Virtual Reality Lab
Welcome to the Virtual Reality (VR) Lab of the School of Applied and Creative Computing at Purdue University's Polytechnic Institute. Established and directed by Dr. Christos Mousas, the VR Lab focuses on designing, developing, and evaluating intelligent virtual agents, socially interactive agents, and virtual humans. Our work draws on virtual reality, computer animation and simulation, and human-computer interaction to study how embodied agents can communicate, collaborate, and interact with people in socially meaningful ways.
Our research examines how intelligent virtual agents and virtual humans should behave, communicate, reason, and adapt during interaction with people. We study topics such as agent behavior, embodiment, self-similarity and familiarity, reasoning, gaze, gesture, speech, and other social and behavioral cues that shape human-agent interaction and user experience.
Research Areas
People
Current Students
Magzhan Mukanova
Ph.D. Student
Ikaia Melton
Ph.D. Student
Zhenhua Wu
Ph.D. Student
Angela Jimenez
Ph.D. Student
Xinmeng Ren
Ph.D. Student
Andres Rincon
Ph.D. Student
Xinyang Li
Ph.D. Student
Yikuan Liu
Ph.D. Student
Aezaz Ali
Ph.D. Student
Anant Upadhyay
Ph.D. Student
Hsin Yang
Ph.D. Student
Kristine Oh
MS Student
Join the VR Lab
The VR Lab welcomes undergraduate, M.S., and Ph.D. students who are interested in research on intelligent virtual agents, socially interactive agents, virtual humans, and human-agent interaction. Our projects may use virtual reality, computer animation, simulation, and human-computer interaction methods, but we primarily use these technologies to investigate the design, behavior, and evaluation of interactive virtual agents.
Current Purdue students: Students in the School of Applied and Creative Computing are welcome to contact Dr. Mousas or stop by his office (Knoy 325) to discuss potential research opportunities.
Prospective graduate students: Dr. Mousas primarily advises students interested in intelligent virtual agents, socially interactive agents, virtual humans, and human-agent interaction. Prospective students should review Dr. Mousas' current research before contacting him and should ensure that their research interests align with these areas. When emailing, please include your CV, briefly describe the specific research questions or topics related to virtual agents that you would like to pursue, and provide a portfolio or examples of relevant prior work demonstrating your experience with virtual reality, virtual agents, virtual humans, computer animation, or related technologies.
Students interested in doctoral study may apply to the Ph.D. in Technology (Computational Science and Engineering concentration) or the Ph.D. in Computer and Information Technology programs and identify Dr. Mousas as their preferred faculty advisor.
