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JMU X-Labs
  • About
    • About
    • Client Partners
    • Contact
    • COVID-19 Info
    • FAQs
    • News Features
    • Press Kit
    • Reports
    • Scholarly Activity
    • Glossary of Racial Equity Terms
  • Academics
    • Class History
      • Class Timeline
      • Past Classes
        • Arts Innovations
        • Autonomous Vehicles
        • Blockchain
        • Creativity and Innovation
        • Drones
        • Fueled
        • Future of Learning at JMU
        • Hacking for Assessment
        • Hacking for Defense
        • Hacking for Democracy
        • Medical Innovations
        • Robotic Process Automation
    • Fall 2022 Classes
      • Community Innovations
      • Intro the the Esports Industry
      • Foundations of Digital Dev.
      • Hacking for Diplomacy
      • Hacking for the Environment
      • Internet of Things
      • XR: Creating New Realities
    • New Class Procedure
  • Programming
    • Faculty Innovation Fellows
    • Podcasts
    • Real Industry
    • University Innovation Fellows
  • Events
    • Music Mondays
    • Pop-Ups
  • JMU Esports
  • Open Lab
  • About
    • About
    • Client Partners
    • Contact
    • COVID-19 Info
    • FAQs
    • News Features
    • Press Kit
    • Reports
    • Scholarly Activity
    • Glossary of Racial Equity Terms
  • Academics
    • Class History
      • Class Timeline
      • Past Classes
        • Arts Innovations
        • Autonomous Vehicles
        • Blockchain
        • Creativity and Innovation
        • Drones
        • Fueled
        • Future of Learning at JMU
        • Hacking for Assessment
        • Hacking for Defense
        • Hacking for Democracy
        • Medical Innovations
        • Robotic Process Automation
    • Fall 2022 Classes
      • Community Innovations
      • Intro the the Esports Industry
      • Foundations of Digital Dev.
      • Hacking for Diplomacy
      • Hacking for the Environment
      • Internet of Things
      • XR: Creating New Realities
    • New Class Procedure
  • Programming
    • Faculty Innovation Fellows
    • Podcasts
    • Real Industry
    • University Innovation Fellows
  • Events
    • Music Mondays
    • Pop-Ups
  • JMU Esports
  • Open Lab

Class Timeline

A historical chronology of JMU X-Labs academic classes offered since the program was founded in
2015, this timeline provides a glimpse into the history of our growth, how we are constantly
working to improve our offerings, and how we respond to the needs of a growing number of collaborators.

2014-2015
Spring Semester
Headshots of Dr. Lewis, Dr. Nagel, and Dr. Ludwig

Students applied maker technology to produce and communicate solutions for metabolic syndrome—a disorder which affects about 34% of Americans and increases the risk of heart disease and diabetes.

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2015-2016
Fall Semester

Students developed solutions for air pollution, saving the James River spinymussel, saving lives through First Response, aerial imaging for city planning, detecting landmines, and disarming landmines using unmanned aerial vehicles.

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Spring Semester
Student displays drone project poster.

Students discovered the technical components of unmanned aerial vehicles and sensors through hands-on projects.

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Students present their health / medical solution

Students formulated ideas for mitigating metabolic syndrome—a disorder which affects about 34% of Americans and increases the risk of heart disease and diabetes.

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2016-2017
Fall Semester
A student uses a drill while the professor looks on

Students and faculty designed a mathematical model to create a walking bicycle.

Students stands beside drone prototype to save bees.

Students designed and built drones to help with fire rescue assessment, sea rescue response times, landmine detection and safe detonation, analyze an ancient city wall in Colombia, restore telecommunications after hurricanes, support honeybee populations, and monitor tidal flooding.

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A class talks with people on a Beam robot and through telepresence.

Graduate students learned how to teach math by building tangible prototypes for direct application of mathematical concepts.

Spring Semester
A student points a pen while talking with someone; A drill is on the worktable

Students applied their mathematical model to design and build a walking bicycle.

Student creates VR program on a desktop computer.

