GOVERNMENT

Having successfully completed its first five-year mission, at a budget of $45 million, USC's Institute for Creative Technologies has received a second five-year grant, with the U.S. Army more than doubling its support to $100 million. The endowment represents the largest research grant ever received by the University of Southern California (USC), which originally partnered with the U.S. Army in 1999 to create a new generation of decision-making and leadership-development tools for troops. "This grant is a confirmation of the extraordinary work that ICT has done in its first five years," said Cornelius W. Sullivan, vice provost for research at USC. "It is also the largest research grant ever received by the university." "This would not have been possible without the commitment and support of Dr. Thomas Killion, Dr. John A. Parmentola, Dr. Neil Sullivan, and Dr. Jeffrey Wilkinson. The ICT is committed in next five years to further the research in artificial intelligence, computer graphics and immersive audio to provide more realistic, immersive and effective interactive learning systems that can have an impact upon the capability of soldiers and offer opportunities for a new kind of learning," stated Richard Lindheim, Executive Director of the ICT. "We have seen our efforts implemented at Fort Sill, our expertise utilized in the war against terrorism, and soldiers stating that ICT game-based technology has truly helped make them better and more responsible soldiers. It is a testament to the work being done at the ICT." Mixing the creative input of entertainment artists, military technology and academic researchers, the mandate of the ICT is the creation of Simulations for Interactive Learning, with elements ranging from immersive virtual reality simulators to custom-designed PC/console games. Current ICT initiatives include: FlatWorld -- a mixed reality simulation environment merging cinematic stagecraft techniques with immersive media technology, allowing individuals to walk and run freely among simulated rooms, buildings and streets TLAC-XL/CLAS -- a project that investigates the role of storytelling and interactive dialogue with virtual characters JFETS (Joint Center for Fires and Effects Integration) - a test bed for interactive learning and training technology, located at Fort Sill, Oklahoma ICT Games - Two training simulation games: Full Spectrum Command (PC) and the E3 Games Critic Award winner Full Spectrum Warrior (Xbox), which has since become a top-selling consumer game. Imbued with a high level of artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, both games contain features tailored to the Army's training methods and were developed with teaching personnel at the infantry school at Fort Benning, Georgia.