The University of Rochester is launching a new Center for Extended Reality and has hired a leader in the optics industry to run it.
Barry Silverstein is a University of Rochester graduate and former senior director of optics and display research at Meta. He has worked on optical engineering at Kodak, laser projection technology at IMAX, and AR and VR hardware research at Meta’s Reality Labs.
The Center for Extended Reality, known as CXR, is designed to bring together researchers to study and develop technologies that combine augmented reality, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence.
Silverstein said extended reality has potential across many fields, including medicine.
“Radiologists that are evaluating images with AI could be using AR glasses, for example, to overlay that image onto a patient as they’re seeing them,” he said.
He said universities have an important role in guiding how emerging technology is developed and integrated into society.
“The university’s interests are more holistic,” he said. “The fundamental goal of the university is research for knowledge’s sake, for humanity.”
The center will include experts in optics, data science, neuroscience, engineering, health, and the humanities. Silverstein hopes to engage those already at the university, but also researchers from Rochester Institute of Technology and other industry leaders in the region and beyond.
He hopes the center can be a catalyst for positioning Rochester to be a leader in this emerging field.
“The university is one of the strongest economic drivers in the region,” he said. “This is one of the main reasons that I'm coming back. I love the region, and I want to see it more economically viable.”
Silverstein begins his new role in January.
