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Virtual and augmented reality are together growing to be arguably the hottest topic in technology today. Their effect on culture has been described as anything from a new kind of cinema to a computational medium that will completely change and replace our interactions in the world as we know it. This is not the first time in history that the promise of VR has asserted itself. Is this the time that it succeeds? We've all seen analyses and projections of how big this is supposed to be but what is happening RIGHT NOW that is making virtual reality a reality?
Justin Hendrix of the NYC Media Lab and Sophia Dominguez, former Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Rothenberg Ventures, will take us on a brief tour of the VR/AR startup ecosystem here in New York City and around the world. Then, Professor Ken Perlin of NYU's Future Reality Lab will guide us on an entertaining and enlightening journey around the hype. He will be our host for a lively panel discussion on the impact of VR/AR in education, media, and medicine.
SCHEDULE 4:30 - 5:30pm: Networking & Demos 5:30 - 7:30pm: Presentations & Panel Discussion 7:30 - 8:30pm: Networking & Demos
PRESENTERS & PANELISTS Continue reading for full bios 
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Debra Anderson, Datavized Technologies
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Moty Avisar, Surgical Theater
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Sophia Dominguez, AllThingsVR
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Justin Hendrix, NYC Media Lab
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Jennifer Holland, Google
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Ken Perlin, New York University
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Resh Sidhu, Framestore
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Presenters & Panelists
 
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Debra Anderson Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at <A HREF="http://datavized.com/" TARGET="_blank" REL="noopener noreferrer noopener nofollow noopener noreferrer nofollow nofollow noreferrer nofollow">Datavized Technologies</A>, a WebVR software company building next-generation 3D immersive visualization tools for Virtual and Augmented Reality (AR/VR) platforms. Debra designs and instructs the Big Data: Consumer Research at The New School For Public Engagement, WebVR at Parsons School of Art, Media, and Technology and guest lectures at MIT, NYU, and ICP. She is Co-founder of the NY Women in VR Meetup group.
 
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Moty Avisar CEO and Co-Founder at Surgical Theater and former head of System Engineering for the Israeli Air Force. The former Israeli Air Force officer and flight simulator expert is now revolutionizing the operating room by introducing interactive surgical navigation combined with 3D virtual reality. The result is a dynamic, immersive 360-degree view based on apatient's traditional imaging including CT and MRI scans, that enhances a surgeon's situational awareness and has been utilized in more than 1,500 surgical cases to date. Prior to launching Surgical Theater, he was a member of the Israeli Ministry of Defense and worked closely with Lockheed Martin to manage the $50 million F-16 Flight Simulator program.
 
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Sophia Dominguez CEO & co-founder of<A HREF="https://svrf.com/" TARGET="_blank" REL="noopener noreferrer noopener nofollow noopener noreferrer nofollow nofollow noreferrer nofollow">SVRF</A>, the first search and discovery engine for VR content. She also founded<A HREF="http://allthingsvr.co/" TARGET="_blank" REL="noopener noreferrer noopener nofollow noopener noreferrer nofollow nofollow noreferrer nofollow">AllThingsVR</A>, a weekly newsletter that highlights the best virtual reality news and content. Previously, she was the Entrepreneur in Residence at Rothenberg Ventures and was also the first person to travel the world with Google Glass and<A HREF="http://sophiathroughglass.com/" TARGET="_blank" REL="noopener noreferrer noopener nofollow noopener noreferrer nofollow nofollow noreferrer nofollow">document</A>how people reacted to seeing and experiencing it for the first time. Sophia graduated from NYU Gallatin in 2013 with an individualized B.S. degree in How Technology Impacts Human Interaction."
 
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Justin Hendrix Executive Director of NYC Media Lab, connecting media and tech companies with NYC universities to drive digital media innovation and entrepreneurship. Previously he was Vice President, Business Development & Innovation for The Economist. He holds a BA from the College of William & Mary and an MSc in Technology Commercialization from the McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin. Follow him on Twitter @justinhendrix.
 
