On May 2, 2024, the University of Advancing Technology announced Jeri Ellsworth as a 2024 Honorary Doctorate recipient, honoring her trailblazing AR and hardware work.
On May 2, 2024, the University of Advancing Technology (UAT) publicly announced Jeri Ellsworth as one of its 2024 Honorary Doctorate recipients, part of an initiative titled "Innovation Queens" recognizing women in technology.
The announcement specifically praised Ellsworth's "trailblazing" contributions to hardware development and augmented reality — an acknowledgment of a career built almost entirely without formal academic credentials. Ellsworth left traditional schooling early in life and taught herself electronics and chip design, making this honorary doctorate especially significant: an academic institution formally recognizing expertise and achievement gained entirely outside conventional higher education.
This honor came after decades of notable technical work, including her early 2000s creation of the Commodore 64 Direct-to-TV device, her hardware research role at Valve Corporation exploring AR/VR technologies, and her subsequent founding of companies including Technical Illusions and Tilt Five, the latter of which commercialized tabletop augmented reality gaming systems.
As a woman working in the historically male-dominated fields of chip design, hardware engineering, and AR/VR development, Ellsworth's recognition by UAT served as both a personal milestone and a symbolic moment for alternative, non-traditional pathways into STEM careers — particularly for women and self-taught engineers who lack formal degrees but demonstrate deep technical mastery through practical achievement.