Achievements

Rotman Commerce Emerging Technologies sponsored the first global student run VR Metaverse event designed bridge geographical boundaries and foster virtual experiences capable of inspiring the next generation. Dr. Weser spoke as a panelist represented the researchers using virtual reality technology in medical education.

Virtual Reality (VR) technology provides researchers with tools to rapidly prototype test environments that immerse subjects into an experience, while providing data on eye gaze, pupil dilation and other reactive measures. The ability to rapidly iterate scenarios without the limitations of managing a physical location offers new ways to think about the design of a research study. Costs and capabilities of VR equipment and authoring tools are rapidly improving, bringing these technologies within reach for research teams. During this 90-minute session researchers from Yale, Syracuse University and HP will discuss VR platforms for research and provide practical examples to help attendees understand how to incorporate VR into their own research designs.

An invited public lecture given at Vassar College. Sponsored by the Department of Cognitive Science. In this talk, Dr. Weser will describe the application of virtual reality (VR) technology in cognitive science and psychology research, spanning basic perceptual science to complex behavior change applications. She will begin by discussing the advantages of VR for laboratory experiments and provide an example of her research on weight perception and multisensory illusions. Dr. Weser will then provide a brief overview of how VR is changing education, simulation, and training across a variety of industries. Dr. Weser will conclude by discussing her current project, Invite Only VR, a commercial videogame intervention to prevent teen vaping, and the evaluation of the videogame in a clinical trial.

One in 32 Black women receive an HIV diagnosed with in her lifespan. Receiving an STI diagnosis increases one’s risk of acquiring HIV by fivefold, and since Black teen girls are diagnosed with STIs 2x more than White girls, specific efforts must be made to inform and empower this population. We developed a videogame to empower Black teen girls to practice communicating about self/partner HIV/STI testing, condoms, and promote high standards for partner selection. To ensure the lived experiences of Black teens are reflected, we conducted focus groups inform game development. This talk tells the story of our development process.