University programs aim to drive advances in healthcare industry

Savannah College of Art and Design, a private nonprofit university founded in 1978, is cultivating talented students for professional careers in multiple growing industries. Due to SCAD's cutting-edge resources and forward-looking vision, they include the healthcare profession.

SCAD's School of Digital Media is one of the university's eight schools, which all offer degree programs with innovative curriculum and advanced technologies. The School of Digital Media is home to SCAD's top-ranked degree programs in animation, immersive reality, interactive design and game development, motion media design, and visual effects.

"Our programs use industry-standard technologies and dynamic curricula to provide students with the necessary skills to succeed in their creative careers," said SuAnne Fu, SCAD chair of interactive design and game development. Fu, also a professor of immersive reality, has more than 20 years of industry experience in computing, interactive design, game development, and virtual reality technology.

"We have integrated cutting-edge technologies into our curriculum, offering flexibility, collaboration and in-depth experience in the immersive reality industry," Fu said. "SCAD allows students to explore their interests in multiple art, design, and technical concentrations."

Immersive reality is one of the newest degree programs at SCAD.Since its inception in 2018, the program has quickly become very popular with students around the world. The program focuses on the development of entertainment applications in augmented reality and VR in the gaming and film industries, to visualization and simulation in architecture, interior design, and healthcare fields.

Helen Miao, a sophomore at SCAD majoring in art history with a focus on immersive reality, said the skills she has gained have helped prepare her to step into the industry. "SCAD offers outstanding extracurricular activities to further your skills including weekend workshops, guest presentations and lectures," Miao said. "These are all valuable resources that help build our networks of knowledge."

"The current demand for AR and VR in the healthcare industry has been eye-opening," added SuAnne Fu. "In our university's innovation design studio SCAD-pro, we have worked on projects using VR for medical rehabilitation and palliative care."

"Thinking about how our final results now help patients escape their physical pain because of the immersive programs we created is so rewarding," Miao said.

In addition to the medical space, immersive reality provides entry to a diverse range of careers, including product promotion, educational simulation training, and new-use cases in multiple fields.

Katie Howarth, an SCAD senior majoring in immersive reality and visual effects, believes that limiting AR and VR to just the gaming industry is to limit vast untapped potential. "Over the next 20 years, VR will move into mainstream medical training devices and other healthcare applications as it has been proven to help reduce human error and improve quality of care services in various studies," Howarth said.

Howarth plans on a medical AR and VR career, helping others in any way she can. "One of my first VR classes opened my eyes to medical applications and the power behind the technology. I instantly fell in love with the idea and knew it was what I wanted to do in my life," Howarth said.

According to the university, for four consecutive years SCAD graduates have enjoyed a 99 percent employment rate, and are expected to contribute to multiple professional sectors.

"Many of our graduates have successfully gone into career paths in interactive design and game development," Fu said. "We have artists and designers in major game studios and large technology companies such as Google, IBM and Microsoft. We constantly hear from leaders in these companies how respected our alumni are in the workplace not only for their artistic talent, but also their professionalism, collaborative efforts and overall understanding of industry requirements. Their talents and skills guarantee them a job placement, and their ongoing passion and professionalism make them terrific 'ambassadors' for SCAD."