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Virtual & Augmented Reality Communication (VARC) Lab (COM-001)

Virtual & Augmented Reality Communication (VARC) Lab is documented in the DePaul Resource Map as research laboratory at DePaul University, College of Communication, Center for Communication Engagement, Loop (14 E. Jackson Blvd., Room 111-112). The Virtual and Augmented Reality Communication (VARC) Lab houses state-of-the-art VR/AR equipment to help researchers, faculty, and students learn how to communicate effectively and ethically in virtual and augmented reality environments. The lab supports teaching and research on how immersive technologies affect society, culture, media, and interpersonal communication. Access: 🟡 Yellow — Needs an appointment or affiliation.

Summary 🟡 ✓

  • College / school: College of Communication
  • Sub-unit: Center for Communication Engagement
  • Campus/Location: Loop (14 E. Jackson Blvd., Room 111-112)
  • Last Verified: June 14, 2026

Access (availability): 🟢 Green — open or routine · 🟡 Yellow — appointment or affiliation · 🔴 Red — restricted · ⚪/⚫ White/Black — not yet classified

Verification: ✓ confirmed · ~ likely · ? needs review · ✕ archived

Description & capabilities

The Virtual and Augmented Reality Communication (VARC) Lab houses state-of-the-art VR/AR equipment to help researchers, faculty, and students learn how to communicate effectively and ethically in virtual and augmented reality environments. The lab supports teaching and research on how immersive technologies affect society, culture, media, and interpersonal communication. It is a unit of the College of Communication's Center for Communication Engagement and maintains a checkout pool of headsets and 360 cameras available for booking by DePaul users. It was launched with a DePaul innovation (AGIF) grant.

Access status

Verification

  • Status: ✓ Confirmed
  • Rationale: Official College of Communication lab page documents the lab, its location, leadership, booking process, and equipment inventory; corroborated by founding coverage.
  • Last verified: 2026-06-14
  • Evidence:
  • Official lab page https://communication.depaul.edu/academics/initiatives/center-for-communication-engagement/varc-lab
  • Center for Communication Engagement https://communication.depaul.edu/academics/initiatives/center-for-communication-engagement
  • Founding coverage https://academics.depaul.edu/liberal-studies/first-year-program/about/spotlight/Pages/virtual-reality-discover.aspx

Equipment

Find this resource from the Equipment catalog or site search by instrument or lab name.

Category Specific equipment
VR, AR, and XR Meta Quest Pro; Meta Quest 2; Meta Quest 1; HTC Vive Focus Plus; Microsoft HoloLens 2
Cinema and broadcast cameras 360 cameras (checkout for teaching/research)

Related equipment categories

Taxonomy bridges to related capability elsewhere on campus (search these terms or open the catalog anchors):

Equipment access (via linked resources)

Resource Notes
UNI-015 BETA Extended Reality Suite — related campus XR pool (capability bridge; distinct college)
CDM-003 Jarvis Student Center XR studio — related headset / tracking pool
COM-002 Streaming Lab livestream / green-screen stations — related media production adjacency
CSH-022 Nursing simulation — related immersive clinical-training modality

Source: VARC Lab official page (Oct 2026 re-verify). Last verified: July 29, 2026.

Contacts (resource-level)

People & contacts

Named contacts when publicly documented.

Source URL

Official links and email are listed under Contacts above.

Documented Relationships

Unit of the Center for Communication Engagement (which also houses the Media Engagement Research Lab, the Streaming Lab, the OpEd Project, and the Open Learning Project). Led by Paul Booth; co-founded with Bree McEwan via AGIF grant GRA-886. Related campus XR pools (capability adjacency, not shared inventory): UNI-015 BETA Hub, CDM-003 Jarvis Student Center. Related immersive clinical-training adjacency: CSH-022.

Documented connections

Generated from documented publication and people connections. Superscript numbers open Sources below. Multiple sources on one claim are grouped as 1,4. Grant links are listed on publication and grant pages.

Publications

Sources

  1. The decision to partner with the VARC Lab here at DePaul came from an understanding that face-to-face communication had become increasingly intimate since returning to in-person classes. Archived source retained by Resource Map maintainers. View current source

Notes

Director Paul Booth (PER-121); co-founder Bree McEwan (PER-122). Promoted from candidate RC-003 on 2026-06-14 via institutional web evidence (institutional report First resource under the new College of Communication (COM) prefix.

Linked publications

  • Graduation Simulator (Communication MA, 2022) — VIA (PUB-168). Names VARC Lab as production partner. Student author; Booth is not a thesis author.