This spring, Digital Worlds Institute students packed their warmest winter gear and boarded a bus headed south from the Swamp to spend a snowy day in the mountains in Tampa, Fla.
Though not known for its tundra, Tampa is home to a 35,000 square-foot virtual production studio operated by Vū Technologies. Vū (pronounced “view”) specializes in all-in-one production for filmmaking and metaverse/immersive experiences using digitally rendered 3D visuals as the backdrop for live-action storytelling. The company’s client roster includes Apple, Disney, ESPN and the NFL—and Gators fans will recognize SwampVū productions for University of Florida Athletics.
In virtual production, green screens are replaced by high-resolution LED volume walls that display visual environments created on Unreal Engine, a 3D computer graphics engine that was developed for video game development in the late 1990s and has since made steady ascent in filmmaking projects like the 2023 Hollywood blockbuster, Barbie, and The Mandalorian series on Disney+.
The field trip, spearheaded by Digital Worlds lecturer Darius Brown and the institute’s new Virtual Production Club, gave UF students a chance to test drive their own creations on Vū’s state-of-the-art virtual production stages.
Nathan Lontz, a founding officer of the UF Virtual Production Club and spring ‘24 Digital Worlds alum (BA, digital arts and sciences), was on the team that designed a Florida snow day at Vū.
“We wanted to do something that was not native to Florida to sell the fact that ‘hey, you can do this anywhere,’” says Lontz. “The highlight was utilizing our own environment on the LED volume; how breathtaking it looked, even without being optimized. Just a couple college students throwing together a snowy environment and seeing how fantastic it looked on the screen.”
Justin Marlin is the institute’s associate director for student affairs and administration. His role touches every stage of the Digital Worlds student experience: starting with recruitment and admissions, to supporting student organizations and students’ academic success, internships and career counseling, and bringing the student experience lifecycle full circle via alumni engagement.
Marlin also helps facilitate on-site industry experiences like the Vū trip, which he says exemplifies the institute’s mission to give students real-world experiences in digital arts and sciences professions.
“Some students come to UF knowing ‘I'm going to major in biology on a pre-med track.’ They have the goal and the steps to get there, whereas our students are often figuring out, ‘do I want to go into animation? Do I like game design? Where do my natural propensities and strengths lie?’ That discovery aspect is so important,” Marlin says.
“The Digital Worlds Institute,” he adds, “brings programmers, artists and storytellers all under one roof. That’s the interdisciplinary mission. And with digital arts and sciences—and any of the arts disciplines—there’s a natural propensity toward learning while doing; while experiencing.”
Becoming a BADAS at the Digital Worlds Institute
The UF Digital Worlds Institute was founded in 2001 as a research venture between the College of Engineering, the College of Journalism and Communications, and the College of the Arts. It is a hub that connects the fields of technology, communication and design by seating digital arts and sciences at the fulcrum.
“Similar to how we’re seeing AI and blockchain come into higher education right now, in the early 2000s there was a huge push for digital arts and media institutes,” Marlin says. “In higher education, different disciplines would often be siloed into different colleges, departments and units. The Digital Worlds Institute was developed to bridge those gaps.”
From its inception, Digital Worlds’ founding director James Oliverio focused on developing the institute as an environment that welcomes experimentation and catalyzes interdisciplinary collaboration. Oliverio directed the institute from 2001-2023 before returning full time to the classroom, where he is Professor of Digital Arts and Science. Tim Difato currently serves as the institute’s acting director.
“Under James' leadership, the Digital Worlds Institute was established as a place where boundaries between arts, technology, and communication blur to create new possibilities,” Difato says.
“Today,” he adds, “our faculty and staff continue this mission by combining interdisciplinary education with theory, research, and practice through creative inquiry, hands-on experiential learning, industry engagement, and specialized research opportunities. This holistic approach enables our students to push the boundaries of digital innovation while developing the practical skills and experience necessary to excel in the rapidly evolving digital landscape.”
