The Center for Academic Innovation is excited to announce our 4th annual Innovation Summit, “XR, Generative AI, and the Future of Experiential Technologies Summit.” Over two days, this event will showcase the transformative impact of extended reality, generative AI, and innovative technologies on education.
Hear from leaders in the field, including top voices from GRX Immersive Labs and Coursera on how their organizations are embracing the future of experiential technologies. During the event, you’ll join us for panels, fireside chats, networking, vendor demos, including the Apple Vision Pro, and a student showcase featuring projects spanning XR and virtual reality.
About Our Keynote Speakers
Alton Glass – Founder and Chief Executive Officer, GRX Immersive Labs
Alton Glass, a creative entrepreneur and immersive storyteller, stands at the forefront as CEO of GRX Immersive Labs, a future-forward studio powering emerging technologies to innovate storytelling, accelerate immersive education, and amplify culture. His narratives aren’t just stories; they’re experiences. Passionate about empowering others, Glass is reshaping the contours of digital storytelling, ensuring voices are heard and new perspectives are brought to life. Recognized as an alumni of the Oculus Launch Pad and Unreal Engine Virtual Production Fellowship, he co-created the immersive experience “The March” for TIME magazine, vividly recreating the 1963 March on Washington and Martin Luther King Jr.’s timeless speech. His innovative spirit was further showcased at Tribeca Immersive in “POV: Points of View,” a sci-fi VR exploration of implicit biases in AI and policing. Through “Arts Beats and Tech,” his collaboration with Verizon, he’s building bridges between creativity, technology, and learning, empowering a new generation of innovators. With each project, Glass’s commitment to empowerment and immersive storytelling aims to inspire creators to design the future. Glass’s contributions have been recognized with the Culture Creator Award for Technology and as an Accenture Breakout Star for Tech by Black Enterprise.
Mustafa Furniturewala – Chief Technical Officer, Coursera
Mustafa is a seasoned Chief Technical Officer (CTO) with a proven track record in the tech industry, particularly in product development. As an engineer, he has honed his skills in diverse areas such as Web Applications, Distributed Systems, Cloud computing, and iOS Development, all while maintaining a deep commitment to Agile Methodologies.
Presently, Mustafa is the head of the Engineering and Technology team at Coursera (NYSE: COUR), where he is leading the overall technology strategy. This includes overseeing infrastructure, engineering, services, data, security, and IT.
He is a member of the executive team at Coursera. In addition, Mustafa is spearheading the Generative AI strategy, as one of the enable innovations at Coursera.
Innovation Summits
The Center for Academic Innovation is your connection to the latest groundbreaking research, innovative educational technologies, and emerging designs and practices in digital education. Innovation Summits are multi-day events that provide an opportunity to join with leaders at U-M, other higher education institutions, and private industry to explore, be challenged, and be inspired by leaders in digital education, educational research, and extended reality technologies.
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