EVL alumni Sai Priya Jyothula and Arthur Nishimoto presented their Virtual Reality (VR) research at the 17th International Symposium on Visual Information Communication and Interaction (VINCI'24) held December 11-13, 2024, in Hsinchu, Taiwan. The VR project &ldquo;Hummingbird: Collaborative Virtual Reality for Tele-Immersive Interactive Theater&rdquo; was developed by Daria Tsoupikova, Sai Priya Jyothula, Arthur Nishimoto, Jo Cattell, Andrew Johnson and Lance Long. Their publication documenting the &rsquo;adventure&rsquo; over the years of developing, demonstrating, and engaging audiences in an innovative theater experience is recognized as the &ldquo;Best Art Paper&rdquo; of the Conference. 
VINCI is the premier international forum for researchers and industrial practitioners to discuss the state of the art in visual communication theories, designs, and applications. Visual communication through graphical or sign languages has long been conducted among humans of different backgrounds or cultures and, in recent decades, between humans and machines. In today's digital world, visual information is typically encoded with various metaphors commonly used in daily life to facilitate rapid comprehension and easy analysis during the communication process. Visual information communication generally encompasses information visualization, graphical user interfaces, visual analytics, and visual languages. Visual information is increasingly used to facilitate human-human communication through the Internet and mobile devices.

EVLers Present &ldquo;Hummingbird: Live Theater Adventure Empowering Collaboration in Virtual Reality&rdquo; & Win Best Art Paper Award at VINCI 2024

Candidate: Pantea Habibi 
Date and Time: Friday, November 1, 2024; 3:30 PM - 6:00 PM 
Location: ERF 2068 
Abstract: 
When interacting with large displays, virtual reality, or augmented reality, people often use mid-air gestures. During these touchless interactions, they may need to alternate between hands or use both hands simultaneously. Most individuals have a hand preference, and preferred and non-preferred hands in lateralized individuals perform differently due to cerebral hemispheric specialization. For example, in right-handed individuals, the right hand is typically better at sequential motor tasks - those requiring (sensory) feedback control - whereas the left hand is better at parallel processing or open-loop behavior. In this thesis, we examine how lateral asymmetry impacts user performance in touchless input. My research provides an empirical investigation to characterize touchless performance when using preferred, non-preferred, and both hands. It explores binding the related tasks sequentially and in parallel, as well as different phrase structures, considering how much muscular tension is involved. 
In this work, we compared preferred and non-preferred hand performance in simple and compound tasks, such as pointing and select-and-dragging, respectively. In right-handed individuals, we did not find any significant performance differences between their preferred and non-preferred hands in touchless pointing or dragging. However, between-hand performance differences were significant when using mouse and stylus input. 
Additionally, we studied how phrasing with both hands can support volumetric multi-selection in touchless input. We present an empirical comparison of mid-air multi-selection techniques spanning dominant and non-dominant hand actions. The symmetric-synchronous and high-tension asymmetric-asynchronous bimanual techniques were not significantly different in terms of efficiency, and accuracy for within-reach targets. Furthermore, there were no significant differences between low and high-tension asymmetric-asynchronous bimanual techniques. The symmetric-synchronous bimanual technique was most preferred by users. 
Lastly, we explored how different phrase structures in bimanual phrasing impact compound task performance, such as touchless multi-selection and manipulation (e.g., drag-and-drop). Our findings revealed that while accuracy remained consistent across different tension levels, higher tension led to faster completion times through continuous gesture engagement. Interestingly, participants preferred half-tension phrasing for its ergonomic balance, as it minimized fatigue without compromising efficiency. These empirical findings can inform the design of future bimanual and multimodal interaction techniques involving touchless input.

PhD Dissertation Announcement: &ldquo;Understanding Lateral Asymmetry in Touchless Interaction&rdquo;

EVL faculty and UIC Design Professor Daria Tsoupikova is featured in the Fall 2024 College Engineering RISE magazine issue. The article covers Daria&rsquo; collaboration with the Chicago Design Archive and Columbia College Chicago.   The project entitled &ldquo;Chicago Design Milestones 1920-2019&rdquo; focuses on design milestones in the city of Chicago from 1920-2019.  The media design installation features 3,200 examples of design work done in the city, and premiered on the 150 Media Stream screens in the lobby of 150 North Riverside Plaza on the Chicago River July 1, 2019.

