James Korris

James H. Korris, a pioneer of the current trend in game-based simulation for military training, served as Creative Director of the Institute for Creative Technologies (Institute), University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles from its founding in August 1999 until October 2006. Dubbed "The Military Entertainment Complex", the modern collaboration of Hollywood and the Department of Defense at the Institute was first discussed in a National Research Council study published in 1997. At the Institute, Korris worked with talents as diverse as John Milius, Randal Kleiser and David Ayer The initial $44.5 million contract grew substantially as basic research in immersive virtual reality and prototype application development was expanded.

At USC, Korris led projects including Full Spectrum Warrior, the first military application developed for Microsoft’s Xbox, along with desktop training simulations Full Spectrum Command, Full Spectrum Leader, the Joint Fires and Effects Trainer System and the Department of Defense 2006 Modeling & Simulation Award-winner Every Soldier a Sensor Simulation.

Korris also led USC Institute work in Concept Development and Visualization, a process that brought Hollywood story-telling and production techniques to military informational films. Work included the award-winning video Nowhere To Hide, the US Army/Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency vision of America’s future, transformed land force. His team supported the US Army’s Future Combat Systems critical Block B review which resulted in approval of the $14.7 billion System Development & Design phase of the program.

Korris' work at USC was recognized in the 2006 Smithsonian Institution-Cooper Hewitt Design Life Now 2006 National Design Triennial. He was a featured speaker at Richard Saul Wurman’s 2006 Entertainment Gathering, eg2006. Korris was also designated a Massive Change Visionary in Bruce Mau’s Massive Change exhibit in October 2004, which premiered at the Vancouver Art Gallery and travelled most recently to the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art.

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