Nearly a century ago, Rowan University of Glassboro first opened in 1923 as a school to train South Jersey teachers. Compared to those early days, the university has grown tremendously and continues to build upon its already-pioneering attributes; specifically, the inclusion of new virtual reality technology allows for innovative experimentation in many of the university’s specialized fields of interest.
On this episode of One-on-One with Steve Adubato, show host Steve Adubato, PhD., talks with President of Rowan University Ali A. Houshmand, PhD. The discussion centers around the advancements and innovations that are happening in the fields of healthcare, environmental studies and aviation. Specifically, at Rowan’s Virtual Reality Center.
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The Virtual Reality Center at Rowan University Offers Innovative Advancements
Houshmand explained that the center “is available to all the entities within our community, not only our faculty and the students, but also the businesses, the enterprises, communities like the municipalities, like hospitals, like doctors across the river―people who want to do the kind of experimentation that is intrusive, so to speak.”
Rowan’s Virtual Reality Center is a custom-designed immersive lab that features a seven-foot-high by 40-foot-wide curved wall of screens. It provides plenty of room for people to work together on three-dimensional applications. The center also encompasses a variety of virtual reality and augmented reality head-mounted systems, as well as 3D printers. Virtual reality even provides an efficient and cost-effective way to practice medical procedures and hypotheses.
“You can’t afford to just cut somebody [on an operating table] just to see whether things work or not,” said Houshmand. “But if you have virtual reality, you can do that a hundred different times and eventually find the kind of solution that you think applies, and then take it to the real world and implement it.”
Want to learn more about how Rowan University’s Virtual Reality Center is improving education, healthcare and aviation in New Jersey? Check out this episode of One on One with Steve Adubato.
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