Technology Transfer

NASA, College to Advance Virtual Reality

A SPACE ACT AGREEMENT SIGNED BETWEEN NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and Calhoun Community College in Decatur, Alabama, is establishing a cooperative effort to advance the current knowledge base and development of virtual reality and visualization skills and examine emerging technologies in that area.

Marshall's technical facilities and accrued expertise in the virtual reality and visualization skills field, coupled with similar facilities, interests and capabilities at the college, will advance the infusion of federally developed technologies into the public and private sectors and facilitate the development of new products. This will provide greater employment opportunities and enhance prosperity regionally and nationwide.

The partnership's goals are to advance human-machine interfaces and collaboration and to encourage interactive design and simulation techniques through the design and conduct of research and development projects in the area of virtual reality and visualization technologies. The work will seek to identify a common core of skills for visualization technicians and researchers in multimedia applications, virtual reality, image processing, visualization equipment application, geographical information systems application, illustration, two- and three-dimensional CAD/CAM modeling, simulation and remote sensing.

The agreement identifies specific skills for both Marshall and Calhoun Community College. Calhoun will establish working relationships and identify opportunities with Marshall to facilitate the transfer of NASA's virtual reality technologies to the public and private sectors through government grants, educational projects and specific tasks. The college will develop virtual reality and visualization educational projects based on technical performance requirements identified by Marshall and will provide test subjects for the evaluation of virtual reality research technologies and visualization applications.

Calhoun and Marshall will cooperate in developing laboratory applications for virtual reality and human-machine interface visualization research through the use of the college's existing and planned virtual reality facilities and capabilities. With input from Marshall scientists and engineers, selected topics and projects will be incorporated into Calhoun's curriculum, as appropriate, permitting them to be used later in Marshall's virtual reality and visualization activities.

Marshall agreed to keep Calhoun informed of new virtual reality and visualization technologies as they are developed by NASA and its contractors. Whenever possible, these will be made available for the development and enhancement of virtual reality and visualization technologies and applications at Calhoun.

Marshall scientists and engineers will advise and support Calhoun in defining laboratory hardware and software environments as well as educational/skill domains for the development of virtual reality and visualization educational programs and projects. Marshall will also provide Calhoun's faculty and students with access to the center's virtual reality and visualization facilities and personnel, whenever possible, for cooperative research and development of virtual reality applications and skills development studies.

For more information, contact Steven R. Jones at Marshall Space Flight Center.
Call: 256/544-4373, Fax: 256/544-3151, E-mail: steve.jones@msfc.nasa.gov
Or contact Dr. Sue Mitchell at Calhoun Community College.
Call: 256/306-2655, E-mail: sue@calhoun.cc.al.us
Please mention you read about it in Innovation.

Marshall Space Flight Center will share its virtual reality research, facilities and personnel with an education partner to infuse emerging technologies into both the public and private sectors.