The “Hidden Figures” Of Spatial Computing

Spatial computing is a new field of technology that combines new advances in software, hardware, information and connectivity – enabling humans to interact and communicate in new ways with each other and with technology, as well as gives machines the capabilities to navigate and understand our physical environment in new ways. It expands computing into everything we can see, touch and know, and women will play a very important role in the evolution and expansion of computing.

Before we know it, Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day 2024 will have come and gone, and companies will have moved on from updating their social media channels to show their “support” for women in their industries – just another month or date on the marketing department’s calendar. On a recent flight back from Mobile World Congress, where I did a keynote on spatial computing and AI and spoke at the Female Quotient’s Equality Lounge, I decided to rewatch the 2017 film Hidden Figures.

If you watched the movie or read the nonfiction book, you probably now know the story of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson. These three Black women worked at NASA and served as the brains behind many of the Space Race missions, such as the launch into orbit of astronaut John Glenn.

In the movie, Taraji P Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monáe play the leading roles. They were often referred to as human computers. Human computers, most of whom were women, were considered junior to the engineers whose computational work they produced. It took 76 years for their story to become a book and a movie.

Rewatching the movie, after having done a keynote at a major tech event in a world dominated by mostly men in the tech field, I was able to finally put into words what I’ve been feeling and seeing for many years.

Society stands on the cusp of a new computing revolution in 2024. Fueled by the recent developments in Generative AI and the launch of new hardware like the Apple Vision Pro and the Meta Quest 3, we are all about to begin a transition as transformative as mobile computing was. The mobile transition, let’s admit it, brought with it great opportunities and growth for women but also great challenges and negative consequences, many of which have negatively impacted women.

In recent months, we’ve seen AI take over almost all of the tech headlines, but multiple publications have posed the question: Where are the women in AI?

In a juxtaposition, the gender gap in tech jobs is narrowing across advanced economies, according to the Financial Times. But as a woman working in tech for almost a decade, who is popularly known in tech circles as the Godmother of the Metaverse, I see that the reality is somewhere in between.

Here are some interesting statistics about women in tech and science to help you understand the reality of women like me who work in STEM:

As I write this, I write it from a place of immense privilege. I have accomplished success in tech despite being a woman, where the odds were never in my favor as a Latina woman. I have succeeded because of my hard work, grit, luck, being in the right place at the right time, instinct, and most importantly because of the hidden figures that came before me. The women who have done the work, have blazed the trail (as cliche as that sounds) and have made it easier for someone like me to be seen as a leader.

Many women have made essential contributions to the future of technology. These women should neither be hidden nor unsung. They are often not given the place they deserve next to tech billionaires, sci-fi authors, and hip theorists. Let’s celebrate them now, at the dawn of this new computing era which is just beginning. I urge us as a society not to wait for 70 years to pass to make a motion picture about them, their struggles, and their contributions.

Here are five women whom I personally admire and who I see as the women who helped kick off this new era of spatial computing. This list is not exhaustive, but I think it’s a place to start.

In 2007, de la Peña founded Emblematic when she realized she could tell stories in a more meaningful way with virtual reality. For almost two decades, Nonny de la Peña used VR to create a new medium of storytelling. Her company used “room-scale virtual reality environments that place the user at the scene of the story, allowing them to move through the action.” De la Peña calls VR an “empathy machine” and was crowned by the tech industry as the Godmother of Virtual Reality.

De la Pena hired Palmer Luckey, the founder of Oculus VR (bought by Facebook in 2014) as her intern around 2012. “What if I could present you a story that you could remember with your entire body and not just your mind?” de la Peña asks in her 2015 TEDWomen Talk. De la Peña built her own VR headset to push the boundaries of storytelling and create a higher-end setup. In 2024, de la Peña won the XR Guild Award as Visionary Laureate for her “groundbreaking work is a beacon of innovation in immersive journalism.”

She is currently the Founding Director of the Center for Emerging Media and Narrative at Arizona State University. At Emblematic, de la Pena and her team created Reach.Love, a no code solution for anyone to make immersive content.

Look up Dr. Carolina Cruz Neira and you’ll probably recognize her work. Cruz Neira created the Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE) system in 1992. It’s a room-sized cube that’s a fully immersive environment. Her work on CAVE led to industry standards for VR and interactive visualization across businesses, government, and academia. CAVE systems are still used for training, storytelling, and visualizing data in real-time.

