USC hires VRML guru Pesce

THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (USC) has hired Internet developer MARK PESCE to head up a new department in the School of Cinema-Television devoted to interactive media. Pesce is cited as being the person who developed Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML), the programming code that enables real-time interactivity on the web. He is also co-founder, with Jan Mallis, of an Internet content company called blitcom. Pesce designed the certificate program in 3D Arts at San Francisco State University's College of Extended Learning, and has been teaching at the college level since 1995. He has authored three books about the World Wide Web as well. Commenting on his new post at USC, he said, "We'll be exploring the convergence of entertainment and technology. We expect that the graduates of this program will generate the best of the next generation of interactive works."