Next Lab
Studio projects
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Beech–IDIA: Workshops for Digital Access
Next Lab is collaborating with the Institute for Digital Inclusion and Access (IDIA) to create and facilitate lessons and activities in emerging tech literacy, game design, worldbuilding, and more to community members of all ages. To bring emerging technology education to community members across the Arizona valley, Next Lab has partnered with the Institute for
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EDge AI – Educational AI at the Edge
Edge AI introduces a transformative AI solution to expand access to educational resources for remote and underserved communities. The project empowers learners in areas with limited internet and power infrastructure by developing an AI system capable of offline functionality on low-powered devices. The solution uses privacy-centric approaches to operate independently, ensuring user data remains secure
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FutureScape
Created in partnership with ASU Educational Outreach and Student Services (EOSS), FutureScape is a game for middle schoolers to explore various STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) careers. Covering 15 industries across eight areas, including marine biology, manufacturing engineering, and forensic science, this virtual career fair features mini-games that simulate STEAM work experiences in engaging
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Maricopa County Digital Storytelling
The Maricopa County Digital Storytelling project, featured on the AZ-1 web portal, highlights the impact of broadband internet access on education, business, and wellness in Maricopa County, Arizona. It shares stories of community members benefiting from having broadband access, such as telehealth and 5G technology for startups. This initiative is part of the university’s efforts
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Sensory-Friendly Spaces
The Sensory-Friendly Spaces Initiative is an emerging, cross-campus effort to make ASU a more welcoming environment for neurodivergent individuals and anyone who benefits from lower-stimulation, more predictable experiences. This initiative is grounded in both research and lived experience. It aims to address physical spaces, event environments, and potentially digital experiences—supporting sensory regulation, reducing overwhelm, and
Guild projects
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Conway’s Game of Life: Game Engine Guild Edition
The Next Lab Game Engine Guild’s take on Conway’s Game of Life turns a classic math toy into an interactive, kaleidoscopic sandbox built in Unity. Instead of a single “alive vs dead” state, cells can take on multiple colors—each with its own ruleset and behavior. The result is a deterministic but endlessly surprising system: swirling,
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Global Culture Explorer
Global Culture Explorer is a VR experience designed by Next Lab’s User Experience & Research Guild to help users discover cultures through everyday life, not just tourist landmarks. The project aims to make cultural learning more immersive, authentic, and empathetic, allowing users to virtually stroll through local streets, observe habits, and engage in simple interactions
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Literary Magazine: The Future!
Next Lab’s Digital Storytelling Guild is excited to begin its first guild project with the launch of their Literary Magazine, The Future! The purpose of this magazine is not only to tell exciting, thought provoking, and complex stories, but also for guild members to improve and expand upon their skills as writers and collaborators. The
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PONG: Game Engine Guild Edition
PONG is a collaborative Unity game project created by Next Lab’s Game Engine Guild, exploring incremental mechanic evolution within a classic arcade format. Each round begins as standard Pong, but every subsequent level introduces a unique gameplay gimmick—altering physics, controls, objectives, or level rules. These gimmicks do not stack; instead, each level has its own
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Virtual Reality Art Gallery
The Technical Artistry, Modeling, Animation, & Concept (TAMAC) Guild is developing an interactive VR Art Gallery that showcases artwork created by Next Lab Associates and anyone in the community who wishes to join in and have their artwork featured. The gallery serves as a living and evolving space for digital creativity combining 2D, 3D, and
Past projects
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Acacia
Project Acacia, led by Afghan Scholars in collaboration with Next Lab during Fall 2024, explores using 3D technologies to create high-fidelity digital twins of real-world environments. These 3D, interactive models enable stakeholders to explore, analyze virtually, and plan spaces, with applications in urban planning, retail attraction, and infrastructure development. Project Acacia demonstrates the power of
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Alder–Mayo
In a partnership with Mayo Clinic, a team of Next Lab student workers are creating a virtual reality training simulation for medical students to practice diagnosing strokes. This proof-of-concept features hyper-realistic 3D models of medical patients that are able to be directly interacted with using VR hand-tracking controls and voice-recognition. Using the National Institutes of
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Arizona Water Metaverse
The Arizona Water Metaverse project, launched in 2024, leverages EngageVR to create immersive learning experiences focused on water conservation and Arizona’s water scarcity challenges. This initiative offers a metaverse platform for educators and students to develop sustainable water management strategies through virtual simulations. The Arizona Water Metaverse project leveraged immersive technology to address Arizona’s critical
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Arolla–NewsWell
The Arolla–NewsWell project was a three- to six-week R&D sprint led by Next Lab in collaboration with NewsWell, focused on exploring digital-to-print publishing workflows using WordPress and Adobe InDesign. The goal was to assess whether NewsWell’s original AWS-based prototype—featuring AI-assisted copy trimming, image handling, and single-page InDesign exports—could be replicated using existing WordPress tools, ideally
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AZ Transmission Futures
The AZ Transmissions project at Arizona State University uses advanced geospatial technology to map and analyze Arizona’s power infrastructure. A team of students and professionals is extracting data from complex PDFs, georeferencing maps, and automating data extraction using GIS software. The goal is to transform static maps of transmission lines and power stations into interactive,
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Betel–NextACT
Next Lab’s Betel–NextACT project features an immersive virtual experience exploring utopian and dystopian climate change futures, paired with a booklet of sustainability-focused drama-based lesson plans for K-12 educators to encourage the younger generation and beyond to grow their eco-consciousness and make personal commitments to zero-waste. NextACT was born from a partnership between multiple ASU-affiliated organizations