An interdisciplinary OU team was recently awarded a $10,000 seed grant from the OU Data Institute for Societal Challenges. The team includes Interior Design faculty Negar Matin and Yeji Yi, as well as Professor Anna Nguyen from the OU Health Sciences Center, VoyagerVR co-founder Christian Bretz, Graduate Research Assistant Moradi Naftchali and Fernando Moreno Garcia.
The team was awarded funding for their project, “The Interaction between Virtual Multi-Sensory Environments and Children with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in Central Oklahoma.” The study will design and examine virtual reality multi-sensory environments that could potentially help with the nonpreferred behaviors of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
A team member using VR equipment.
According to Yi, a growing body of environmental design research has explored VR technology, which can simulate real-world environmental stimuli while tackling the spatial challenges of physical environments. In this study, the team will analyze children’s behavioral data to appropriately design VR multi-sensory environments that support their behavioral patterns.
With this grant, the team hopes to expand their current project and collaborate with other data science professionals to bring about positive changes in society. This research will help them identify specific environmental design factors that are correlated with positive behaviors in children.
Congratulations to our Gibbs faculty members who received this grant!
Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture is proud to announce the promotion of Ph.D. student Rafael Hernandez to lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve.
Gibbs College of Architecture Assistant Professor Dr. Ladan Mozaffarian, in the Division of Planning, Landscape Architecture and Design, has co-authored a new book chapter with Josh Newton and Andrew Born, published in De Gruyter Handbook of the Geographies of Race.
Planning, Landscape Architecture, and Design (PLAD) alumni Trey Ingram, AICP recently spoke with current PLAD student and graduate media assistant Molly Strobel to share his experiences with the Regional and City Planning program and current work with the Toyota Mobility Foundation.
