I just had a grad seminar class in which we read Ahn and Hatfield's (2025) article on the research and advertising possibilities of virtual influencers in VR. It was a really interesting and forward looking article that spurred a great discussion. I recommend assigning it. doi.org/10.1080/1525...

Simulated Persuasion in Extended Realities: Virtual Influencers in Immersive Virtual Environments

With advances in computer-generated technologies and artificial intelligence, virtual influencers (VIs) are likely to play a critical role in shaping interactive advertising within immersive enviro...

doi.org

Pub Alert! Introducing JoC publication: “Walking the moral plank: using virtual reality to investigate moral decision-making under threat”, by Joomi Lee, @baldwin-j-a.bsky.social @lindsayhahn.bsky.social Glenna Read @sunjooahn.bsky.social Read here: doi.org/10.1093/joc/...

📣New publication in the Journal of Communication @journal-of-comm.bsky.social. #VirtualReality now allows us to take a deeper look at 'in-the-moment' moral decision-making (e.g., trolley dilemma). But what if the threat in the moral context includes your own safety?

Things were a bit uncertain at times, but... I am elated that this grant finally received the Notice of Award today and excited to continue our work with @noaa.gov on community-level #disaster preparedness!!

Spent the past few days on the Hill with colleagues at @emoryuniversity.bsky.social to advocate for children’s health research and NIH support! We shared “Weather the Storm” #VR during the Congressional briefing and held a demo 😎 #communication #research #children #health #metaverse #translational

Super excited to share this podcast with you! In this episode of #WeatherGeeks, I had a wonderful chat with host Jen Carfagno about Weather the Storm, our #VR integrated training package for communicating #hurricane and storm surge risks for #disaster #preparedness.

UGA Research write up of some of the cutting edge research on education and training taking place on campus - featuring our recent @noaa.gov project where I got to get into a little more detail about the motivations behind the #VR hurricane experience. research.uga.edu/news/brains-...

Brains, games, and VR frames: How UGA researchers are rewriting the rules of learning - UGA Research News

research.uga.edu

www.foxweather.com/watch/fmc-mb... Recent Fox Weather coverage on our “Weather the Storm” virtual reality application. If you’re interested in trying it out and have access to a Meta Quest headset, please visit www.ugavr.com/weatherthest....

#Hurricane season 2025 is almost here! 🌧️ ☔️ Join @ugavr.bsky.social CACHE and our project partners at the @noaa.gov 2025 Hurricane Awareness Webinars Series to learn about "Weather the Storm," a training package for hurricanes and storm surge events that combines #VR w/ PPT, videos, handouts.

Community-based work has been at the core of our vision at @ugavr.bsky.social Center for Advanced Computer-Human Ecosystems(CACHE). Even when we work with cutting-edge tech, we have strived to direct our findings back to communities so that they may benefit from critical scientific advancements.

Includes fireside chat with @sunjooahn.bsky.social and VR demos following the talk!

@uoftdsi.bsky.social · last yr.

Get your tickets and join us and co-sponsors @torontosri.bsky.social & Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to learn about the complex interplay btwn social interactions and mediated environments w/ Dr. Pablo Pérez (Nokia XR Lab, Madrid). Learn more and read a Q&A w/ Pérez: uoft.me/Perez

www.ledger-enquirer.com/news/environ...

VR hurricane storm surge experience could save lives along Georgia’s coast. Here’s how.

A first-of-its-kind virtual reality experience is now available to educate coastal residents about the dangers of hurricane storm surge and how to prepare during evacuations.

ledger-enquirer.com

Chief Meteorologist @mattdevittweather.bsky.social of WINK News reviews "Weather the Storm," a life-saving #VR simulation we developed and tested at the @ugavr.bsky.social, in collab with @noaa.gov, Clemson University, the National Hurricane Center, Georgia Sea Grant, and South Carolina Sea Grant.

Our study on IEEEVR2020 was one of the craziest but exciting field studies we were able to pull together miraculously during the early days of COVID. Thanks to @drlauralevy.bsky.social for being such an amazing partner-in-crime 😎 Let's do it again soon! URL to the paper & findings in Laura's post!

Laura Levy, PhDemocracy 👾🔬✨@drlauralevy.bsky.social · last yr.

