Faculty, Student and Alum Directory | Virtual and Augmented Reality Lab
Karen Chen
Assistant Professor
kbchen2@ncsu.edu
919.515.6403
4349 Fitts-Woolard Hall
Education
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2015
M.S., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2010
B.S., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2009
Karen Chen’s research studies human performances and uses human factors and ergonomics frameworks as the foundation. She also implements technologies such as virtual reality to explore the potential of improving the health and safety of various populations. She has investigated the use of virtual reality to understand older driver biomechanics and the utility for ranges of motion rehabilitation of chronic pain patients. Besides research, she also offers courses in Human Factors in Systems Design, Musculoskeletal Biomechanics, Human-Computer Interface, and Special Topics in Technology and Healthcare Applications.
Xu Xu
Assistant Professor
xxu@ncsu.edu
919.512.7205
4351 Fitts-Woolard Hall
Education
Ph.D., North Carolina State University, 2008
M.S., North Carolina State University, 2006
B.S., Tsinghua University, 2004
Prior to joining the NC State faculty, Xu Xu started his career as a postdoctoral research fellow in the School of Public Health at Harvard University. From there he became a research scientist at Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety where he received multiple best paper and outstanding scientific contribution awards. His research interests are generally in the areas of biomechanical modeling, optimization, simulation and data mining with respect to human daily activities to promote workplace and at-home injury prevention and driving safety. Xu has published more than forty journal articles on the aforementioned research topics.
Ph.D. Student
kchen16@ncsu.edu
Education
BE, Beihang University, 2017
Ken Chen‘s primary research interests are in Virtual Reality and Biomechanics.
Ph.D. Student
gnperera@ncsu.edu
Education
M.S., North Carolina State University, 2018
B.S., North Carolina State University, 2017
Gimantha Perera‘s research interests lie at the intersection of Technology in Healthcare Systems and Human Factors. He has investigated the applications of assistive technologies in medical operating rooms as a part of his master’s. He wants to elevate this research by integrating Augmented Reality technology with existing assistive technologies such as checklists and passive information displays. His current work is centered on Project ARTIMISS (Augmented Reality To Improve Medical Information Sharing Systems).
Ph.D. Student
nesander@ncsu.edu
Education
M.S., North Carolina State University, 2020
B.S., Tufts University, 2008
Nathan Sanders‘s research is situated near the intersection of occupational health and virtual reality. After earning his B.S. in Engineering Physics, he worked for ten years, variously as a custom bicycle frame builder, horticulturalist, mechanic, chef, and production engineer. A lifelong passion for gaming and ‘secondary worlds’ attracted him to VR while he was earning his Master’s in Industrial Engineering. His current research interests are the physical and cognitive ergonomics of working in virtual environments. Can the affordances of VR support productivity and well-being in daily work? What are the adverse consequences of long-term VR use in the workplace? Do people think, feel, and behave any differently in virtual environments? What are the subjective experiences of people who use VR for daily work? His current projects include an analysis of robot-related injuries in the workplace, an exploration of the psychological validity of immersive digital twins for human-robot interaction, and a methodological investigation of user-generated gestures for VR interactions.
Ph.D. Student
lwu23@ncsu.edu
Education
B.E., M.E., Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 2017
Linfeng Wu’s primary research interests are human-system interactions, virtual reality, and ergonomics.
Ph.D. Student
lwu23@ncsu.edu
Education
B.E., M.E., Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 2017
Linfeng Wu’s primary research interests are human-system interactions, virtual reality, and ergonomics.
Undergraduate Student
efang2@ncsu.edu
Emily Fang is an undergraduate student studying Industrial and Systems Engineering with a Health Systems Engineering concentration and a minor in Supply Chain Engineering. She is currently working on improving worker health through improving employee training using augmented reality. Emily is also interested in enhancing health systems through improving supply chain management. Her hobbies include working on her art and improving in video games.
Undergraduate Student
cgreckar@ncsu.edu
Catherine Reckard is a current undergraduate student studying Industrial and Systems Engineering with a minor in Psychology. She is currently working on a project to evaluate the usability of a scale-learning immersive virtual environment using virtual reality. Catherine is also a part of the Health Systems Certificate Program and is interested in performing healthcare process improvement to create more safe and equitable health systems. In her free time, she enjoys running, rock climbing, reading, and going on bike rides with friends.
Alumnus
trose2@ncsu.edu
Education
M.S., North Carolina State University, 2018
B.S., University of Mississippi, 2016
Tyler Rose was a Master’s student in Industrial and Systems Engineering at North Carolina State University. His primary research interests involve industry applications of virtual reality. Specifically, he is concerned with the ways humans interact with this technology.
Alumna
cmroger2@ncsu.edu
Education
B.S., North Carolina State University, 2019
Caitlin Rogers was an undergraduate student studying Industrial & Systems Engineering with a health systems engineering concentration and a minor in Spanish. She is involved with various on-campus organizations, including the Catholic Campus Ministry, Girls Engineering Change, Tau Beta Pi, and the Society of Health Systems. Her primary research interests include virtual reality and healthcare optimization.
Alumna
rellis6@ncsu.edu
Education
M.S., North Carolina State University, 2019
Rebecca Widmayer‘s research was in biomechanics and virtual reality. Her research examined patient lifting transfer training in virtual reality and studied the changes in muscle activity in physical and virtual environments.
Alumna
seberha@ncsu.edu
Education
B.S., Purdue University
Shari Eberhard‘s research interest includes using virtual reality to create different “levels” of virtual while measuring the biomechanics of an individual walking.
Alumnus
lli40@ncsu.edu
Education
B.S., Zhejiang University, 2017
Li Li ‘s primary research interests are in ergonomics and computer vision. He is working on the identification of driving behaviors.
Alumna
tkmartin@ncsu.edu
Tara Martin is an undergraduate research assistant. Her primary research interests include improving patient and worker health through virtual reality and computer vision. Her interest in biomechanics stems from an extensive athletic background, particularly in swimming and coaching.