Daria Tsoupikova Featured in Fall 2024 RISE

Assistant professor Hy Kim, director of UIC&rsquo;s Human-Centered Engineering Lab will present his research: 
Friday 10/25/24, 1pm 
EVL Continuum (Room 2068 Engineering Research Facility) 
Abstract: 
Augmented reality (AR) has the potential to fundamentally change the way we interact with information. Direct perception of computer-generated graphics atop physical reality can afford hands-free access to contextual information on the fly. However, as users must interact with not only information on the display but also environmental changes in the real world, the traditional User-Centered Design (UCD) approaches that focus on human-computer interaction, may not always adequately address the dynamic nature of human-environment interaction. This seminar will introduce, Ecological Interface Design (EID), a new approach to the design and evaluation of AR interfaces to complement UCD. EID is a framework for interface design that respects dynamic, environmental constraints imposed on users&rsquo; behavior. EID addresses two questions for interface design; what information should be displayed (the content and structure of information that represent the physical reality of the work environment), and how that information should be presented (the perceptual forms of interface elements compatible with human information processing). The talk will start with the theoretical background of EID and show how this approach can benefit AR user interface design and evaluation with an example of an AR head-up display for vehicle drivers. 
Bio 
Hy Kim is an Assistant Professor of Industrial Engineering at the University of Illinois Chicago, where he is leading the <a href="https://sites.google.com/view/human-centered-engineering">Human-Centered Engineering lab</a>. His current research focuses on new methods for the requirements analysis, design, prototyping, and evaluation of extended reality (XR) applications, emphasizing human-technology partnerships at future workplaces. Sponsored by government agencies and industry partners, he has investigated basic topics on human factors in XR, such as human depth perception, visual attention, situation awareness, workload, and task performance while interacting with XR applications. Recently, his team has developed virtual environments to study how people would interact with future urban transportation services such as external human-machine interfaces for robotaxis & urban street robots (Honda), driver interfaces for SAE L3 automated vehicles (GM), and crew stations for remote operations of search & rescue vehicles (US Army). 
Dr. Kim received a Ph.D. in industrial and systems engineering specializing in human factors and ergonomics from Virginia Tech in 2017. He has more than ten years of research experience in Human-Computer Interaction from academia and industry, including Oakland University, Virginia Tech Center for HCI, and General Motors. He has served as PI or Co-PI of more than 10 research projects and published more than 30 papers in top-tier conferences and journals such as IEEE Virtual Reality, IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality, ACM Automotive User Interfaces, and ACM Intelligent User Interfaces, IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, and Human Factors. He actively serves the above research communities as an organizer of international conferences and workshops.

Beyond User-Centered Design: Ecological Approach to the User Interface Design and Evaluation in Augmented Reality

EVL-affiliated faculty and Communication Distinguished Professor Steve Jones was part of the program committee for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Department of Communication day-long research forum - AI IMPACT. The forum discussed AI&rsquo;s benefits and challenges. From deep learning to deepfakes, from robotics to avatars, from ChatGPT to human augmentics, from virtual influencers to social bots and countless others, the symposium draws from a broad multidisciplinary understanding of AI to investigate how AI-supported technology can be used for the common good. 
Sessions included talks by EVL Director Mike Papka &ldquo;Computational Impact of AI&rdquo;, EVL alumn and Data Science Team Lead at the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility, Venkat Vishwanath &ldquo;AI for Science&rdquo;, as well as project demonstrations (Playground Spaces) by EVL research students: 
&ldquo;Visualization of Protein-Protein Interactions for Drug Discovery using LLMS&rdquo; - Aaqel Shaik, Michael E. Papka, Shilpika and Venkatram Vishwanath 
&ldquo;AI Engagement is XR (Multimodal AI)&rdquo; - Abdullah Ali, Ricky Massa, Aaqel Shaik, Michael E. Papka 
For more information on the Symposium and to review the program see <a href="https://las.uic.edu/events/las-faculty-research-symposium-ai-impact/">https://las.uic.edu/events/las-faculty-research-symposium-ai-impact/</a>

