The University of Oregon’s Immersive Media Research & Education Lab
Immersive media represents a spectrum of emerging storytelling platforms: augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and virtual reality (VR). Together, these extended reality (XR) platforms enable communicators to create interactive experiences where audiences participate rather than observe. The Oregon Reality (OR) Lab is a multidisciplinary teaching and research space where we approach these technologies as powerful communication tools and equip students with the skills to strategically and ethically leverage immersive storytelling for positive social impact.
Based at the University of Oregon’s Portland campus, the lab supports courses, development, and research focused on human-centered immersive communication. Students learn to create immersive storytelling projects, from interactive 3D environments and 360-degree videos to branded AR and VR applications, while studying how these platforms help inform, persuade, and address social, environmental, and business challenges.
What Can You Do in the Oregon Reality Lab?
Immersive Storytelling & Journalism
Design interactive worlds, 360° narratives, and spatial storytelling experiences that place audiences inside real-world issues. Projects explore how immersive media can deepen public understanding and engagement.
Augmented Reality & Brand Experience
Develop augmented reality campaigns and experiential media projects that merge creative strategy with emerging technology. Work in this area examines how immersive platforms shape audience interaction across communication contexts.
XR Research & User Experience
Investigate presence, empathy, and human behavior in virtual environments through applied research and experimentation. Faculty and students study how immersive experiences influence perception, learning, and decision-making.
Interactive Media Production & Spatial Design
Build WebXR and real-time 3D experiences using tools common in immersive media production. These projects combine creative design with technical fluency in spatial computing environments.
OR Lab Offerings
The OR Lab is a hub for experiential learning in immersive media within the School of Journalism and Communication. Through workshops, select master’s-level courses, hands-on research opportunities, industry collaborations, and special events, students and faculty engage directly with emerging XR tools, production pipelines, and immersive research environments.
The lab provides a collaborative space where the community can experiment, prototype, and explore the potential of immersive media through real-world applications.
Classes and workshops offered in the OR Lab include:
- Mobile AR Development
- 3D Asset Creation
- XR Project Management
- VR Development
- Spatial Design
Project Spotlight
Marine Conservation Through a New Lens
The OR Lab is home to Snap AR Scholars—a student-led creative agency and research initiative that teaches students to build, design, and test immersive experiences for social impact using Snapchat’s Lens Studio. The team worked with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to design, develop, and evaluate an AR experience to help the public understand the invisible boundaries and ecosystems of the Otter Rock Marine Reserve.
State-of-the-Art Equipment, Software, and Spaces
The OR Lab gives students access to the professional immersive media tools found in creative studios, research labs, and media organizations, including:
- Dedicated spaces for AR/VR development and user testing
- Motion capture (MoCap) tools, including a Rokoko 9DoF Body Suit and a Sony Mocopi Sensor system.
- Augmented and virtual reality hardware, including Meta Quest headsets, VIVE Focus Vision headsets, and AR smart glasses (Snap Spectacles)
- State-of-the-art gaming PCs with AR/VR development software including Lens Studio, Unity 3D, Unreal Engine, Gravity Sketch, and more
These tools support skills in spatial storytelling, user experience testing, interactive design, and immersive production pipelines.
Industry Collaboration
OR Lab x HTC Viverse
The Oregon Reality Lab and Old Hara Studios collaborated with Kelly Sutherland, UO professor of biology, and HTC VIVERSE to create VESL (Virtual Excursions for Science Learning), a WebXR experience based on marine biology research cruise funded by the University of Oregon Environment Initiative. In this social virtual reality (VR) simulator, users take the role of a marine biologist on a Pacific Ocean expedition, studying marine food webs with the same instruments and scientific processes used on real research cruises.
Launch the immersive WebXR experience in your browser.
Meet the OR Lab Team
The Oregon Reality Lab team studies how immersive experiences influence understanding, empathy, and decision-making—shaping best practices for journalism, education, and public communication.