Using the latest technology, students designed and developed augmented and virtual reality solutions for everyday problems.

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Students put a drone together.

Students analyzed and tackled real problems using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

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Students and faculty work in the garden for Fueled.

Students worked together on innovative projects directly applicable to the business needs of the Fueled food truck, including industrial and environmental design, nutrition/health promotion, mind-body awareness, graphic design, marketing, campus/K-12 education and community engagement.

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Students present their solution.

Students helped their clients gain situation awareness inside enemy sanctuaries and across battlefields, disrupt threatening aircrafts, and improve communication and coordination between military, humanitarian, and civilian populations.

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2017-2018
Fall Semester
A girl wearing a VR headset and sensors smiling

Students designed and built a virtual reality tour of JMU’s campus using the latest technology in 360° media and VR. The tour became part of a recruitment exhibit in the newly renovated Madison Hall.

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Professor holds drone for class to see

Students designed and built drone prototypes to track pregnant bears, track and protect endangered species, and collect dung beetle data that helps reduce parasites and greenhouse gases.

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A student leads a brainstorming session with her team

In 2017, JMU offered the only H4Di course in the country and was the first in the nation to offer it exclusively to undergraduate students, who worked on problems as diverse as cybersecurity and hate crime prevention.

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Student presentation on opioid crisis

Students designed practical, ethical solutions to address the opioid crisis.

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Spring Semester
A student teaches a man how to use the VR tour

Students designed and built a virtual reality tour of JMU’s campus using the latest technology in 360° media and VR. The tour became part of a recruitment exhibit in the newly renovated Madison Hall.

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A student works on the detached steering wheel of the golf cart.

Students transformed a golf cart into a self-driving vehicle, gaining hands-on experience at the intersection of design, engineering, systems, software, controls, and project management.

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Students watch professor at the front of the classroom

Students wrote a blockchain textbook, a first of its kind, designed to be a comprehensive introduction to the topic.

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Student analyzes oysters on a boat in Florida

Students designed drones that distinguish elk from deer, protect oysters in Chesapeake Bay, safely tranquilize large animals, protect grassland birds, survey for invasive plants, connect with animal trackers, image shoreline erosion, track peregrine falcon nests, protect aquatic vegetation, and sway bears from harmful situations.

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Students worked together on innovative projects directly applicable to the business needs of the Fueled food truck.

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Students talking with President Alger about their project

Students worked with U.S. military organizations to develop a faster way to log flight records, track recalled medical items, track passengers and carry-on bags, and prevent human trafficking.

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2018-2019
Fall Semester

Students designed and built a virtual reality tour of JMU’s campus using the latest technology in 360° media and VR. The tour became part of a recruitment exhibit in the newly renovated Madison Hall.

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Students prepare autonomous golf cart for launch

Students brought the autonomous concept out of simulation and into the real world by transforming a golf cart into a self-driving vehicle.

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Students with laptops listen to their professor

Students developed a multidisciplinary understanding of blockchain technology with consideration for underlying ethical issues and create their own innovative applications.

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Client partner logos

Students partnered with local organizations to respond to the challenges they face, developing innovative solutions.

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Students developed creative confidence and learn specific methods designed to disrupt pattern thinking, generate new ideas, and work on interesting problems using a variety of design thinking processes.

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Students worked together on innovative projects directly applicable to the business needs of the Fueled food truck.

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Students optimized the deployment speed of 20 NATO nations, provide recruitment support for the D.C. National Guard, determine early warning signs of human trafficking, and neutralize terrorist propaganda targeting youth and new followers.

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Students explored underlying technologies and develop minimum viable products that address complex open-ended problems for industry partners.

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Students test a TENS machine.

Medical Innovations expanded in the fall of 2018 with the addition of students and faculty from the Department of Kinesiology. It was the second consecutive year students focused on aspects of the opioid crisis.

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Spring Semester

In partnership with the Furious Flower Poetry Center, students built a digital archive prototype that showcases the entire proceedings of the first Furious Flower conference in 1994.

