLOCKS
IMMERSIVE LEARNING
A resource hub for inspiring XR initiatives within the university with the focus on developing new learning models, design, storytelling, performing arts and the future of learning.
XR and HCI LABS
Learn, design and experience what immersive worlds, XR and Human Computer Interaction (HCI) interfaces offer through our workshops, events, virtual and lab environments.
RESEARCH
Lead and conduct research to create new knowledge and better understand the efficacy and impact of immersive and emerging technology in education and across industries.
PARTNERSHIPS
Develop XR projects and products with internal and external clients and partners.
Maya Georgieva, Senior Director
Maya is a futurist, XR strategist, immersive storyteller, producer, and a sought-after keynote speaker on the future of Immersive Learning and Innovation in creative industries. As the Director of Education Futures and the XReality Center at the New School, Maya provides strategic leadership in creating an institutional culture and capacity for innovative design with emerging technologies including XR and AI. Her work has been featured at SXSW, the MIT Media Lab, The Atlantic, The Economist, and the Fulbright Program. She is an Innovator In Residence at ShapingEDU, Arizona State University. Maya is the co-author of the State of XR and Immersive Learning report. She is the co-author of the pioneering EDUCAUSE series, VR and AR: Stepping into the New Frontier of Learning and has authored white papers on the future of Higher Education and Immersive Learning.
Maya is the co-founder of Digital Bodies, an award-winning website focusing on VR/AR/MR, and their impact on media and society. She has facilitated master classes and talks on Immersive Storytelling, VR/AR/MR and New Media Narratives, Innovation in Higher Education and the Future of Learning. She has worked with Google, HP, Microsoft, Intel, Salesforce and various education and non-profit organizations on developing immersive experiences, digital strategy and innovation. She has spoken at United Nations forums and assisted the European Commission on policy recommendations for the future of learning and work.
Email: Maya@newschool.edu
Tomas Correa
Tomas is the VR Specialist at the XReality Center. He helps facilitate workshops and provides ongoing assistance to students immersive projects. Tomas is BFA graduate from the New School for Drama with a minor in Immersive Storytelling from Parsons. He is interested in Mixed Reality and the use of the Magic Leap One Headset. Tomas uses his experience in theatre to create immersive mixed reality experiences for the stage.
Sven Travis
Sven Travis is Associate Professor of Media and Design. Sven is a tall bald guy who talks too much and tells bad jokes. He listens to loud music. Sometimes he is instructed to turn it down. He grew up in Wisconsin, a big fan of the Green Bay Packers and the UW Madison Badgers. He likes to ride bikes and ski. At the moment he is vegan. He is Associate Professor of Media and Design. More...
Anezka Sebek
Anezka Sebek designs curricula in BFA/MFA Design and Technology Programs in virtual, augmented and mixed reality technologies, as well as teaching in studio and thesis courses. Before teaching full-time, her extensive career in the film industry includes projects for television, advertising, documentaries and feature films. More...
Daniel Sauter
Daniel is an artist who creates interactive installations and site-specific interventions dealing with the cultural and social implications of emerging technologies. His research is driven by a curiosity about the ways in which technologies shape and transform urban spaces and civil liberties. More...
Vladan Nikolic
Vladan Nikolic is an award-winning filmmaker and producer, who has written, directed and produced feature films, documentaries, and immersive multi-platform media projects. He was among the digital filmmaking pioneers in the 1990’s; his films were awarded at numerous top US and international film festivals. More...
Kyle Li
Kyle Li is the program director of BFA Design & Technology. His has a diverse background in interactive/game design, American art history, and physical computing. Similar to many other Parsons Alumni, his design voice emerged while he was a MFADT candidate here in 2006. Design & Technology is built on a sustainable and customizable design process that enables designers to work and continue working in the world of ever-changing technology. More...
Harpreet Sareen
Harpreet is an Assistant Professor of Interaction and Media Design at Parsons School of Design. His research is situated at the intersection of Material Science, Biology and Electronics and draws on the complementary abilities of the biological and artificial worlds. He terms this as 'Convergent Design' and creates cutting edge bionic materials and hybrid substrates that lend themselves for future ecological machinery, sensing systems and interaction design. More
Deborah Levitt
The central focus of my research and teaching is on how media-old and new-transform both everyday experience and expanded global, political spheres. As part of my work as a media historian and theorist, I am interested in film, post-cinema, animation, emerging media (including VR, AR, MXR), literature, cultural theory, and science and technology studies.
In my first book, The Animatic Apparatus: Animation, Vitality, and The Futures of the Image (Zero Books, 2018), I show how the ascendance of animation and simulation shift the concept of “life” in contemporary culture and call on us to rethink central concepts of ethics in response to these changes. Media examples, drawn from animation, anime, pop culture, and the historical imaginaries of artificial life, feature prominently.
In my current book project, “Rendering Worlds,” I investigate the novel world making capabilities of new media, and suggest that these may help us to address the actual state of emergency today: how to enable pluralism and promote ecological regeneration in the era of planetary computing and post-truth. I demonstrate how the technical and aesthetic affordances of post-cinema, digital animation, and VR allow us to create and experience worlds that model and enable new forms of sociality. You can find an essay I wrote on VR here: "Five Theses on Virtual Reality and Sociality".
Levy Lorenzo
Born in Bucharest, Filipino-American Levy Marcel Ingles Lorenzo, Jr. works at the intersection of music, art, and technology. On an international scale, his body of work spans custom electronics design, sound engineering, instrument building, installation art, free improvisation, and classical percussion. With a primary focus on inventing new instruments, he prototypes, composes, and performs new electronic music. As an electronic art consultant, Levy designs interactive electronics ranging from small sculptures to large-scale public art installations with artists such as Alvin Lucier, Christine Sun Kim, Ligorano-Reese, and Leo Villareal. As a percussionist, he co-founded the experimental theater/electronics duo Radical 2 with Dennis Sullivan and is a member of the Peter Evans Septet. As a sound engineer, he specializes in the realization and performance of complete electro-acoustic concerts with non-traditional configurations. One of his main engagements is Claire Chase's Density 2036 project. A core member of the acclaimed International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), he fulfills multiple roles as live sound engineer, electronicist, and percussionist.
His work has been featured at STEIM, Harvestworks, MIT Media Lab, Ensemble Moderne, Darmstadt, Yellow Barn, Pitchfork.com, Slashdot.org, G4TV, Grey Group, Bose, The New York Times, BBC, and Burning Man. An advocate for interdisciplinary arts, he has collaborated with dancers, video artists, public artists, mathematicians, sculptors, architects, and dramaturgs. Bridging the gap between the electronics design cycle and the performance practice of cutting-edge contemporary music, Levy is as equally comfortable wielding a soldering iron as drumsticks and four-mallets. He has fluency navigating hardware schematics and coding in various software environments, as well as interpreting complex musical scores and playing chamber music.