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News & Announcements

LA Weekly Covers ICT’s Belinda Lange and Her Work in Video Games for Therapy

In a new LA Weekly column focused on ideas and innovations coming out of Los Angeles, science reporter Katie Gammon features ICT’s Belinda Lange and her motor-rehab work…

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Huffington Post Covers ICT’s MxR Lab’s Immersive Journalism Collaboration

The Huffington Post wrote about Hunger in Los Angeles, an immersive journalism project by Nonny De La Pena. Pena collaborated with the ICT…

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CG Society Features Underworld 4 Effects, including ICT Graphics Lab Contributions

An Computer Graphics Society article covers the special effects work in the fourth installment of the Underworld werewolf franchise, Underworld: Awakening. The story mentions that the film’s primary visual effects…

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Army Access AL&T Features Two Stories About ICT

The website of the U.S. Army Acquisitions Support Center ran two stories about the research and developments taking place at ICT. The first is about our work putting a human face on…

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Training and Simulation Journal Covers ICT Innovations for Clinical Care

ICT’s MedVR Lab was featured in an article in the latest issue of Training and Simulation Journal that discussed recent innovations in simulation and virtual reality that impact medical…

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Wired’s Danger Room Covers Multi-Center PTSD Study including ICT’s VR Exposure Therapy

A story on Wired’s Danger Room blog covers the multi-center DoD-funded trial that ICT is involved in. The story notes that part of the study will evaluate virtual reality exposure therapy and…

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New York Daily News Covers DoD-Funded Study of ICT’s Virtual Reality Therapy

A story in the New York Daily News featured the $11 million multi-center trial and collaboration between the USC Institute for Creative Technologies, New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center and Emory University to continue research…

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Local Vets Needed for $11 Million DoD-Funded Study of ICT-Developed Virtual Reality Therapy for PTSD

Media Contacts:
University of Southern California
Institute for Creative Technologies
Orli Belman
belman@ict.usc.edu
(310) 709-4156

NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell
Takla Boujaoude

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3D Display from the ICT Graphics Lab Featured in Science News

An article in Science News highlighted the 3D display and 3D teleconferencing systems developed by ICT’s Paul Debevec and colleagues.  “At the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, Paul Debevec has…

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Immersive Journalism Collaboration with ICT’s MxR Lab Heading to Sundance Film Festival

Hunger in Los Angeles, a virtual reality project with real-world impact is scheduled to appear at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, January 19-29, in Park City, Utah and January 20…

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CNN Features ICT’s SimCoach Project

CNN highlighted SimCoach, a web-based interactive simulation technology project co-led by Skip Rizzo and others at ICT.  SimCoach is designed to help veterans and their families find resources to deal with…

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Former U.N.Commander Romeo Dallaire Visits USC and ICT

On Friday, November 4, Romeo Dallaire, a Canadian Senator and retired Lieutenant-General, toured the USC Institute for Creative Technologies as part of a visit to USC where he also spoke to students and recorded his…

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ICT Virtual Humans Change the Face of Training

By Peter Evenson

At a Naval training facility in Newport, R.I., gunner’s mate Jacob Cabrillo, a new junior sailor, sits hunched in his chair, fully outfitted in his Navy uniform.

The…

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ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Installs ICT Technology in a New Home for Veteran with PTSD

On Friday, November 4, ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition will feature the family of a veteran who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and brain injury. Jewel Mine, a customized ICT…

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USC Daily Trojan Features ICT’s Virtual Patient Collaboration with the USC School of Social Work

The USC Daily Trojan covered ICT’s virtual patient and how it will be used to train future clinicians through a collaboration with the Read More »


Mark Bolas and ICT’s MxR Lab In Fast Company

A Fast Company article about the power of narrative to influence behavior change, covered the recent USC Body Computing Conference and quoted Mark Bolas, associate director of…

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Skip Rizzo Honored with The Help Group’s Annual Professional Achievement Award

Skip Rizzo, ICT’s associate director for medical virtual reality, received The Help Group’s Professional Achievement Award for his contributions to the field of virtual reality technology and its clinical applications. Rizzo was also the featured…

