The VR/AR Association Alabama Chapter Welcomes Esteemed Advisory Board Members

The VR/AR Association Alabama Chapter Welcomes Esteemed Advisory Board Members

The Alabama Chapter of the VR/AR Association (VRARA) is proud to announce the appointment of distinguished professionals, from across the state, to its Advisory Board in 2025. This diverse, energized group of leaders from across the state will play a pivotal role in advancing the adoption, innovation, and impact of XR, AI, and other emerging technologies on the multi-regional chapter.

The Advisory Board comprises experts from various industries, including education, software engineering, medical & healthcare, education, government, DoD, and economic development – all who bring a wealth of experience and insight to VRARA Alabama. Their collective expertise will help shape the chapter’s strategic initiatives, foster collaboration, and drive awareness of immersive technologies in business and community development.

"Listen, we’re thrilled to welcome such a dynamic and accomplished group of individuals to our Advisory Board," says Nathan Klose, President of VRARA Alabama and Chief Creative at Integration Innovation, Inc (i3) in Huntsville, AL. "I can’t stress that enough. From Auburn, Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, Huntsville – and more, as additional cities join up – this group’s leadership and vision are gonna place Alabama on the map for innovation in XR, AI, digital engineering, entertains, education, training, and more."

Meet the Advisory Board Members:

In the Board Constitution, it’s noted that

… [t]he intent of the VRARA Alabama Chapter is radically welcoming members from a wide array of fields, such as industry, commercial, academia, and government, from major cities around the state …

and each member brings a unique perspective and deep expertise to this effort:

Ali Sattari, Chipper Atkins, Jose Flores, Melissa Mancini, CYNTHIA “TIA” FERGUSON, Cori Perdue, Liv Weaver, Sam Neblett, Cameron Wichael, Jake Bolton, Matthew Meko & Shawndra Bowers

For more information about VRARA Alabama and its initiatives, visit our page or the president of the chapter, Nathan Klose, at alabama@thevrara.com.

Get To Know elum, i3's Commercial Training Development & Deployment Platform, at AES 2024

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama & DALLAS, Texas — With the launch of elumplatform.com this year,VRARA Alabama chapter member i3 reinforces its stake in the world's best, next-generation commercial training tools, ready to be developed and deployed within any enterprise environment. The elum platform offers immersive 3D training experiences, blending video game design with learning sciences to make training both tailored and engaging. They plan on attending AES, or Augmented Enterprise Summit, in Dallas, TX, this October (Booth #513).

"Knowledge is a right," says Tim Van Alstine, Commercial Business Lead and founder of elum. "Whether you have an existing Learning Management System or need to build a program from the ground up, elum helps you find that personalized solution. We've developed it for compatibility with more than 20 leading hardware platforms, and we're deployable on all major LMS, or Learning Management Systems. With elum, developing effective training materials and deploying them worldwide is easy for desktop, mobile, web, and XR."

elum makes integration of its capabilities smooth for CLOs and CIOs, as well. The full-featured offerings of elumStudio, elumClassroom, elumPlayer, elumCloud, and elumAnalytics provide industry-unique solutions that address the contemporary, ever-changing needs to train teams at scale.

“The kind of attendees at AES are exactly who elum is for – and they should schedule time to meet us at booth #513 or come by presentation on the future of training at the ‘Ask the Solution Providers’ panel at the main stage. From computer-based instruction hosted on Canvas to job-site augmented reality hosted on the elumCloud, elum can create the right training, the right way," adds Van Alstine. "Our virtual training is backed by trusted industries leading the way in defense, aerospace, healthcare, manufacturing, energy, automotive, and education."

Find more details about elum at AES this year by visiting their event page.

And don’t forget to check out elumplatform.com for greater details, contact info, and more about elum.

Nathan Klose appointed as VRARA Alabama Chapter President

We are excited to welcome Nathan Klose as the VRARA Alabama Chapter President!

Nathan Klose cares. He’s the Lead / Chief Creative at Integration Innovation, Inc. (i3), and VRARA Chapter President, who cares. Living in Huntsville, Alabama, Nathan’s work has touched brands like Disney, ESPN, Adult Swim, Marvel, Books-a-Million, Star Wars, Mercedes-Benz, and more. With decades of experience in his field — from interactive game-based education, serious games, and XR experiences at i3, to business strategy, branding, and strategy across industry and commerce — he’s trying to show, at every effort, that he cares.

After you’ve finished reading Nathan’s bio, he hopes you will care, alongside him and everyone else reading it, about what’s next in this emerging, wild-wild west of an industry.

“Sing it with us, y’all: sweet home, AL VRARA! Our Alabama VRARA Chapter is hyper-focused – and hyper-excited – to seek out relevant, practical intersections between immersive and emerging technology and apply it across the state. The VRARA as a whole, and the communities of practice it fosters within, represent a tried-and-true model to make this happen. We’re proud to be associated with the association, y’all. And we’re ready to see it happen at scale.”

— Nathan Klose