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Faculty Profiles

Summer Research Features: VR Cybersickness

The Department of Computer Science is excited to feature our summer research groups and take a look at what they are working on! Today, we are highlighting the work of Dr. Sharif Mohammad Shahnewaz Ferdous’ research group.

Dr. Ferdous’ group includes Andrew Michael (‘24) and Kyla Ramos (‘23). The project is investigating the effectiveness of a visual cybersickness questionnaire.

The research objective of this project is to expand our understanding of how children perceive cybersickness in virtual reality (VR). Cybersickness is discomforts experienced by a user during or after the VR exposure. The most popular method for measuring cybersickness is via a Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ), developed using data obtained from navy pilots. The SSQ may not be suitable to measure cybersickness in children, as some of its questions (e.g., fullness of head, stomach awareness, etc.) can be difficult for children to comprehend.

To correctly measure cybersickness in children, it is crucial to develop a child-friendly questionnaire. Therefore, during MUSE 2021, Dr. Ferdous’ group will implement a web application that augments existing SSQ questions with animation that makes it easier to understand the symptoms.

Funding for this research project is provided by MUSE (Mentored Undergraduate Summer Experience) at TCNJ.

VR Cybersickness
Clockwise from top left: Andrew Michael, Dr. Sharif Mohammad Shahnewaz Ferdous, Kyla Ramos

Summer Research Features: CABPortal

The Department of Computer Science is excited to feature our summer research groups and take a look at what they are working on!

Dr. Monisha Pulimood’s research group includes Kiera Gill (’23), Matthew Hannum (’23), and Jenna Stiesi (’22). The students are supported through Dr. Pulimood’s Barbara Meyers Pelson Chair in Faculty-Student engagement (AY 2018-2021) award. This summer, the students are working together to conduct research and continue development of CABPortal, a web-based application designed to make researches associated with the Collaborating Across Boundaries (CAB) pedagogical model publicly available.

The application leverages concepts from human computation, collective intelligence, and open collaboration to enable current and potential adopters to find interdisciplinary courses and project ideas of interest, and to become motivated to participate in the dissemination and sustainability of hosted projects. They are also continuing development on some of the applications developed by students in Dr. Pulimood’s Software Engineering classes in previous semesters.

The CAB Project was supported by two grants:

  1. The Barbara Meyers Pelson Chair in Faculty-Student Engagement Endowment Fund in academic years 2018 – 2021, during which time Dr. Pulimood was the endowed chair.
  2. NSF Award #1914869, Collaborating Across Boundaries (CAB) to Engage Undergraduates in STEM Learning, for which Dr. Pulimood is the principal investigator (PI), along with Professor Kim Pearson (Journalism & Professional Writing) and Professor Diane Bates (Sociology & Anthropology) who are the co-PIs.
Summer Research Features
Clockwise from left: Jenna Stiesi, Kiera Gill, Dr. Monisha Pulimood, Matthew Hannum
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