Institute for Creative Technologies
Encyclopedia
The Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT) is a research institute of the University of Southern California
located in Playa Vista, California. ICT was established in 1999 with funding from the US Army
. ICT was created to combine the assets of a major research university with the creative resources of Hollywood and the game industry to advance the state-of-the-art in training and simulation. The institute’s research has also led to applications for education, entertainment and rehabilitation, including virtual patients, virtual museum guides and Academy Award-winning visual effects technologies. Core areas include virtual humans, graphics, mixed-reality, learning sciences, games, storytelling and medical virtual reality.
Executive Director
Cheryl Birch
Director of Finance, Administration, and Human Resources
Kim LeMasters
Creative Director
William Swartout
Director of Technology
Lori Weiss
Director of Operations and External Relations
, Associate Director for Mixed Reality R&D
Paul Debevec
, Associate Director for Graphics Research
Jonathan Gratch, Associate Director for Virtual Humans Research
Stacy Marsella, Associate Director for Social Simulation
Albert "Skip" Rizzo, Associate Director for Medical Virtual Reality
, the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at the Keck School of Medicine
and the USC Davis School of Gerontology.
ICT also has several post-docs and hosts university-level interns each summer.
Notable researchers include:
Jacquelyn Morie
David Traum
2010 Award for Outstanding Contributions to Practice in Trauma Psychology
American Psychological Association, Division 56 for their contributions in Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for PTSD.
Jon Gratch and Stacy Marsella
2010 Autonomous Agents Research Award, ACM/SIGART for significant and sustained contributions to autonomous agents and multiagent systems in the area of virtual agents, in particular in emotion modeling and social simulation.
Paul Debevec
and collaborators Tim Hawkins, John Monos, and Mark Sagar
2009 Scientific and Engineering Academy Award®, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts for the design and engineering of the Light Stage capture devices and the image-based facial rendering system developed for character relighting in motion pictures.
Bill Swartout
2009 Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence Robert S. Engelmore Memorial Lecture Award for seminal contributions to knowledge-based systems and explanation, groundbreaking research on virtual human technologies and their applications, and outstanding service to the artificial intelligence community.”
ICT’s virtual reality exposure therapy treatment for PTSD was honored with the Best Medical Application award at the 10th Virtual Reality International Conference in Laval, France.
The Interactive 360 degree Light Field Display (3D Display) was demonstrated at Siggraph 2007, and won the award for “Best Emerging Technology.
2008, Louis-Philippe Morency is named one of “AI’s 10 to Watch” by IEEE Intelligent Systems,.
Army Modeling and Simulation Awards FY08. Distribution Management Cognitive Trainer(DMCT) and Bi-lateral Negotiation (BiLAT) Simulation.
2001, Paul Debevec receives the SIGGRAPH Significant New Researcher Award
Defense Modeling and Simulation Office (DMSO)/National Training Systems Association (NTSA) Outstanding Achievement in Modeling and Simulation Training Award given to the ICT (2000).
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
located in Playa Vista, California. ICT was established in 1999 with funding from the US Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
. ICT was created to combine the assets of a major research university with the creative resources of Hollywood and the game industry to advance the state-of-the-art in training and simulation. The institute’s research has also led to applications for education, entertainment and rehabilitation, including virtual patients, virtual museum guides and Academy Award-winning visual effects technologies. Core areas include virtual humans, graphics, mixed-reality, learning sciences, games, storytelling and medical virtual reality.
Current Management Team
Randall Hill, Jr.Executive Director
Cheryl Birch
Director of Finance, Administration, and Human Resources
Kim LeMasters
Creative Director
William Swartout
Director of Technology
Lori Weiss
Director of Operations and External Relations
Associate Directors
Mark BolasMark Bolas
Mark Bolas is a researcher exploring perception, agency, and intelligence. He is an Associate Professor of Interactive Media in the USC Interactive Media Division, USC School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California, Director of their Interactive Narrative and Immersive...