The Digital Worlds Institute offers two degrees: a Bachelor of Arts in Digital Arts and Sciences (BADAS) and a master's (MiDAS) degree. The institute also offers a digital arts and sciences (DAS) minor.
After completing core requirements, including a portfolio submission, at the end of their second year, BADAS students choose electives that orbit three focus areas: animation, experience design and production, and game design. This allows students to customize their skillset for careers in entertainment and interactive media, immersive technology and simulation, or design and visualization.
“You could divide the digital arts and sciences BA into 50 majors, which might be the natural inkling of some administrators,” Marlin says. “But we felt that if we divided into tracks and then into different degree programs, we would begin making silos within our own unit—and that's not something we want to do. Our goal is to preserve the freedom for students to explore and experience what I call ‘creative collisions’—the merging of diverse skills, ideas, and perspectives—all while fostering cross-disciplinary collaboration.”
Lontz came to UF as an out-of-state transfer student. His search for a video production program in Florida led him to the Digital Worlds Institute.
“I knew I was looking for a school that would give me the opportunity to develop a video editing career—and there are lots of film colleges and colleges with visual effects programs out there,” Lontz says.
“What brought me to Digital Worlds was that I have an interest in animation and games, as well. I was really surprised that the University of Florida had a degree that was so well-tailored to my interests. Not only does the digital arts and sciences [BA] have video production, but it also has areas covering the fundamentals of animation, game design and coding,” he says.
Lontz’s post-graduation plans are to continue building his expertise—and his résumé —in video production. He envisions blending the secondary areas of interest he pursued in his Digital Worlds electives, and in clubs like the Virtual Production Club, into his career plans.
“If I can work in aspects that merge both—like animator showcases for journalism or developing videos for Esports—I would love to work in those types of environments,” Lontz says.
‘Creative collisions’ in the classroom
Anderson Allen is a fourth-year computer science (CS) major at the Wertheim College of Engineering who came to UF to prepare for a career in video game design. He is pursuing a DAS minor at Digital Worlds. Allen is also a founding member of Gator ESports. He served as the club’s Vice President in its inaugural year in 2022-2023, and as President in 2023-2024.
“My game development classes in Digital Worlds present open-ended problems and opportunities to create and discuss,” Allen says. "If you want to do an animation project that's entirely focused on lighting, then you need to focus on the lighting lectures and figure out how to utilize what you’ve learned in the best way possible. But your friend in the same class may be working on something different, where she's entirely focused on background art and how she wants to utilize it to tell a story.”
Outside the classroom, Digital Worlds hosts ‘game jams’ where UF students team up to create a video game from scratch in 48 hours.
“Sometimes students put together groups that are only artists, or only CS majors. The games made by the artists might be visually stunning, but not fun to play—or they just might not work. And then, with the CS majors, they might be great game mechanics, but lack visual experience,” Marlin says.
The more interdisciplinary the team, Marlin says, the better the result.
The ‘home room of student involvement’and peer mentorship
“UF students are known not just for their book smarts but for being action oriented. It's a core part of who they are. Getting into UF shows you're bright, but you're also someone who's led clubs, participated in intramural sports, and been involved in so many activities,” Marlin says.
UF’s culture of student involvement has had considerable impact on Digital Worlds development since the institute’s inception. The institute launched its first master’s degree program in 2005 before building out the BADAS undergrad.
In Digital Worlds’ earliest years, Marlin says, “the grad students who were spending time here wouldn’t necessarily be digital arts and sciences students. They would come from computer science or art—from all over UF—because they were working on a project, or they had a cool idea. Here, they were able to use their craft and see it come to life in collaborative projects with the people they were meeting,” Marlin says.
Noting the impact of bringing students together outside the classroom, when the bachelor’s degree launched in 2014, Oliverio and Digital Worlds faculty helped the institute’s first undergrad students to start a social club called BADAS Society.
BADAS Society “quickly became the ‘homeroom of student involvement,’” Marlin says, where students organize social events like potlucks and pool parties, and support UF Shands Children’s Hospital by participating in the Children’s Network of Hospitals’ ExtraLife video gaming fundraiser.
