Virtual Reality

Return to Virginia Business - May 2001

Hampton Roads: A Special Report
Virtual Reality
Computer modeling and bioscience could put Hampton Roads on the technology map

by Garry Kranz

Using a handheld pointer similar to a TV remote control, Hector Garcia encourages his visitors to touch a graphic image. He’s using it to depict the esoteric Maxwell’s Law of thermodynamics in a real and lively way. Garcia instructs his audience to notice a specific whirl within a series of helixes, parabola and circles. Amid a hubbub of curious questions, a flurry of hands reaches out to grab — absolutely nothing. Suddenly the floor begins to sway. Or so it seems. "If you feel nauseous, just close your eyes. You’ll feel better in a second," Garcia says.

Hector Garcia at ODU's modeling and simulation center
Photo by Mark Rhodes

The scene could be something straight out of an otherworldly George Lucas epic. But this is no fiction. Welcome to the world of virtual reality at the Virginia Modeling Analysis and Simulation Center, or VMASC, at Old Dominion University in Norfolk. Despite the playful nature of the exhibition, Garcia and his fellow researchers at ODU take a serious slant on perfecting this sexy technology for practical application in a host of industries. VMASC is a centerpiece of ODU’s College of Engineering & Technology, and area leaders say it represents how Hampton Roads has emerged as a hotbed of technology transfer, not only in Virginia but also the nation.

Hampton Roads' research strenghts

NASA, for instance, is applying the technology to improve training and analyze the effects of weightlessness on humans in space. But even hamburger joints have used modeling analysis and simulation technology to study customer traffic, staffing needs and efficient store design. "This technology can be used in any industry," Garcia explains after wrapping up his demonstration. "Using a model to simulate a situation enables companies to anticipate what will happen — instead of spending a lot of money afterward to solve a problem they didn’t foresee."

Modeling analysis and simulation technology have been around for a while, says Dr. William Swart, dean of ODU’s College of Engineering and Technology. Having spent years in the private sector, including a five-year stint at Burger King Corp., Swart brings an entrepreneurial mentality to the world of academia. At the fast food firm, for instance, he used modeling analysis and simulation software to design its restaurants. That was in the early 1980s, when only companies with deep pockets could afford to hire the specialists trained in the discipline. Unfortunately, that’s still largely true today, although VMASC aspires to develop technology that is commercially viable, and affordable, for private companies.

That may change. ODU is the only school in the nation to offer a Ph. D program in modeling analysis and simulation and is one of only three schools offering a master’s program in the discipline. Swart had a hand in starting one of those other programs, at Orlando-based University of Central Florida. He hopes that programs such as ODU’s can bring sustainable economic growth to Hampton Roads. For decades, Hampton Roads has been a crucible of development of highly sophisticated weaponry and electronic control systems technologies used by the military. The dominant presence of the Navy and federal research labs, such as NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, yielded a wealth of intellectual property and an elite class of technically trained personnel who have spawned these technological advances.

But until recently, much of that intellectual property remained locked behind the gates of federal properties. Or worse, it vanished from the area as researchers, lured elsewhere by high-paying private sector jobs that Hampton Roads did not have, took their knowledge far away. Only recently have Hampton Roads technologists, educators and economic development officials awakened to the potential goldmine in their midst and begun taking steps to exploit that knowledge.

Modeling analysis and simulation underscores ODU’s strategy to develop specialized high-tech niches based on advanced research by federal labs and the Navy. VMASC and similar academic efforts are critical to commercializing potentially revolutionary technologies. Educational institutions can be effective conduits for facilitating technology transfer to the private sector. The hope is that these programs will persuade state legislators to recognize the value of allocating more money for the school’s colleges and universities. "The government and military mindsets are not very entrepreneurial, unfortunately. Most people who work at NASA generally don’t think about starting their own companies, at least not the type of high-growth, risk-taking kind. But there is a good, strong correlation between entrepreneurial growth and universities," says Martin Kaszubowski, executive director of the Hampton Roads Technology Incubator.

The Hampton Roads Partnership, an economic development coalition that represents 17 localities, is implementing a strategic plan to speed up commercialization of the intellectual property that exists in the region, especially at NASA Langley and Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Newport News. The impetus is to take advantage of an existing base of knowledge that for too long has gone untapped.

Although Hampton Roads is well known as a research hub in national tech circles, in some parts of Virginia the area still is seen as a Navy town. That kind of thinking rankles Terry Riley, executive director of the Hampton Roads Technology Council. Riley, whose organization promotes high-tech growth, blames such perceptions on state politicians. He says they have failed to provide adequate funding to help the region’s colleges and universities emerge as eminent research institutions. Linking educational research to job creation should be easy, says Riley. "Hampton Roads is the research and development capital of the commonwealth. The people in the Research Triangle [of North Carolina] understand what we’re trying to do here, while [politicians] in Richmond don’t," grouses Riley. To back his point, Riley claims that licensing revenue of products developed from intellectual property at NASA Langley is about "eight times higher than any other NASA center in the United States."

The problem isn’t just with state legislators. NASA Langley, along with other NASA properties around the nation, consistently battles federal funding cuts. Only a feverish community lobbying effort prevented Congress from permanently shutting down NASA Langley several years ago.

Regions that have benefited from rapid technology growth all had at least one thing in common: an ability to convert intelligence and ideas into job-generating products and services. "Our research and development expenditures are less than 10 percent of the Research Triangle. To some degree, all of Virginia has been lulled by the success of Northern Virginia," says Eason, even though Northern Virginia is more a focus for applications development than it is R&D. "Research and development expenditures by Virginia colleges don’t compare favorably with other areas. We want to see investments made in state colleges and universities, especially here in Hampton Roads."

How soon, and how easily, this sophisticated intellectual property gets transferred from white-coated federal lab researchers to private sector product engineers is difficult to predict. Military-related technologies generate a buzz and exciting press, but they seldom result in broadly applied commercial products. Successful translation of research into products takes years.

Hampton Roads is building the critical mass needed to spur rapid and meaningful job growth, and the wealth creation that usually follows. But the region still is finding its own way. Notes Kaszubowski: "We haven’t really found our niche yet. Maybe it’s shipbuilding. Maybe it’s advanced manufacturing. We get identified with some world-class industries, but there is no overriding theme to what we do."

Return to Virginia Business - May 2001