By Javier Chagoya

Information Sciences Professor Dr. Don Brutzman proudly holds the Web 3D Excellence Award for Outstanding Leadership, in the Modeling Virtual Environments and Simulation Institute facility at Watkin's Hall, July 14.

Brutzman was recognized at the international organization's Web 3D Consortium held in the city of Heraklion Crete, Greece. The award honored Brutzman for his leadership, persistent support and work over a period of 20 years. His own contributions helped to further standards for 3D content developers around the world.

"The Web3D service award was a surprise, and very humbling. Applied research work by NPS students, staff and faculty has been crucial for X3D progress. Dozens of theses and projects over the years have made key contributions benefiting the Navy and the public. X3D export of industry products can help the Navy avoid common problems of 'stove-piping' and vendor lock-in which block interoperability," says Brutzman.

An advocate for adopting operating standards for the Web 3D development community, Research Associate Professor Amela Sadagic, who also attended the annual conference, echos Brutzman's concerns with standards.

"Today, more than ever, we are arguing for, and on a good road to succeed, with initiatives which will have DOD-wide adoption, use of ISO standards and web delivery of 3D models. This will ensure that 3D models developed and used by DOD will survive many years and decades beyond the existence of some proprietary formats," said Sadagic.

NPS is a charter member of the Web3D Consortium, founded in 1997 as an open, international, non-profit standards development organization. Its members come from business, academia, government and the military. This organization is online at http://www.web3d.org/