Thomas Tucker Creates Immersive Anatomy Tool for Veterinary Education

CHCI Member Thomas Tucker, Associate Professor in the School of Visual Arts, has developed an immersive virtual reality tool allowing users to explore a dog’s anatomy. The VR application enables veterinary students at Virginia Tech to visualize and understand the organs inside the skeletal system, as well as layers of tissue. Tucker worked with undergraduate and graduate students in creative technologies, and faculty in the College of Veterinary Medicine, and the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, to create a tool that accurately represents canine anatomy. The software will be released under an open license so that other universities and veterinarians can use the VR technology. Tucker says he hopes to develop similar tools for other animal anatomies.