XR Club

Designing immersive experiences at the intersection of virtual, augmented, and mixed reality.

Build Anything

(This scene was built in Blender)

Build Together

(Built entirely using one of our corporate sponsors exclusive software)

About

The XR Club at UMD is a social and academic community focused on exploring extended reality technology. Members are welcome to come into our lab, use our headsets, and play games like Beat Saber while making full use of the club's resources in a relaxed, open environment.

20+ Active Projects

We offer 20+ hands on XR development and research projects, many with corporate sponsors or faculty mentors. There's no competitive application process, we encourage freshmen and sophomores to apply! Projects are organized by level to support growth.

Gateway

Gain hands on experience working in a team environment with the most freedom.

Intermediate

Work on projects involving corporate sponsors with a bigger commitment.

Advanced

Collaborate with professors on projects that include a research component.

Our Sponsors & Partners

Projects

Most of our projects fall under the intermediate category and involve corporate sponsorships as listed above. You can submit your own proposal and request resources or equipment, but approval isn't guaranteed and requires strong prior experience.

Instead, many members start in a gateway or intermediate project, and may expand the scope of their project over time to gain additional resources and sponsors. All details and current projects can be found on the application page.

Apply Now

Explore a walkthrough of "Nyctophobia Simulator", created by Dinushka Jagodige '28, Ricky Jiang '29, Oliver Blevins '29, and Ronit Munshi '29 entirely from scratch using VIRNECT's exclusive software.

Ricky Jiang's testimony on working with VIRNECT with minimal prior coding experience.

Members & Alumni

Club Lore (Fun Fact)

Brendan Iribe, a UMD alum, co-founded Oculus, one of the most influential VR companies. He later donated generously to the university's CS program, helping build our beautiful Iribe Center.

Fun fact: when our lab space was at risk, a club member reached out to Brendan Iribe who advocated for the club to the CS department!

What is the XR Lab?

Need a place to unwind with some VR games like Beat Saber after a long day of classes? Want access to powerful machines to build your latest AR/VR project, or help troubleshooting something you're stuck on? Maybe you just want to brainstorm ideas and talk about where XR is headed with other members.

If any of that sounds like you, stop by the XR Lab (AVW 4176) during Open Lab Hours, it's your space to explore, build, relax, and connect.

The lab is equipped with a range of headsets, development machines, and peripherals so you can jump into projects or just experience what XR has to offer. Whether you're a beginner or experienced, everyone is welcome.

Galen Stetsyuk '18

Founder of XR Club

The XR Club was founded in 2015 by Galen Stetsyuk, a computer science major who at the time also founded MPLEX VR, an entertainment virtual reality company. Since then, the club has grown to over 700 members and earned its own dedicated lab space in AVW. We're continuing to expand, grow our community, and push toward an even bigger future for the lab.

The XR Club hosts several events throughout the year and often partners with major student organizations. Our flagship event is our project demo presentation, where teams showcase their work. We're also in the middle of organizing a hackathon in partnership with IXA Alliance.

Past highlights include Mini Demo Day, TerpCon 2026, KAMECON 2026, and the UMD Gaming LAN. We also run workshops and occasional Beat Saber tournaments. Join our Discord to stay updated on upcoming events!

Ever wanted to work on real XR projects, meet people building wild things, and join a community doing it all at once? Come to our XR Club Kickoff.

It's our only info session of the year, featuring a live project symposium across VR, AR, spatial computing, BCIs, and more, plus major announcements, new partnerships, and upcoming opportunities. Network with the teams behind it all and find where you want to jump in.