Immersive Media Specialist

Location: College Park, Maryland, U.S.A.

Position Details:

Link to official posting.

The University of Maryland seeks an ambitious, skilled and hands-on manager to fulfill a foundational role in the development of a newly-formed major at the university. The Immersive Media Design program bridges the disciplines of computer science with fine arts and design in a sustained and substantive manner and incorporates elements of Digital Fabrication, Augmented and Virtual Reality, Interactive Installation, Projection Mapping, and Real-time Performance, among other diverse practices. Students within the program will be charged with developing works of creative technology across a large spectrum of media. These projects will incorporate practices in making, computer science, digital media, and the fine and applied arts, and include novel works which blend media fluidly and require inventive amalgamations of technology, fabrication and art and design practices.

The successful candidate for this position should have a diverse background in technology and the arts bridging the disciplines of fabrication – traditional and digital – with emerging new media practices in electronics, interactivity, and real-time computing in a visual arts and design context. An ideal candidate will play a formative role in the development of this new program in several ways, including:

• Supporting faculty, staff and administrators in the acquisition, operation and maintenance of a diverse array of fabrication and production equipment involved in the production of immersive media projects.
• Develop appropriate guidelines and practices for faculty, staff and students regarding the proper use of the equipment and facilities housed within studio and production spaces servicing the major.
• Provide input and advice to faculty, staff, and administrators regarding emerging practices within the field to plot forward-looking strategic plans which anticipate future developments in the field.
• Guide and train students, faculty and staff within the major as to the safe and effective use of the fabrication and production equipment housed in facilities servicing the major and in support of student projects and faculty research.
• Manage student staff and student volunteers to help support facilities within the major.

Required qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in appropriate discipline
• Experience in the creation of technological creative works in fields such as digital fabrication, AR/VR production, creative coding, motion capture, circuit building, lighting and projection design, video and audio recording, or other art/design related fields.
• Experience developing, implementing and establishing safety and training procedures for departmental labs and equipment, focusing on production and fabrication facilities.
• Experience developing strategies for equipment maintenance, and equipment acquisition/replacement for production or fabrication facilities which are highly dependent on new and emerging technologies.
• Experience working in a team environment
Strong interpersonal written and oral communication, organization and management skills.

Preferred qualifications:

Expertise in at least four of of the following, with experience in additional areas preferred:
• Digital Fabrication
• Microcontroller programming and related circuit design
• CAD software (Rhino, Fusion 360, etc)
• CAM software, processes and equipment
• AR/VR production environments or other real-time computer graphics authoring solutions. (Unreal, Unity, etc)
• System administration for high powered workstations running Windows
• System administration for Mac, Linux or compute servers
• Projection mapping technologies
• Motion capture, volumetric video and 360 video and audio recording and editing
• Programming and software development for physical computing.
• Experience teaching and working with students in both formal and informal settings.
• Supervisory experience in a college/university setting.
• Experience producing and exhibiting creative works in the fields of Art, Design or other related creative endeavors

About UMD:

Founded in 1856, University of Maryland, College Park is the state’s flagship institution. Our 1,250-acre College Park campus is just minutes away from Washington, D.C., and the nexus of the nation’s legislative, executive, and judicial centers of power. This unique proximity to business and technology leaders, federal departments and agencies, and a myriad of research entities, embassies, think tanks, cultural centers, and non-profit organizations is simply unparalleled. Synergistic opportunities for our faculty and students abound and are virtually limitless in the nation’s capital and surrounding areas. The University is committed to attracting and retaining outstanding and diverse faculty and staff that will enhance our stature of preeminence in our three missions of teaching, scholarship, and full engagement in our community, the state of Maryland, and in the world.