James Oliver holds the title of University Professor at Iowa State University (ISU), serves as the Pithan Executive Director of the Innovation and is the inaugural Director of ISU’s Student Innovation Center. In this role, Oliver provides overall leadership, vision and direction for the facility – including planning and implementing academic programming – and fosters engagement among students and external stakeholders. For the previous 15 years Oliver served as Director of ISU’s Virtual Reality Applications Center (VRAC), an interdisciplinary research center focused on emerging interface technologies. Professor Oliver also developed and directed ISU’s Interdepartmental Graduate Program in Human Computer Interaction (HCI) that complements the VRAC’s research mission by providing PhD, MS, and Professional Certificate degrees in HCI.
Professor Oliver’s research spans a wide array of emerging interface technologies, encompassing computer graphics, geometric modeling, virtual and augmented reality, and collaborative networks for applications in product development, complex system operation and training. Several Federal agencies, including the NSF, NASA, ONR, AFRL, US Army, as well as numerous industry partners have funded his research. Oliver is a Fellow of the ASME, holds three U.S. patents, and is the recipient of numerous professional honors and awards. In addition to his Iowa State responsibilities, Oliver co-founded BodyViz, a technology startup focused on low-cost, easy-to-use medical visualization with sales in the medical, education, veterinary and legal markets; and he formerly headed software product development for Engineering Animation Inc., (NASDAQ: EAII)
