Craig Shultz

Craig Shultz is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and co-founder of Fluid Reality. His research focuses on interactive embedded systems and haptic actuation, particularly tactile interfaces for VR/AR, IoT, and wearable devices. He employs an interdisciplinary approach blending psychophysics, electrical and mechanical engineering, and human-computer interaction (HCI) to advance haptic rendering.

• Specializes in surface haptics, non-contact haptics, and electroosmotic pump arrays.
• Develops technologies for scalable shape displays, mid-air haptic interactions, and haptic-augmented spatial computing.
• Teaches Interactive Haptic Systems (since 2025).

His research has led to 6 best paper awards and nominations at ACM and IEEE venues, including the IEEE Transactions on Haptics Best Application Paper of the Year (2018). He received the Sony Faculty Innovation Award (2025) and the IEEE Technical Committee on Haptics Early Career Award (2025). His publications emphasize haptic rendering, low-latency touchscreens, and non-contact tactile actuation. He actively collaborates with institutions like Northwestern University and KAIST HCI.

• Key research areas: tactile interfaces, scientific engineering, VR/AR haptics, and haptic design practices.
• Technologies developed: Fluid Reality haptic gloves, DynaButtons, LRAir synthetic jets, and TriboTouch micro-patterned surfaces.