AI Impact Symposium

EVL undergraduate researcher Athena Angara discussed her summer internship project with Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF), &ldquo;Tele-robotics to Tele-autonomous Robotics for Isotope Production,&rdquo; during NVIDIA&rsquo;s weekly livestream, Community Spotlight: Unlocking Physical AI with Isaac Sim and OpenUSD. 
Angara is a senior studying data science. She spent her summer at the ALCF working on a DOE-funded project that leveraged virtual reality and augmented reality to create digital twins of critical components of robotic arms. Using Unreal Engine 5 and NVIDIA&rsquo;s Unity, Omniverse, and Isaac Sim, Angara developed an immersive display system with real-time, low latency, and high spatial resolution for remote control processes. She also converted data to ensure accurate representations between these digital platforms. 
NVIDIA&rsquo;s Omniverse is a real-time 3D graphics collaboration platform. It has been used for applications in the visual effects and &ldquo;digital twin&rdquo; industrial simulation industries. Omniverse makes extensive use of the Universal Scene Description format. 
To see more about the ALCF summer program see <a href="https://www.alcf.anl.gov/news/summer-students-tackle-supercomputing-and-ai-research-projects">&ldquo;Summer students tackle supercomputing and AI research projects&rdquo;</a> 
See the <a href="https://youtu.be/3jM1mjGqZ0Q?si=JWoxznDdeGTAv88H">YouTube video</a> of Angara&rsquo;s project.

&ldquo;Tele-robotics to Tele-autonomous Robotics for Isotope Production&rdquo; Presented at NVIDIA&rsquo;s Livestream

EVL hosts Jorge Wagner as a guest speaker, presenting &ldquo;Designing and Evaluating HMD-Based Immersive Analytics Environments&rdquo;. 
Friday 10/18/24, 1pm 
EVL Continuum, Room 2068 (Engineering Research Facility) 
Abstract 
The potential of Immersive Analytics approaches to enhance how humans understand and interact with data has attracted the attention of visualization researchers for decades, as is well illustrated by the work done at the EVL. Quick technological advances in head-mounted displays over the last years led to devices such as Meta Quest 3 and Apple Vision Pro, bringing those techniques closer to widespread adoption. However, the design space for Immersive Analytics applications is vast, and it is crucial to understand the advantages and disadvantages of alternative designs. Over the last eight years, during the development of my Master&rsquo;s and PhD dissertations, I have studied the design of HMD-based environments for Immersive Analytics, investigating different data exploration metaphors, frames of reference, and modes of interaction. As a result, I have also proposed a series of ideas to reimagine existing visualization applications to take advantage of the benefits of immersion. In this talk, I will present an overview of my research work and my current ideas on this topic, with a deeper focus on my most recent paper, &ldquo;Reimagining TaxiVis,&rdquo; which I believe sets forth concepts that can be useful for other applications. 
Bio 
PhD student in Computer Science at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil, researching guidelines for efficient 3D data exploration with Immersive Analytics under the supervision of Prof. Luciana Nedel and Prof. Wolfgang Stuerzlinger. Jorge was a 2021-2022 Microsoft Research PhD Fellow and a Research Intern in Apple&rsquo;s Vision Products Group from April to October 2024. Recently, he was also a Fulbright Visiting Student Researcher at New York University, working under the supervision of Prof. Claudio Silva (2021-2022). Before that, he completed a six-month research internship with Prof. Stuerzlinger at Simon Fraser University, Canada, as part of the Emerging Leaders in the Americas program (2019).

