Immersive Media

Immersive Media Overview

The Bachelor of Arts in Immersive Media (IMM) is an interdisciplinary program that equips students with knowledge of virtual reality and augmented reality technology, architecture, 3D modeling, game development engines, writing, and design thinking to prepare them for careers in immersive media creation. Students will blend industry-standard design practices and artistic methods with cutting-edge technology to create experiences in gaming, architecture, software, entertainment, and a variety of other industries.

Degrees Offered

Program School

School of Arts, Science & Business

Students in the immersive media program will help create the future as we push together towards the edge of where technology is going. We will find new ways to tell stories, build meaningful interactions, design new ways of doing work, and create worlds we’ve never seen. We focus on collaborative work, design thinking, inclusive and accessible design, and producing meaningful projects to make sure that when you leave you are ready for what’s ahead.

—DOUG NORTH COOK, assistant professor

Explore Your Options

Chatham’s immersive media program prepares students for a variety of industries and careers, including those found in game design, healthcare, entertainment, software engineering, the film industry, and more.

Explore the Immersive Media Degree:

Immersive Media faculty are committed to the principles of Universal Design, ensuring that environments and products—both virtual and physical—are accessible to everyone regardless of age, size, ability, disability, or any other consideration.
Customize your education with electives including screenwriting, interactive animation, filmmaking, sculpture, healthcare systems design, instructional design, and many more.
Students in the program have access to state-of-the-art equipment, studio facilities, expert faculty and staff, and the opportunity to work directly with faculty on research and creative projects.

Immersive Media I

Students receive an introduction to 3D modeling, programming, and architectural and design theory, and start learning the skills and technology necessary to build immersive experiences.

Studio IV - Prototyping for Advanced Systems

Students will be given the opportunity to develop immersive experiences for high-end, experimental, and prototype equipment that is only available to students in this course and later studios. Students will learn how to work with complex immersive equipment systems and early access software in a collaborative studio environment.

Fallingwater Studio Residency

As an immersive, weeklong, onsite study at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater, students develop and apply design thinking and visualization skills through the exploration and application of sustainable strategies, architectural theories, manifestos, and phenomenology. Student workflow and artifacts are the culmination of site observations, hikes, lectures, readings, discussions, critiques, and design charrettes resulting in a final project presentation.

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Our Faculty

If one word could best sum up Chatham's faculty, it would be engaged. Professors bring experiences to relate the course lessons to real-world situations.

Full Faculty

Douglas North Cook

Assistant Professor

Kyra Tucker

Chair and Program Director

Joseph Amodei

Assistant Professor of Immersive Media

Hunter Dyar

Immersive Media Coordinator and Instructor

Elizabeth Benson

Program Assistant

Jane Middleton

Adjunct Faculty

Lauren Everett

Adjunct Faculty

Building a Virtual Reality

Chatham University's immersive media program is dedicated to building immersive experiences for virtual and augmented reality that are compelling, believable, and desired by employers in a range of industries.

Photo of a student in a virtual reality machine in the immersive media lab

Access to Cutting-Edge Technology

IMM students have access to cutting edge virtual reality and augmented reality hardware, including their own VR-ready laptop and Oculus Quest 2 headset, which is theirs to keep after the program ends. The lab contains a variety of VR and AR devices from Sony, HP, Oculus, HTC, Valve, Magic Leap, Microsoft, Tilt Five, and others. Core software programs include real-time 3D game engines Unity and Unreal Engine, and students also learn Adobe Creative Cloud, Blender & Maya, a variety of creative 3D and audio tools, and a variety of programming languages including C#, C++, Python, and more.

Photo of a student wearing a purple Chatham University shirt, in a virtual reality machine, while a professor watches on

Learning in Practice

Chatham Eastside, where our program’s state-of-the-art classroom, studio, and exhibition spaces reside, is recognized as a LEED Silver renovation project that manifests sustainable design practices and uses recycled materials and energy-efficient lighting to create a green academic and social space in an urban setting.

Integrated Degree Program with MHI

Qualified IMM students who are interested in working with immersive media and virtual reality in the healthcare arena may enter Chatham’s online Master of Science in Healthcare Informatics (MHI) program as an Integrated Degree Program, taking graduate courses during senior year and saving money and speeding time to graduation with both B.A. and M.S. degrees. The MHI program blends technology and healthcare to solve problems and optimize care.

Integrated Degree Program Info

Photo of a Chatham University student in virtual reality goggles smiling

The World-Builders

The program teaches a concrete set of skills, such using computer programming to create a 3D landscape, but the aptitudes that it develops are broad and would be welcomed by any employer: solving problems, thinking logically, working collaboratively.

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Immersive Media Program Brings the Past to the Present

As a part of the program’s Serious Play course, students’ projects varied from putting the user into historic photographs to projecting holographic-like artifacts for users to examine. Students collaborated with Chatham Archivist, Molly Tighe to create experiences that help make the archives more accessible.

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Student Profile: Wayeera Robertson '22

“Since I was little, I really enjoyed drawing, and then I developed this passion to bring my drawings to life,” says Wayeera Robertson. After high school, Wayeera studied art for two years at Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC), then switched her focus to mathematics and science. “I wanted to combine art and physics,” she explains.

Read Wayeera's Story

Student Profile: Carson Custer '23

Carson Custer was only a first-year student in the Immersive Media program when his work started attracting attention outside of Chatham.

Meet Carson Custer '23