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ICT in Army Magazine

The November issue of Army Magazine features two stories about ICT research and prototypes. The first story showcases ICT’s immersive technologies, with a focus on ICT’s two new virtual human training…

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ICT MedVR Collaboration Wins Best Poster Award

A collaborative virtual reality motor rehabilitation project between ICT and the UCLA Wireless Health Institute that integrates Belinda Lange’s Jewel Mine game with a SMARTglove for upper limb rehabilitation won…

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A Foreign Policy Magazine Writer Tries out ICT’s UrbanSim Application

Foreign Policy‘s Michael Peck frequently writes about the U.S. military and video games and jumped at the chance to try out the ICT-developed UrbanSim game. After testing his hand at counter-insurgency tactics, Peck…

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USC Trojan Family Magazine Features ICT

An article in the Autumn 2011 issue of USC Trojan Family Magazine features ICT research and prototypes. Under the headline, Brave New World, the story highlights the futuristic tools developed at…

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ICT and Viterbi Researchers Win Best Paper Award at IVA 2011

A paper written by Jason Tsai, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Computer Science of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering received the Best Paper Award at the Read More »


USC Institute for Creative Technologies Receives $135 Million Contract Extension From U.S. Army

Award allows for continued university-based research and development of interactive media for military training, health therapies and more.

Sept.1, 2011 – The Department of Defense announced this week that the University of Southern…

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Paul Rosenbloom Wins Best Idea Award at 2011 Conference on Artificial General Intelligence

Paul Rosenbloom, professor of computer science at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and project leader at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT), received the Kurzweil Prize for Best Artificial General Intelligence Idea at…

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Soldiers Magazine Features ICT

Soldiers Magazine featured ICT’s efforts combining storytelling and technology to improve Army training. The result has been multiple breakthroughs in virtual reality and emotionally engaging training simulations, movies and games focused on…

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ICT Research Earns Best Paper Award at the Human-Computer Interaction International Conference

A paper, Emotions and Telerehabilitation: Pilot Clinical Trials for Virtual Telerehabilitation Application Using Haptic Device and its Impact on Post Stroke Patients’ Mood and Motivation, by former ICT-er Luke Yeh, along with Belinda Lange, Skip…

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NPR KInect Story Features Mark Bolas and Belinda Lange’s Jewel Mine Game

A story on NPR’s All Things Considered covered the many ways researchers and others are modifying the Microsoft Kinect. For the story reporter Alex Schmidt spoke to Mark Bolas, ICT’s associate director…

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Kotaku calls Mother Nature, A Kinect Game Co-Developed at ICT, Possibly the Best of Them All

The video game blog Kotaku recently featured Diane Tucker’s Kincect-based game, Mother Nature, under the headline, Read More »


ICT’s Sin-hwa Kang Receives New Investigator Award at CyberTherapy & CyberPsychology Conference

ICT research associate Sin-hwa Kang was given the New Investigator Award at the 16th Annual CyberTherapy & CyberPsychology Conference in Gatineau, Canada. The prize honors a researcher new to…

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ICT Researchers Win Best Paper Award at IEEE Procams 2011

Congratulations to Joel Jurik and co-authors Andrew Jones, Mark Bolas and Paul Debevec on receiving the best paper award for their paper, “Prototyping a Light Field Display Involving Direct Observation of a Video Projector Array”…

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CBS Evening News Features Interview with Soldier Treated with ICT’s VR Therapy

A segment on the national CBS Evening News told the personal story of 27-year-old former Army Staff Sergeant Jeff Matthews, who is one of 90 soldiers taking part in a study of virtual…

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Canada’s CBC News Features ICT’s Virtual Reality Treatment for PTSD

An in-depth story on returning troops suffering from post-traumatic stress featured Skip Rizzo and the virtual reality exposure therapy he developed at ICT. The segment illustrated how the treatment works and highlighted…

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Italian Newspaper Features ICT’s Paul Debevec

The Italian publication L’Espresso quoted Paul Debevec, ICT’s associate director for graphics research, and discussed advances in creating digital characters for movies in a story about headlined: There’s an Actor in your PC.

