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!
A project designed by Gibbs College of Architecture faculty member Austin Lightle has been selected for BuildFest 2026, a national art and architecture festival held at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in New York, on the historic grounds of the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival.
Two Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture alumni are helping shape recommendations that could influence affordable housing design and construction across Oklahoma.
The University of Oklahoma Libraries recently welcomed Carl Siegel as an Architecture Librarian and Archivist and Assistant Professor. In his role, Siegel supports students, faculty and staff across the Gibbs College of Architecture while also serving as archivist for the American School of Architecture Archives.