Dr. Cruz Neira is an Agere Chair Professor at the University of Central Florida, where she researches virtual reality systems, simulations and training, and emerging visual data analytics. “In sciences like biology, chemistry, astrophysics or mathematics [CAVEs] allow users to experience three-dimensional structures, concepts and data and exploration of worlds that are too small, too large, too hostile or just plain impossible in ways that support faster and more complete understanding,” Cruz Neira said when she joined UCF to bring the cutting-edge tech to students.

Evelyn Miralles is known as a Chief Engineer at NASA Johnson Space Center for her work in the advancement of Human Spaceflight Exploration. In 1993, Miralles designed and co-wrote the VR graphics software system, “Dynamic Onboard Ubiquitous Graphics (DOUG). The VR is used to train astronauts for spacewalks and prepare them for working in micro-gravity environments. Astronauts have used her programs to train for over 25 years. Miralles was presented the “Silver Snoopy” award by the Astronaut Crew Office for her contributions to flight safety and mission success. Miralles also designed the structure and work steps for astronauts in The International Space Station program.

In 2016, Miralles was named one of the BBC’s Top 100 Inspirational Women in the World. And CNET’s Top 20 Most Influential Hispanics in Technology in 2015 and 2016. Miralles served as the Associate VP for Strategic Information Initiatives and Technology at the University of Houston-Clear Lake from 2019-2022. There, served as an executive advisor for the engagement of new programs and external partners in emerging technologies supporting education. In 2023, Miralles became the CEO of XPLORATION, a consulting company that works at the intersection of aerospace, technology, and education. Some of the cutting-edge work Miralles does at XPLORATION is advancements in data analytics, AI, and blockchain for the Earth and beyond.

Mary Spio got her start in technology as a deep space engineer. From there, she founded Gen2Media to create engaging user experiences in online video, search, and social media. Next, Mary Spio founded Next Galaxy Corp in 2010 to develop dynamic and innovative AR and VR experiences for consumers. In 2015 Spio’s company, “partnered with Nicklaus Children’s Hospital to develop virtual reality medical instructional software for procedures like cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), nasal gastric tube insertion, Foley catheter insertion, intubation, starting an IV, wound care, and the Heimlich maneuver.” A year after the VR training, the hospital saw 80% retention vs. 20% retention with traditional training.

In 2016, Spio founded CeekVR, a blockchain-based streaming platform connecting music, sports, and communities through a VR app. CEEK’s latest partnership is with Apple. CEEK is available on the Apple Vision Pro as a way to experience education and entertainment. CEEK is also partnered with Meta and Microsoft. CEEK’s partnerships are key to their goal to make the $CEEK Token the defacto token for digital stream usage verification and global payments. Spio’s work goes beyond CEEK. She served on Facebook’s Oculus VR for Good board. She serves on boards for Amazon Launchpad, Scientific Reviewer, and DOD (CDMRP) US Dept of State Speaker.

Dr. Morie got her start in computer in the mid-1990s when she started a comprehensive computer animation training program at Walt Disney Feature Animation. Earlier in her career, she combined art, technology, and special effects at studios Rhythm and Hues. Dr. Morie is the founder and Chief Scientist of All These Worlds, a company that uses VR to deliver meaningful experiences that enrich people’s lives. At All These Worlds, Dr. Morie and her team work with NASA “to develop virtual worlds for long duration space flight missions to provide future astronauts relief from the social and psychological isolation such missions entail.” Dr. Morie founded USC’s Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT). She spent 13 years there as a Senior Research Scientist. Dr. Morie was featured on a panel, Portraits of Practice: Trailblazing Realities: Female Pioneers in the History of Virtual Reality.

Dr. Morie’s passion lies in creating emotionally evocative VR environments. She invented a scent collar to bring the power of smell to VR experiences. She also developed two types of functions for VR like multiple sensors and feedback systems. In 2022 Dr. Morie was awarded the Accenture Lifetime Achievement Award for her work in Virtual Reality.

The Future of Women in Spatial Computing

These are only five amazing women who should be celebrated, but we all know many more women have pioneered. The list I share here with you is of some of the women that I personally celebrate and recognize as having paved the way for me to succeed. Some of them have become my friends and mentors, others I admire from afar, but they are all equally deserving.

I hope that as we all start to see glimpses of the future of computing we embrace these women, putting their accomplishments and creations at the forefront, as we build on that technology to take us into the future.

I hope we won’t wait 70 years to read about them in a book or see them played by major Hollywood stars on the silver screen. Let’s bring forward the “hidden figures” in computing today and every day, not just during International Women’s Day. Now that I’ve spoken my peace, I’m off to brainstorm who should be cast as de la Peña, Miralles, Spio, Morie, and Cruz Neira in the film adaptation of this piece.