As the institute grew, Marlin notes, various interest groups began to form clubs. As of 2024, Digital Worlds Institute is home to seven student clubs, including the BADAS Society, the BADAS Mentorship Program, and interest groups like the Virtual Production Club, Gator VR, Gator User Design, Gator ESports and Gator Animation.
Kelly Beaudrot, a fourth-year BADAS student with a focus in animation, says the BADAS Mentorship Program was the first student organization she joined during her first year at UF. Grace Riley (BADAS ‘23), a Digital Worlds student two years Beaudrot’s senior, worked with Marlin to launch the club in 2021.
“Grace recognized a need for people to get help preparing for their portfolio submissions at the end of sophomore year,” Beaudrot says. “She worked with Digital Worlds to make that happen by connecting lowerclassmen with upperclassmen who have been through the process. I joined, and I loved it, so I reached out to her because I wanted to help out more. At that point, Grace was doing everything on her own, so she created a shadow program where a bunch of us who had been mentees started helping out.”
Beaudrot succeeded Riley as BADAS Mentors’ President in 2023. She says the club’s cabinet now has a vice president, Jane Apostol, and a leadership team who share administrative duties.
“Last summer we did a lot of work on nailing down our core values and mission statement around ‘empowering communication, guidance, and growth.’ BADAS Mentors is very much about trying to pair people up,” Beaudrot says.
“If you’re a mentee who wants to go into game design,” she explains, “it’s about finding a mentor who’s further along in their game design journey; who knows more about the portfolio-building process and the classes you’ll most likely be taking and might know more about the career field. We try to foster an environment where they can meet up for opportunities that will benefit both the mentee and the mentor.”
Beaudrot says the BADAS Mentors are currently working to set up a “headshot workshop” where students can have professional photos taken for their LinkedIn profiles—a powerful asset for today’s job-seekers, but a step that students can sometimes overlook, or struggle to find the time and resources for, amid the flurry of exams and final project deadlines.
By arranging walk-in headshot sessions, the BADAS Mentors aim to help their peers put their best face forward as they enter the workforce.
Extracurriculars reinforce skills learned in the classroom
“I have this spiel I often give DAS students,” says Marlin, “where I equate it to being a music major. If the only time you use the instrument is when you’re in the class with your professor—saxophone, for example—you wouldn't be a very good saxophone player, right? There is a level of practice, and love of the discipline, that must go outside the classroom. That’s what we're looking for in students and what we encourage. Their activities and their interest groups and the events they put on; the field trips—these all reinforce what's going on in the classroom. It becomes a circle of learning, doing, learning, doing.”
Anderson Allen, the CS major and DAS minor, says his involvement in clubs like the BADAS Society and Gator Esports, which he helped found at Digital Worlds in 2022, as well as UF extracurriculars like Dance Marathon, have yielded valuable self-knowledge about his aptitudes beyond computer science.
Being president of the Gator Esports club, Allen says, “led me to realize, ‘hey, I'm actually pretty good at this people thing.’ I didn't think about myself that way before I got to Digital Worlds. Before going into college, I mostly thought I was going to sit in my room and program things. Being able to be like, ‘hey, let’s start something together’ and seeing that through has been one of the most impactful things that I’ve experienced since I got to UF.”
Allen also notes that working alongside Digital Worlds staff on live events like Dance Marathon at UF has helped him develop professional competencies in areas beyond his degree focus.
“I've found that people in Digital Worlds are willing to answer your questions and willing to help in ways that I haven't seen in almost any other department on campus. Ethan Tripp and Jared Crane are the operations people at Digital Worlds. They’re not professors, but both have been extremely helpful as mentors. They’ve given me advice on how to run events by utilizing their own professional experiences in event production and A/V for live events,” Allen says.
“That’s something I got an opportunity to see when I helped run sound and A/V for Dance Marathon at the O'Connell Center. Being able to work with that level of technology, and that level of production, is very interesting to me. It does seem like another pathway.”