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Jennifer Holland After 9 years at Google in roles in Finance and Sales, Jennifer is now Program Manager of Google's Classroom and Expeditions, the company's educational VR field trip platform that can take students around the world without having to leave the classroom. Her team built both<A HREF="http://www.google.com/edu/classroom" TARGET="_blank" REL="noopener noreferrer noopener nofollow noopener noreferrer nofollow nofollow noreferrer nofollow">Classroom</A>and<A HREF="http://www.google.com/edu/expeditions" TARGET="_blank" REL="noopener noreferrer noopener nofollow noopener noreferrer nofollow nofollow noreferrer nofollow">Expeditions</A>from the ground up by prototyping and testingextensively with teachers and students in schools around the world. In addition to her core responsibilities, Jennifer also started Google Reach, a corporate volunteering program for the company. She is also the founder and director of the Community Leaders Program, a digital literacy program offered in nine cities, and is the committee lead for employee volunteering for its NYC office. Jennifer graduated from Fairfield University in Marketing and received a MBA from the University of San Francisco.
 
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Ken Perlin Professor in the<A HREF="http://cs.nyu.edu/" TARGET="_blank" REL="noopener noreferrer noopener nofollow noopener noreferrer nofollow nofollow noreferrer nofollow">Department of Computer Science</A>at<A HREF="http://www.nyu.edu/" TARGET="_blank" REL="noopener noreferrer noopener nofollow noopener noreferrer nofollow nofollow noreferrer nofollow">New York University</A>, director of the<A HREF="http://mrl.nyu.edu/" TARGET="_blank" REL="noopener noreferrer noopener nofollow noopener noreferrer nofollow nofollow noreferrer nofollow">Media Research Lab</A>, and participating faculty member at NYU<A HREF="http://magnet.nyu.edu/" TARGET="_blank" REL="noopener noreferrer noopener nofollow noopener noreferrer nofollow nofollow noreferrer nofollow">MAGNET</A>. His research interests include future reality, graphics and animation, user interfaces and education. He received an Academy Award for Technical Achievement from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his noise and turbulence procedural texturing techniques, which are widely used in feature films and television, as well as the<A HREF="http://old.siggraph.org/awards/2008/2008_CG_achievement.pdf" TARGET="_blank" REL="noopener noreferrer noopener nofollow noopener noreferrer nofollow nofollow noreferrer nofollow">2008 ACM/SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics Achievement Award</A>, the TrapCode award for achievement in computer graphics research, the NYC Mayor'saward for excellence in Science and Technology, the Sokol award for outstanding Science faculty at NYU, and a Presidential Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation. He also serves on the Advisory Board for the<A HREF="http://mdm.gnwc.ca/" TARGET="_blank" REL="noopener noreferrer noopener nofollow noopener noreferrer nofollow nofollow noreferrer nofollow">Centre for Digital Media at GNWC</A>, and is external examiner for the<A HREF="https://www.scss.tcd.ie/postgraduate/mscidm/" TARGET="_blank" REL="noopener noreferrer noopener nofollow noopener noreferrer nofollow nofollow noreferrer nofollow">Interactive Digital Media program at Trinity College</A>. Previously he served on the program committee of the<A HREF="http://www.aaas.org/" TARGET="_blank" REL="noopener noreferrer noopener nofollow noopener noreferrer nofollow nofollow noreferrer nofollow">AAAS</A>, was general chair of the<A HREF="http://uist.org/" TARGET="_blank" REL="noopener noreferrer noopener nofollow noopener noreferrer nofollow nofollow noreferrer nofollow">UIST2010</A>conference, directed the NYU Center for Advanced Technology and Games for Learning Institute, and has been a<A HREF="http://artport.whitney.org/gatepages/january04.shtml" TARGET="_blank" REL="noopener noreferrer noopener nofollow noopener noreferrer nofollow nofollow noreferrer nofollow">featured artist at the Whitney Museum of American Art</A>. Ken received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from NYU and his B.A. in theoretical mathematics from Harvard. Before working at NYU he was Head of Software Development at R/GREENBERG Associates in New York, NY. Prior to that he was the System Architect for computer generated animation at MAGI.