Our makerspace unit focused on immersive creation.
In the Spring of 2020, the VAR Lab teamed up with the Hagen History Center to bring the past to life through five interactive exhibits. The VAR Lab’s team included Dr. Chris Shelton, Marcus Jacobs, Lauren Cass, and Justin Williams. They focused on creating a unique and engaging experience for visitors to the museum. Exhibit
VAR Lab is thrilled to announce the launch of its latest immersive exhibit, "The Perry Telescope: A Virtual Perspective," at the Hagen History Center in Erie, PA. This digital companion to a display case located alongside an interactive screen features Commodore Oliver "Hazard" Perry's telescope from the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of
The Virtual Hike of the Wintergreen Gorge project was a unique opportunity for Penn State Behrend to showcase one of its local gems to the wider community. The project, which took place from February to June 2021, was the result of the Assistant Director of Alumni Relations approaching the VAR Lab at Behrend with a
A collaboration between VAR Lab and the Game Development minor’s capstone course to create a video game based on the deep history of the Behrend campus!
We are excited to announce a new collaboration of VAR Lab with the Educational Equity and Diversity Programs of Penn State Behrend. As a first step, we are working to assist with the facilitation of diversity and equity awareness of the students by offering virtual and augmented reality resources. Later on, it is our hope
In addition to VAR Lab’s ongoing “Fort LeBoeuf in VR” project, we have also partnered with a larger historical preservation effort in Erie, PA, to preserve the history associated with the Fort Presque Isle site. On the eastern edge of what is now the city of Erie, colonial French forces, then British forces, and finally
The aim of this project is to bring the history of Behrend to life using immersive reality (XR). Much of Penn State Behrend’s history is only available, through books, or by visiting the John M. Lilley Library to view the Penn State Behrend Archives. The archives offer an abundant collection of artifacts, documents, and audio/visual
VAR Lab is collaborating with La Roche University (Department of Justice, Law and Security; CSI Lab) and Mercyhurst University (Applied Forensic Sciences undergraduate program and the Forensic and Biological Anthropology master’s program) individuals at to explore the potential for (a) lidar scanning in forensic settings and (b) creating immersive educational experiences for us by forensic
Begun in the Fall of 2019, the goal of this project is to recreate Fort Leboeuf in a virtual reality environment that will be able to be used by members of the Behrend and Erie community. Fort Leboeuf was originally built in 1753 by French colonial forces to protect their northern access to the Ohio