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Students show a professor their chemistry app on a tablet

Students developed AR tools to teach the constituents of chemistry molecules, used motion capture to represent dance movements with dancers from the School of Theatre and Dance, and created a mobile version of the JMU Campus VR Tour for the Center for Global Engagement for international student recruiting.

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A reporter rides in the autonomous golf cart

Students developed sensors and artificial intelligence to provide safe self-driving golf cart kits to retirement communities.

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United Way logo

In partnership with United Way, students prototyped solutions regarding affordable childcare, public transportation, and the relationship between JMU and local non-profits.

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Using drones and custom sensors, students prototyped solutions for problems such as the decline of bee populations and oyster reefs in the Chesapeake Bay.

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Student raises her arm in triumph as she connects the FarmBot.

Students worked together on innovative projects directly applicable to the business needs of the Fueled food truck.

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Client partner logos

Students improved training to maximize learning and performance, incentivized infantry service, created a leaner, meaner defense acquisition team, enabled transparency in humanitarian aid delivery, and developed standards for universities to secure unclassified innovative research.

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In a partnership with BRMi, students covered a variety of business and education applications for RPA as well as the means and methods to intelligently optimize work performance.

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2019-2020
Fall Semester

Students developed a VR tour for JMU Admissions and a study abroad experience for the Center for Global Engagement, brought pre-construction models to augmented reality, and built a laboratory simulation for online graduate students for Communication Sciences and Disorders.

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A reporter interviews Professor Sprague in front of the golf cart

Students developed sensors and artificial intelligence to provide safe self-driving golf cart kits to retirement communities.

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Students worked with client partners including the Army National Guard, the U.S. Department of State, NATO, the Joint Personnel Recovery Agency, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

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Client partner logos

Students worked with client partners including the American Red Cross, Amazon Web Services, OpenCollar, and the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

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Hexo product prototype

Engineering, health, kinesiology, and nursing students worked in multidisciplinary teams to develop solutions to the opioid crisis.

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Spring Semester
Students working from home

In response to COVID-19, the AR/VR class pivoted from planned projects to explore how immersive technology could address the impacts of the public health crisis.

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Client partner logos

Students addressed select problems around human trafficking.

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Two students work on a drone

Students modified drones to carry payloads including cameras and sensors and/or to develop sensors to interact with UAVs that can be used to answer questions and solve problems.

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Client partner logos

Student teams pursued solutions to challenges based on the needs of client partners from the 11th Wing of the U.S. Air Force, the Defense Logistics Agency, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Department of State, and the Womack Army Medical Center.

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Instructor with microphone speaks in front of a screen that says "Use case demo"

In a partnership with BRMi, students covered a variety of business and education applications for RPA as well as the means and methods to intelligently optimize work performance.

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2020-2021
Fall Semester
Masked student swipes her hand across a wall, which uses technology to draw a virtual line across it

Students from the College of Visual and Performing Arts merged theater with technology to create virtual settings and performances.

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Audience watching Community Innovations class presentation

Students worked with the United Way of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County to collect data about how COVID-19 has affected the economic, social, and health of the ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) population in Harrisonburg.

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U.S. flag, closed hand with checkbox written on it raised over JMU quad

Students addressed complex challenges surrounding the 2020 election.

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Students focused on Megacities (population surges), Sino-Indo relations, Blue Nile River analysis, and protecting the Sikh population in Afghanistan.

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Northrop Grumman logo

Students collaborated with Northrop Grumman to find ways to effectively monitor bears in their natural habitat.

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App solution slide

Students developed empathy maps, designed prototypes, and performed usability testing to address various challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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In partnership with BRMi, students covered a variety of business and education applications for RPA as well as the means and methods to intelligently optimize work performance.

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In partnership with Deloitte, students gained insightful knowledge into the world of CRM and Salesforce to operate as successful System Administrators.

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Spring Semester
Masked students in black dance on the rooftop of a parking garage

Students from the College of Visual and Performing Arts merged theater with technology to create virtual settings and performances.

