[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 50 (Tuesday, March 18, 2025)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E221]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 HONORING DR. CAROLINA CRUZ-NEIRA AS A DISTINGUISHED LEADER IN CENTRAL 
                      FLORIDA FOR WOMEN'S HISTORY

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. DARREN SOTO

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 18, 2025

  Mr. SOTO. Mr. Speaker, Dr. Carolina Cruz-Neira, a University of 
Central Florida faculty member and member of the National Academy of 
Engineering, is a pioneer in the areas of virtual reality (VR), 
interactive visualization, and digital twins. Her innovations have been 
instrumental in facilitating data analysis, decision-making, design 
reviews, and training and education. Her work evolved into standard 
tools used in industry, government, and academia. She is known 
worldwide for being the creator of the CAVE VR system, for transferring 
research into practice by spearheading Open-Source initiatives, and for 
supporting entrepreneurial initiatives to commercialize research. She 
is recognized for founding successful applied research centers: the 
Virtual Reality Applications Center at Iowa State University, the 
Louisiana Immersive Technologies Enterprise, and the Emerging Analytics 
Center at the University of Arkansas. Her research leadership has 
received recognition from major companies for increasing product safety 
and improving design and production processes that have saved time, 
lives, and millions of dollars. She enjoys intersecting her research 
with the arts and the humanities through dance performances and museum 
installations. She has been named among the top innovators in virtual 
reality and one of the top three greatest women visionaries in VR. She 
is the first person inducted into the National Academy of Engineering 
for immersive technologies and virtual reality, she is a member of the 
IEEE VR Academy, an IEEE Fellow, an ACM Computer Pioneer, an AWE XR 
Hall of Fame member, and a Modeling and Simulation Hall of Famer. She 
received the IEEE VR Achievement Award and the International Digital 
Media & Arts Society Distinguished Career Award, among many national 
and international recognitions. She serves on national and 
international technology boards as well as government technology 
advisory committees. Her life's work addressing large problems through 
interdisciplinary teams has become a key to innovation and is 
considered standard practice in driving American competitiveness in the 
global economy.

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