, Associate Director for Mixed Reality R&D
Paul Debevec
Paul Debevec
Paul Debevec is a researcher in computer graphics at the University of Southern California's Institute for Creative Technologies. He is best known for his pioneering work in high dynamic range imaging and image-based modelling and rendering....
, Associate Director for Graphics Research
Jonathan Gratch, Associate Director for Virtual Humans Research
Stacy Marsella, Associate Director for Social Simulation
Albert "Skip" Rizzo, Associate Director for Medical Virtual Reality
Faculty and Academics
About a dozen ICT researchers hold academic appointments at various schools and departments across USC. These include research professors, research associate professors and research assistant professors in Department of Computer Science at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, the Interactive Media Division at the USC School of Cinematic ArtsUSC School of Cinematic Arts
The USC School of Cinematic Arts, until 2006 named the School of Cinema-Television , is a film school within the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. It is the oldest and largest such school in the United States, established in 1929 as a joint venture with the Academy of...
, the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at the Keck School of Medicine
Keck School of Medicine of USC
The Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California is a major center of medical research, education and patient care. Founded in 1885, the Keck School of Medicine is the oldest medical school in Southern California.Located on the university’s Health Sciences campus three miles ...
and the USC Davis School of Gerontology.
ICT also has several post-docs and hosts university-level interns each summer.
Notable researchers include:
Jacquelyn Morie
David Traum
Selected Honors and Awards
Albert "Skip" Rizzo and collaborators Barbara Rothbaum, JoAnn Difede and Greg M.Reger2010 Award for Outstanding Contributions to Practice in Trauma Psychology
American Psychological Association, Division 56 for their contributions in Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for PTSD.
Jon Gratch and Stacy Marsella
2010 Autonomous Agents Research Award, ACM/SIGART for significant and sustained contributions to autonomous agents and multiagent systems in the area of virtual agents, in particular in emotion modeling and social simulation.
Paul Debevec
Paul Debevec
Paul Debevec is a researcher in computer graphics at the University of Southern California's Institute for Creative Technologies. He is best known for his pioneering work in high dynamic range imaging and image-based modelling and rendering....
and collaborators Tim Hawkins, John Monos, and Mark Sagar
2009 Scientific and Engineering Academy Award®, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts for the design and engineering of the Light Stage capture devices and the image-based facial rendering system developed for character relighting in motion pictures.
Bill Swartout
2009 Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence Robert S. Engelmore Memorial Lecture Award for seminal contributions to knowledge-based systems and explanation, groundbreaking research on virtual human technologies and their applications, and outstanding service to the artificial intelligence community.”
ICT’s virtual reality exposure therapy treatment for PTSD was honored with the Best Medical Application award at the 10th Virtual Reality International Conference in Laval, France.
The Interactive 360 degree Light Field Display (3D Display) was demonstrated at Siggraph 2007, and won the award for “Best Emerging Technology.
2008, Louis-Philippe Morency is named one of “AI’s 10 to Watch” by IEEE Intelligent Systems,.
Army Modeling and Simulation Awards FY08. Distribution Management Cognitive Trainer(DMCT) and Bi-lateral Negotiation (BiLAT) Simulation.
2001, Paul Debevec receives the SIGGRAPH Significant New Researcher Award
Defense Modeling and Simulation Office (DMSO)/National Training Systems Association (NTSA) Outstanding Achievement in Modeling and Simulation Training Award given to the ICT (2000).
Army Affiliation
ICT is an Army University Affiliated Research Center (UARC). The contract is managed by the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command’s Simulation Training Technology Center (RDECOM STTC).See also
- United States Army Simulation and Training Technology CenterUnited States Army Simulation and Training Technology CenterThe United States Army Simulation and Training Technology Center provide the United States Department of Defense and United States Department of Homeland Security with state-of-the-art applied research to develop simulation technologies, build on current simulation knowledge, and understand system...
- Immersive technologyImmersive technologyImmersive technology refers to technology that blurs the line between the physical world and digital or simulated world, thereby creating a sense of immersion.-Perception:...