9612330 Banerjee This grant provided partial support for a symposium on virtual reality in manufacturing research and education. Virtual reality, and ability to simulate real-world situations, is playing an increasingly important role in engineering and engineering education. Improving computational capabilities will accelerate this trend. This symposium will focus on the following topicq: computational aspect of virtual reality in manufacturing, the current state of software technologies, the current state of hardware technologies, distribution and logistics in manufacturing, layout and location problems in manufacturing education, manufacturing process design, product design and prototyping, telepresence and telerobotics, and volumetric visualization. Results of the symposium will be made public by posting them on the World Wide Web and through a special issue of the Institute Engineering Transactions on Virtual Manufacturing. This symposium help to accelerate the development of virtual reality technologies and improve the quality of engineering education. This would contribute to the economic competitiveness of American industry.