Designing and Evaluating HMD-Based Immersive Analytics Environments

Andrew Wentzel presents his research entitled &ldquo;Digital Twins Visualization&rdquo; at the IEEE VIS2024 Conference at 3:30 (4:30 EDT) October 17, 2024. 
Abstract: 
Digital twin models are of high interest to Head and Neck Cancer (HNC) oncologists, who have to navigate a series of complex treatment decisions that weigh the efficacy of tumor control against toxicity and mortality risks. Evaluating individual risk profiles necessitates a deeper understanding of the interplay between different factors such as patient health, spatial tumor location and spread, and risk of subsequent toxicities that can not be adequately captured through simple heuristics. To support clinicians in better understanding tradeoffs when deciding on treatment courses, we developed DITTO, a digital-twin and visual computing system that allows clinicians to analyze detailed risk profiles for each patient, and decide on a treatment plan. DITTO relies on a sequential Deep Reinforcement Learning digital twin (DT) to deliver personalized risk of both long-term and short-term disease outcome and toxicity risk for HNC patients. Based on a participatory collaborative design alongside oncologists, we also implement several visual explainability methods to promote clinical trust and encourage healthy skepticism when using our system. We evaluate the efficacy of DITTO through quantitative evaluation of performance and case studies with qualitative feedback. Finally, we discuss design lessons for developing clinical visual XAI applications for clinical end users.

EVL PhD Candidate Andrew Wentzel Presents his Research at IEEE VIS2024

This year, students at the Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) at the University of Illinois Chicago College of Engineering participated in the <a href="https://ieeevis.org/year/2024/welcome">IEEE VIS 2024 Conference</a>. 
Prof. Liz Marai&rsquo;s students had several presentations. PhD Student Siyuan Zhao presented his work &ldquo;A Part-to-Whole Circular Cell Explorer&rdquo; at the Bio+Med+Vis Workshop on Oct 13. PhD Student Andrew Wentzel presented his paper <a href="https://www.evl.uic.edu/pubs/2827">&ldquo;DITTO: A Visual Digital Twin for Interventions and Temporal Treatment Outcomes in Head and Neck Cancer&rdquo;</a> on Oct 17. 
Prof. Fabio Miranda&rsquo;s PhD Student Gustavo Moreira presented his work <a href="https://www.evl.uic.edu/pubs/2843">&ldquo;Curio: A Dataflow-Based Framework for Collaborative Urban Visual Analytics&rdquo;</a> on Oct 16.
Dr. Saeed BoorBoor presented his two papers, &ldquo;VoxAR: Adaptive Visualization of Volume Rendered Objects in Optical See-Through Augmented Reality&rdquo; and &ldquo;Submerse: Visualizing Storm Surge Flooding Simulations in Immersive Display Ecologies&rdquo;. He will join as an EVL Faculty member at the University of Illinois Chicago next term. 
UIC&rsquo;s EVL faculty Liz Marai, PhD Students Md Nafiul Alam Nipu, Siyuan Zhao, and Hossein Fathollahian also participated at the VIS Chicago Satellite Event hosted by the University of Chicago Data Science Institute. After the watch party for the plenary session, we heard from faculty and PhD students at UChicago, UIC&rsquo;s EVL, Northwestern, and DePaul.

IEEE VIS 2024: Visualization & Virtual Analytics Virtual Conference

A team of collaborating researchers from EVL and others from the Equitable Health Data Science Institute (EHDS) members placed 2nd out of 17 teams in the EPIC COSMOS <a href="https://ehds.uic.edu/events/hackathon/">Hackaton at UIC sponsored by the EHDS</a>. Team members consisted of Ranga Chandrasekaran, Runa Bhaumik, Tommy Cheng, Andrew Wentzel, Nafiul Nipu, Hossein Fathollahian, and Sanjana Srabanti. 
The problem they tackled was: 
The mental health symptoms/diseases in cancer patients are often not recognized and managed. Compare the prevalence of mental health disorders in different cancers. 
The Institute for Equitable Health Data Science Research&rsquo;s mission is to analyze and eliminate potential biases before they are unwittingly embedded in artificial intelligence algorithms in healthcare. In particular, the institute, with its fabric of interdisciplinary collaborations, will shape solutions for biomedical and health data science and technology while prioritizing health equity for Chicago&rsquo;s diverse population and beyond. The institute is co-directed by Prof. Andrew Boyd and Prof. Elisabeta (Liz) Marai.

EVLers Present “Hummingbird: Live Theater Adventure Empowering Collaboration in Virtual Reality” & Win Best Art Paper Award at VINCI 2024

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