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Client partner logos

Students identified and mapped out biological markers in the brain using augmented technology, made key updates to JMU's virtual tour, or analyzed the economic impact of local airports.

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Students talk with a mother holding a baby.

Food Insecurity – Students focused problem solving around local issues related to poverty and food insecurity.

The Future of Learning – Students prototyped ambitious hybrid and online education projects to contribute to the future of learning at JMU.

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Students improved scheduling resources, increased collaboration visibility and efficiency across business units, helped catalog lead-contaminated facilities, helped identify and intervene with counter-productive leadership styles, and provided military family dependents who have special needs better ways to navigate healthcare.

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A tablet controlling a 360 degree camera on wheels

Through the problem-solving process, teams built requisite skill sets in electrical engineering, Arduino microcontrollers, sensor and motor integration, firmware development, CAD, 3D printing and laser cutting.

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Students covered a variety of business and education applications for RPA as well as the means and methods to intelligently optimize work performance.

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Deloitte logo

Students gained insightful knowledge into the world of CRM and Salesforce to operate as successful System Administrators.

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2021-2022
Fall Semester

Students from the College of Visual and Performing Arts merge theater with technology to create virtual settings and performances.

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Using the latest technology, students design and develop augmented and virtual reality solutions for everyday problems.

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Students explore and reimagine JMU’s General Education curricula to include meaningful, transformative courses focused on addressing the oppressive structures that create barriers to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI).

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Students collaborate to solve real-world foreign policy problems.

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Student analyzes oysters on a boat in Florida

Students innovate solutions to ocean-related problems.

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Masked student attaches sensor

Students use IoT for innovative solutions, from smart homes and self-driving cars to drones, robotics, biomedical research, disaster relief, and environmental protection.

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Final prototype of a mask

Engineering, health, kinesiology, and nursing students work in multidisciplinary teams to develop and communicate solutions to a community health challenge.

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In partnership with BRMi, students covered a variety of business and education applications for RPA as well as the means and methods to intelligently optimize work performance.

Read more

In partnership with Deloitte, students gained insightful knowledge into the world of CRM and Salesforce to operate as successful System Administrators.

Read more

Spring Semester

Students with professionals from across campus and beyond to shape the future of learning at JMU.

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Masked student attaches sensor

Students use IoT for innovative solutions, from smart homes and self-driving cars to drones, robotics, biomedical research, disaster relief, and environmental protection.

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Students helped various military organizations develop processes for analyzing data, emergency response coordination, engaging soldiers and their families, onboarding, operational decision-making and collecting information for health administrators.

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Previously called Augmented/Virtual Reality, students design and develop augmented and virtual reality solutions for everyday problems using the latest technology,.

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2022-2023
Fall Semester
Masked and socially distanced volunteers prepare orders

This course is a passport to active, creative, and impactful global citizenship. It helps students build vital and transferable skills for their careers, and the work they accomplish becomes a signature entry in their professional portfolios.

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Xavier watching students play

This class focuses on applying project management to the creation and development of Esports classes and tournaments, and explores the economic impact of this multi-million dollar enterprise.

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In partnership with Deloitte, students gained insightful knowledge into the world of CRM and Salesforce to operate as successful System Administrators.

Read more

Students collaborate to solve real-world foreign policy problems.

Read more

Student analyzes oysters on a boat in Florida

Students innovate solutions to ocean-related problems.

Read more

Masked student attaches sensor

Students use IoT for innovative solutions, from smart homes and self-driving cars to drones, robotics, biomedical research, disaster relief, and environmental protection.

Read more

Using the latest technology, students design and develop augmented and virtual reality solutions for everyday problems.

Read more

JMU X-Labs

 

 

 




Lakeview Hall, Room 1150
298 Port Republic Road
(Across the street from Starbucks)
Harrisonburg VA, 22807
540-568-7447

James Madison University

JMU X-Labs © 2018
Designed by Kim Fisher. Hosting and maintenance by eSaner.

Photography by Elise Trissel, Mike Miriello, and University Communications and Marketing

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