Dr. Carolina Cruz-Neira has something exciting to show you.

Actually, she has several exciting innovations to show everyone–with more coming.

Dr. Cruz is an immersive technology pioneer and the creator of the original CAVE VR system: the world’s first real-time environment to allow multiple people to have an immersive experience in the same space.

And she’s about to showcase her latest projects on the exhibit floor of Augmented World Expo 2026, in Long Beach.

Those projects? A human telepresence robot, and her work with her team on AI companions! (Both of these are currently finalists for AWE’s Auggie Awards!)

For Dr. Cruz, who is the Executive Director of Pegasus Institute as well as the Interim Executive Director of UCF’s Institute for Simulation and Training, these projects are just the latest steps in nearly four decades of innovation.

An innovator’s journey

Dr. Cruz has founded multiple successful applied-research centers, spearheaded open-source initiatives, innovated digital tools used worldwide. Recently she received IEEE’s VR Lifetime Achievement Award.

Additional honors received, over the course of her career, include her induction into the National Academy of Engineering, as the first person to receive this recognition for immersive technologies and virtual reality. Dr. Cruz is an AWE XR Hall of Fame member, and in 2025, Forbes Magazine recognized her in their prestigious “50 Over 50” list.

However, she says, her current work resulted from her Plan “B” when she attended college.

Her original career aspiration: to become a classical ballerina.

To satisfy her family, who wanted her to have a more marketable degree, she studied systems engineering and computer science.

“I (could do my STEM homework super fast) to get that out of the way and get to the studio,” she explains.

From studio to research lab

But when an accident ended her dreams of a dance career, she combined her creativity and technical abilities in computer graphics work.

A chance invitation led her to discover virtual reality.

The rest is not only history–but still evolving.

“We have made tremendous progress, but…I don’t think we’re done yet,” Dr. Cruz says, of the current state of virtual and extended reality.

Dr. Cruz talked about her background, shared the story of pioneering the CAVE and offered a look at some of the emerging technologies she and her team are exploring.

(Would you like to meet Dr. Cruz and her team, and get a look at their work firsthand? They’ll be at Booth 337, on the Augmented World Expo exhibit floor. AWE 2026 runs June 15th through 18th in Long Beach.)

On this edition of Over Coffee® we cover:

• Dr. Cruz’s creative journey to her life’s work;

• What she especially enjoyed creating along the way, with computer graphics;

• How she discovered virtual reality;

• Her work on the CAVE virtual-reality system;

• A closer look at her human telepresence robot;

• Considerations on the CAVE’s affordability;

• Emerging technologies which Dr. Cruz and her team see on the horizon;

• The “wow moments” she experiences;

• What she sees coming for makers, with XR;

• Her recommendations for anyone who’d like a career in XR;

• Where to find information on where she’ll be speaking or exhibiting her work.