Carolina Cruz-Neira of UCF IST encourages M&S industry to think bigger at R-CON

By Cassidy Mills, Staff Writer

 

Carolina Cruz-Neira, executive director of the Pegasus Research Institute (PRI) and interim executive director of the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Simulation and Training (IST), presented “Digital Twins: The Intersection of Visualization, AI, Modeling & Simulation” at R-CON Digital Twins, June 26.

 

R-CON Digital Twins was an industry-focused event exploring the expanding role of digital twin technologies, hosted by the Reality Capture Network (RCN) and held at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando, Florida.

 

The event brought together professionals from infrastructure, energy, defense, aerospace and academia to examine how digital twins are evolving from isolated prototypes into integrated systems supporting enterprise-wide decision-making.

 

Cruz-Neira’s presentation called on the modeling and simulation community to expand its perspective on digital twins — not just as technological constructs, but as transformative systems that require new ways of thinking about interaction, data integration and computation.

 

She opened by reflecting on her own pioneering work in the field. Well before the term “digital twin” existed, Cruz-Neira said she made the case for elevating visualization, integrating artificial intelligence (AI) thoughtfully and modernizing computational infrastructure to keep pace with increasingly complex systems.

 

“In 1985, I built my first digital twin as an undergrad,” Cruz-Neira said. “It was a farm with sensors, automation and real-time feedback. We didn’t have today’s tools, but the core challenge of how to synchronize digital and physical reality was already there.”

 

Now, nearly four decades later, Cruz-Neira is helping shape national strategy as part of a multi-agency task force with the goal of defining gaps and guiding funding in digital twin research.

 

Central to this vision is the concept of real-time integration. Cruz-Neira explained that digital twins are not simply static data models or tools for retrospective analysis, but rather dynamic, active counterparts to living systems that continuously interact and evolve alongside their physical counterparts.

 

“I fought hard to make sure the definition includes real-time engagement between the digital and physical,” Cruz-Neira said. “It’s not enough to have static models or data snapshots. Without this continuous connection that updates and reflects the physical system as it operates, it’s just modeling and not a true digital twin.”

 

Cruz-Neira said digital twins represent a new era of centralized, logical information systems where every stakeholder, from engineer to field technician, can access, interact with and interpret complex systems in context.

 

She also warned of the risks of becoming “data-stuck,” cautioning against over-prioritizing the sheer volume of data collection without a clear sense of purpose, actionable insights or meaningful outcomes to guide decision-making.

 

“We collect terabytes of data, but the real question is: what are we doing with it?” Cruz-Neira said. “In many cases, we can simulate missing data using what we already know about physics and dynamics.”

 

AI, Cruz-Neira explained, is a powerful tool but must be applied with care. Some projects lean too heavily on AI when traditional simulation or hybrid approaches might offer more grounded, transparent results. She cautioned against the assumption that more AI equals better solutions, especially when accuracy thresholds differ so widely across domains.

 

“In healthcare, 80 percent accuracy might be a disaster,” Cruz-Neira said. “We still don’t have good, standardized metrics or benchmarks for determining when AI is reliable and enough to be trusted, especially when the stakes are so high and errors can cost lives.”

 

One of the presentation’s most critical observations focused on current interface design. Cruz-Neira said dashboards have become the default entry point into digital twins, but they limit bidirectional engagement and often present data out of context.

 

Instead, she advocated for immersive environments where users can interact with systems spatially and intuitively, bridging gaps in communication and understanding across disciplines.

 

“Dashboards were originally built for executives who needed a quick, high-level overview of key metrics,” Cruz-Neira said. “But today, they’re often being used as if they’re full control rooms, places where operators can manage complex systems in real time and that isn’t what they were designed for.”

 

Cruz-Neira spotlighted visualization as an afterthought in many digital twin projects, which she said were tacked on late in the process rather than integrated from the start. This neglect erodes collaboration and limits the contextual clarity users need.

 

“Visualization breaks the language barrier,” Cruz-Neira said. “An engineer sees stress points. I see a chair to sit in. But we’re looking at the same thing.”

 

Throughout her presentation, she stressed the importance of addressing computational and networking bottlenecks. Digital twins, especially at scale, require infrastructure capable of real-time, high-volume processing. She said too many projects rely on local workstations, ignoring the distributed, edge and cloud computing solutions available today.

 

“We forget that real-time computation and networking are foundational,” Cruz-Neira said. “We talk about data, but rarely about where and how we compute that data fast enough.”

 

As a final thought, Cruz-Neira presented a digital twin of the human body, visualized in multiple modalities for different users. Whether seen through the lens of a medical student, an instructor or a surgical planner, the same system adapted to each context and role.

 

“That’s the power of digital twins,” Cruz-Neira said. “Not just a model, but a living and evolving system that responds to who you are and what you need to know. It adapts dynamically to different users and situations, providing personalized insights and real-time feedback.”

 

Cruz-Neira concluded by noting that digital twins are not merely tools but transformative environments. Realizing their full potential will require far more than software upgrades or data pipelines; it will demand a fundamental rethinking of how we interact, visualize, compute and collaborate within digital spaces that mirror the complexity of the real world.