Allen adds that there is one unexpected perk to learning the ins-and-outs of A/V production from behind the scenes in the O Dome:
“Have you ever done computer science homework on a jumbotron? It definitely makes homework more fun.”
Digital Worlds alums stay connected, support next-gen grads
The BADAS degree program that started with roughly 40 undergrads in 2014 has grown to over 300 students in 2024. Among Digital World’s Institute’s primary goals, in its second decade launching Gator grads into the digital arts and sciences professions, is to facilitate and strengthen students’ industry access points.
With a generation of BADAS and MiDAS grads now navigating the booming digital arts and sciences job sector, Marlin notes that students who are deeply engaged with their professors and mentors, peers and the extracurricular offerings at Digital Worlds not only find career success—they also return to the institute asengaged alumni who are eager to connect and share their experience with current students.
"Over the years, we've had students land roles at major game franchises and earn credits in films like the Spider-Verse Saga. Being a close-knit community where we know everyone by name makes it easier to personally connect with our expanding DAS network and alumni, inviting them to return as guest speakers or mentors for our current students," Marlin says.
Jesse Rapczak (BSDAS ‘03), who came to UF in 1999 and was a member of the institute’s first graduating class in 2003, exemplifies the “full circle” potential of the Digital Worlds student lifecycle—from student, to career success, to returning to the institute to share insights with a new generation of DAS students who are preparing to embark on their own careers.
Rapczak’s professional roster ranges from visual effects production on films like “Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed” and “Catwoman,” to serving as technical art director for Microsoft HoloLens, to developing the 2016 PC gaming blockbuster, “ARK: Survival Evolved” with fellow UF alum, Jeremy Stieglitz.
Each spring, Digital Worlds Convergence brings students, alumni, community partners and industry professionals together at the Reitz Union. Rapczak attended Convergence in 2023, where he received the institute’s first-ever Career Achievement Award.
The Convergence Student Showcase is the centerpiece of the annual gathering, serving as a “reverse career fair” where students can practice pitching ideas and sharing their work in a professional setting. More broadly, it is a hub where alumni and industry leaders can connect with upcoming and recent graduates who are negotiating the space between ‘student’ and ‘professional.’
“If there’s any advice I can give you guys,” Rapczak told the institute’s graduating seniors during his 2023 Convergence visit, “it’s to keep those connections you’ve made in this program and don’t be afraid to take leaps with your work. Just because you’re making animations today doesn’t mean you can’t jump in and do something completely different tomorrow with AI. Every new piece of technology is a tool and I can’t wait to see what you all create in your careers.”
Marlin adds, "I've seen so many computer science, biology, or marketing majors who are always here because of a hobby, like video games or animation, but never thought they could make a career out of it.
“They join clubs, complete the DAS minor, and suddenly realize they love the classes and professors. Before long, they’re in our advising office. They might not completely change their major, but they complete their degree, showcase their work at Convergence, and graduate. As alumni, they return to Convergence—now as industry representatives—giving back to current students. It’s a positive cycle that keeps growing with each new class.”
Digital Worlds Convergence, field trips like the Vū Studios visit, and the burgeoning influx of student organizations that coalesce around industry-specific interests all serve a similar goal: delivering hands-on, interdisciplinary experiences and career connections that reinforce Digital Worlds classroom learning and provide students with a sturdy foundation as they enter the workforce.
“At Digital Worlds, we’re focused on helping students develop not just industry skills, but the ability to think critically, explore creatively, and collaborate across different fields. It’s about more than mastering new tech. It’s about discovering new ways to solve problems and push boundaries,” Difato says.
“By combining applied and theoretical learning with a broad, interdisciplinary approach, as well as meaningful industry collaborations, we give our students the tools to make an impact. And as a result, when Digital Worlds students graduate, they’re not just ready for a job, they’re ready to tackle the complex challenges of the 21st century’s digital age, become catalysts of innovation, and make a lasting impact in their careers and communities.”