5 yrs ago bc COVID, IEEE VR pivoted from an IRL conference to what would be the largest academic conference ever held in virtual space in JUST A FEW DAYS Mozilla tagged me in to spin up the most frantic in situ study that I've ever had only 24 hrs to plan 🫠 👇 www.frontiersin.org/journals/vir...

Delighted to share the results of our 3-year partnership with NOAA and the National Hurricane Center! "Weather the Storm," a training and education package for hurricanes and storm surge events, is now available for public use (download link in the article). wpo.noaa.gov/bringing-sto...

Bringing storm surge to virtual reality - NOAA Weather Program Office

A new virtual reality simulation funded by WPO shows people why coastal evacuation orders are so important during storms.

wpo.noaa.gov

In Paris to give a talk at Université Paris Nanterre 🇫🇷 This is a three university inter-laboratory collaboration, where the labs are interested in exploring the use of #VR in the psychological mechanisms that shape and drive embodiment and ensuing behavior change. If you're in Paris, swing by!

One of the best things about working on federally funded projects is getting to know the people behind the scenes. What used to feel like just numbers and calls for proposals is now filled with friends and familiar faces and that really changes what the job feels like.

[NEW PUBLICATION] This is the first in a series of pubs coming up from our @noaa.gov project in partnership with the National Hurricane Center, using #VR to communicate the risk of storm surge/flooding. One of the first Qs to address was, can we scale the use of VR as a risk communication tool?

CACHE is celebrating all the incredible students graduating this season — both from within our center and beyond! Your hard work, passion, and perseverance have paid off, and we can’t wait to see the amazing things you’ll achieve. 🎓 🌟

This is me after submitting a multi-institutional grant proposal with just 45 minutes left on the clock 😮‍💨 Everything that could possibly go wrong... did go wrong. Surprise. But we successfully crossed the finish line!!

an older woman is making a funny face and says `` i 'm old '' .

ALT: an older woman is making a funny face and says `` i 'm old '' .

media.tenor.com

go.bsky.app/Fsz1TyW

The list of workshops #IEEEVR 2025 is out!!! 👉 ieeevr.org/2025/program... #VR #XR #AR #SpatialComputing Pleeeaaas share! 😊

In June, I had the delightful opportunity to speak at The Future of Scientific Conferencing workshop hosted by the NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, to discuss inclusive #conferencing, innovative formats, and #sustainability of scientific gatherings.

There are many layers here, but I want to comment on one aspect of these findings for now--the editorial board representation. Some will see this and immediately think: we need to get more POC on our boards! I understand that impulse, but encourage you to think a few steps down the game tree 1/n.

Madhu Pai, MD, PhD@madhupai.bsky.social · 2y ago

"Non-White scientists appear on fewer editorial boards, spend more time under review, and receive fewer citations" www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...

Thank you AJC for covering our project! We tested the efficacy of a #MR system with 300+ kids & their parents across 19 afterschools: The system is particularly effective for kids who tend to be sedentary at baseline. Conversion of sedentary time is mostly to light intensity physical activity.

UGA Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication@ugagrady.bsky.social · 2y ago

Thanks to the AJC for featuring "Virtual Fitness Buddy," an interactive video game incentivizing kids to exercise, created by @sunjooahn.bsky.social, director of the Center for Advanced Computer-Human Ecosystems. www.ajc.com/news/health-...

Agreed. It also involves a group of ppl saying that your work is brilliant and matters, and another group of ppl saying that your work is worthless, and you hope that the former group is larger than the latter group 😂

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌@chanda.blacksky.app · 2y ago

I wish there was an easier way to communicate to early career people what being at the next stage is actually like. You can describe it, but it’s like an embodied experience that’s very hard to help people really understand. There’s no analog.

‘Tis the season for homemade marshmallows! Are they worth the extra effort? 💯 You need: sugar, gelatin, water, high powered stand mixer, and a candy thermometer. Then enjoy the fresh fluffy bliss 🤤

Been having a series of delightful meetings, yes, even at the university level. Although we gathered for business, at the end of the day, it was ppl caring about the well-being of ppl. Committee work is often grueling and thankless but sometimes, you have the good ones. I was happy to serve today. 🫡

#HMC starter pack…let me know if you want added.