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Signal Magazine Covers ICT

A training and education story in Signal Magazine, featured ICT’s advances in virtual humans research and the ways these characters are being used for military training, movie special effects and more.

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Huffington Post Names ICT’s GMail Motion Response Among Best Kinect Hacks

An online slideshow in the Huffington Post features what they consider the top nine Kinect Hacks to date. Coming in at number two is ICT’s April Fools Day response to…

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Boston Globe Covers ICT’s Virtual Human Museum Guides

An article in the Boston Globe features ICT’s Ada and Grace, virtual human museum guides in the Boston Museum of Science that were based upon real-life model Bianca Rodriguez. The story describes scanning…

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USC Viterbi Magazine Features Story on ICT

The Spring 2011 issue of Viterbi Magazine covers ICT’s move to Playa Vista and the ribbon cutting ceremony held here in October. 

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ICT Researchers Win Best Poster Award at Florida Artificial Intelligence Research Society Conference

Work by ICT researchers Grace Chen, Emma Tosch, Ron Artstein, Anton Leuski, and David Traum received the Best Paper Award at the 24th Florida Artificial Intelligence Research Society Conference (FLAIRS-24) held in Palm Beach, Florida,…

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Wall Street Journal Features ICT’s Virtual Reality Therapy for PTSD

The Wall Street Journal highlighted technology developed by Skip Rizzo, ICT director of medical virtual reality, which uses virtual reality simulations to help treat Iraq veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder…

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New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, CNN and More Feature ICT MxR Lab’s Gmail Motion Video

Continuing coverage of the April 1 video out of Mark Bolas’ MxR Lab here at ICT that turns Google’s Gmail Motion spoof into a working prototype…

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Watch ICT MxR Researchers Make Gmail Motion Work, Read Press Coverage

Evan Suma and the folks in Mark Bolas’ MxR Lab put together this demo illustrating how to make Read More »


Paul Debevec and Andrew Gordon Recieve Promotions at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering

Paul Debevec, associate director for graphics research at ICT, has been named a full research professor in the Computer Science department at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.
The department also promoted…

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Los Angeles Times Features ICT Virtual Patients Deployed to USC School of Social Work for Training

A story in the Los Angeles Times explains how ICT-developed virtual patients are being used to train clinicians at the Read More »


ICT Researchers Win Best Tech-Note Award at IEEE Symposium on 3D User Interface

A paper from Evan Suma, David Krum and Mark Bolas of ICT’s MxR lab received the Best Tech-Note Award at the IEEE Symposium on 3D User Interfaces…

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ICT Second Life Project Wins Award at 2011 Federal Virtual Worlds Challenge

Congrats to ICT’s VIGOR team on their 2nd place win in the Patterns of Life category of the Federal Virtual World Challenge.

ICT’s Jacki Morie, Dusan Jan and Anton Leuski accepted the award…

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ICT’s Morteza Dehghani and David DeVault Named USC Viterbi Research Assistant Professors

The Computer Science Department of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering appointed Morteza Dehghani and David DeVault to research assistant professor positions. Dehghani works as a member of the Virtual Humans team at ICT where…

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Variety Features Use of High Dynamic Range Imagery in Films Up for Best Visual Effects at the Oscars

An article on the films nominated for best visual effects at this year’s Academy Awards focused on the visual effects supervisors’ use of high dynamic range imagery, or HDRI, as a key to achieving the…

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ICT is Accepting Applications for our 2011 Summer Intern Program

ICT offers select interdisciplinary paid internships for creative and technical students wishing to pursue careers in simulation, interactive media and virtual reality fields. ICT’s mission is to create compelling immersive systems for effective learning…

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ICT Researchers Earn Best Paper Award

ICT’s Patrick Kenny and Thomas Parsons received a best paper award at the I/ITSEC 2010 Conference in Orlando, Florida. Their paper, Emerging Concepts and Innovative Technologies: Virtual Patients for Virtual Sick Call Medical Training, received…

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Skip Rizzo Talks about VR Treatment for PTSD on Federal News Radio

Federal News Radio featured ICT’s virtual reality simulations to help treat Iraq and Afghanistan veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). “By confronting the traumatic memories you’re actually processing them in…

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