Faculty, Student and Alum Directory | Virtual and Augmented Reality Lab

Karen Chen

Karen Chen | Assistant Professor

Associate Professor
kbchen2[at]ncsu[dot]edu
919.515.6403

4349 Fitts-Woolard Hall

Education
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2015
M.S., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2010
B.S., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2009

Karen Chen’s research studies human performances and uses human factors and ergonomics frameworks as the foundation. She also implements technologies such as virtual reality to explore the potential of improving the health and safety of various populations. She has investigated the use of virtual reality to understand older driver biomechanics and the utility for ranges of motion rehabilitation of chronic pain patients. Besides research, she also offers courses in Human Factors in Systems Design, Musculoskeletal Biomechanics, Human-Computer Interface, and Special Topics in Technology and Healthcare Applications.

Xu Xu

Xu Xu | Assistant Professor

Associate Professor
xxu[at]ncsu[dot]edu
919.512.7205

4351 Fitts-Woolard Hall
Education
Ph.D., North Carolina State University, 2008
M.S., North Carolina State University, 2006
B.S., Tsinghua University, 2004

Prior to joining the NC State faculty, Xu Xu started his career as a postdoctoral research fellow in the School of Public Health at Harvard University. From there he became a research scientist at Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety where he received multiple best paper and outstanding scientific contribution awards. His research interests are generally in the areas of biomechanical modeling, optimization, simulation and data mining with respect to human daily activities to promote workplace and at-home injury prevention and driving safety. Xu has published more than forty journal articles on the aforementioned research topics.