Written by Amanda Delio
This past summer, Professor Nandhini Giri has been busy planning a study abroad program for May 2024. Working with the Office of Globalization, Professor Nandhini was awarded an exploratory grant to visit India. Giri created Partnership with researchers at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai and Hyderabad centers for collaborative research projects and study abroad program opportunities. Giri also partnered with IMAGE - India's Center of Entrepreneurship for gaming, VFX, animation, computer vision and AI and a part of the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI). The first idea of going back to India was to look at what the educational institutions were doing in animations, games, and VR.
She started where the industry was born in India, within Mumbai at the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, to meet faculty and students in their animation studio, interactive games, and user experience facilities. Upon meeting faculty, she was invited to master’s thesis project presentations. Professor Giri seemed pleased to go through students work involving immersive and interactive graphics experiences and supply feedback.
While in India she reconnected with Studio Eeksaurus, which prides itself on taking normal ideas and making them out of the ordinary.
Visiting for half a day, she found them doing wild things, like creating animation using traditional and contemporary technology platforms to bring local narratives to life. The studio’s founder and creative director is currently nominated to be a creative mentor for Unreal Engine’s Shorts India Program. He recently won a national award for his short film based on his 94-year-old father. She spent her time talking with him and other artists about ideas and options for the study abroad program to come visit the studio.
In Hyderabad, the Indian Institute of Technology (a newer school) focuses on animation, games, and product design. The faculty that Professor Giri met had a wide variety of specializations. One faculty member had his own animation/illustration series based on his son’s imagined universe. They had a faculty meeting with research talks and planned a trip to IMAGE COE, Green Gold Animation, and other mobile gaming studios. Professor Giri partnered with researchers from Texas A&M and IIT, Hyderabad to conduct a workshop at IIT for professionals and students on the topic of Mind-Body-Space: Tangible Computing in Extended Reality.
Faculty research projects include a field trip around Hyderabad virtually to see the ancient city’s architectural structures that have been captured using photogrammetry. They also have projects where they are adopting rural villages and then supplying headsets for the students for games and VR education.
Hyderabad, a very ancient city, was once known as the city of pearls. Now, it’s identified as an entrepreneurship space. It is the government’s initiative to expand on media and entertainment here.
During Professor Giri’s stay she met young startup companies that shared their funding strategies with her. One group recently graduated undergraduate students already making games with Indian mythology content. While visiting a mobile game studio, Professor Giri met a board member for the game developers conference for India. Visiting with other studios, they collaborated about workshops and possible research for the trip.
Professor Giri has also received a seed grant from CGT that she will use to create modules for the student’s pre-departure to enhance the intercultural competencies and reduce anxiety and uncertainties that may arise. In this VR game, the student will go to an Indian studio and have opportunities to gain knowledge about Indian décor, what hand gestures mean, and how people dress in the studio. Professor Nandhini has said it’s been a lot of integration of research and teaching, which is precisely what she’s passionate about.
Written by: Amanda Delio