Big news! Four UM projects have been nominated for the 2025 AWE Auggie Awards!!! For those who don’t know, the Augmented World Expo® Auggie Awards are the most globally recognized AR & VR industry award. We are thrilled!

The annual Auggie Awards have been the most recognized AR & VR industry awards in the world since 2010. Now in their 16th year, the Auggies continue to showcase the best of the best in augmented, virtual and mixed reality. As the XR industry grows, so too does AWE, along with the opportunity to further recognize outstanding AR/VR achievements with the Auggie Awards—2025 saw a record number of nominations. Winners will be presented with a prestigious Auggie Award (pictured above) at the Auggie Awards Ceremony taking place this year on June 11 at AWE USA 2025 in Long Beach, California. School of Communication Sr. Project Manager of XR Initiatives Thomas Merrick will make the journey, and . . . (fingers crossed) be there with those who win! Here are all the nominations by category.

Congratulations on being nominated to all who took part in creating these exciting projects:

BPEIverse: Immersive Vision Suite 

Best Education & Training Solution Category

A virtual reality simulation of a hospital tailored for Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, designed for medical professors and students to engage in interactive classes and learn how to operate costly equipment within a virtual environment.

Client: Bascom Palmer Eye Institute (BPEI)

Team: João Ribeiro (XR Architect + XR Consultant), Christiana Domosaru (Architect), Nefele Talavera (Architect), Sofia Perez-Baux (Project Manager), Maggie Dobra (Project Manager), Cassandra Swilley (3D Artist), Sebastian Gutierrez (3D Artist), George Elliot (3D Artist), Bryson Rudolph (Technical Lead)

 

Collection Connections

Reimagines the museum experience through augmented reality, allowing visitors to unlock hidden layers of meaning behind artworks, discovering visual details, symbolism, and stories typically accessible only to art historians. Read More

Principal Investigators: Karen Rose Mathews, Ph.D. (Dept. of Art and Art History), Christopher Mader (Frost Institute for Data Science and Computing)

Team:  Titus Biel (Developer), Maggie Dobra (UX/UI Designer and Student Project Manager), Zubaer Chowdhury (Past Developer)

 

The Golden Age of the Jews of Al-Andalus

Best Location-Based Entertainment Category

This project centers around adding an immersive mixed reality component to a curated physical exhibition that invites visitors to explore the daily life of Jews in the Iberian Peninsula.  By donning a headset, a visitor’s environment is transformed into a reconstructed medieval synagogue, overlaid on top of the physical environment.  Users can interact with others, including those that are not physically present, and even speak with an AI avatar of the philosopher Maimonides.

Principal Investigators: Shai Cohen, Ph.D. (Dept. of Modern Languages and Literatures), Tom Merrick (Dept. of Interactive Media)

Team:  Nefele Talavera (Architect), Chris Eagar (Project Manager), Kayleen Ramirez (Developer), Bryson Rudolph (Technical Lead)

 

Temikki Garden

A mobile AR application to promote the emotional well-being of children during long hospital stays. Children can build, modify, and play in a living virtual garden while being reminded of their accomplishments.

Principal Investigator: Neri Garcia (Dept. of Strategic Communication)

Phase 2 Team: Stefanie Yaegel (Developer), Kai Binatti (Developer), Fiore (3D Artist + UX/UI Designer), Eva Fiore (UX/UI Designer), Josh Fenner (Audio Engineer), Chris Eagar (Project Manager), Rachel Farinas (Project Manager), Mia Uy (Project Manager), Bryson Rudolph (Technical Lead)

Phase 1 Team: Esha Mehta (Developer), Natalie Garcia (UX/UI Designer), Asha Wills (3D Artist), Paulina Fiore (3D Artist), Cassandra Swilley (3D Artist), Jared De Monteiro (Developer), Sofia Perez-Baux (Project Manager), Maggie Dobra (Project Manager), Bryson Rudolph (Technical Lead)