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.

Nathan Sanders | Ph.D. Student
Nathan Sanders

Ph.D. Student
nesander[at]ncsu[dot]edu
Education
M.S., North Carolina State University, 2020
B.S., Tufts University, 2008

Nathan Sanders‘s research is situated near the intersection of occupational health and virtual reality. After earning his B.S. in Engineering Physics, he worked for ten years, variously as a custom bicycle frame builder, horticulturalist, mechanic, chef, and production engineer. A lifelong passion for gaming and ‘secondary worlds’ attracted him to VR while he was earning his Master’s in Industrial Engineering. His current research interests are the physical and cognitive ergonomics of working in virtual environments. Can the affordances of VR support productivity and well-being in daily work? What are the adverse consequences of long-term VR use in the workplace? Do people think, feel, and behave any differently in virtual environments? What are the subjective experiences of people who use VR for daily work? His current projects include an analysis of robot-related injuries in the workplace, an exploration of the psychological validity of immersive digital twins for human-robot interaction, and a methodological investigation of user-generated gestures for VR interactions.

Emily Fang

Ph.D. Student
efang2[at]ncsu[dot]edu
Education
B.S., North Carolina State University, 2024

Emily Fang is an undergraduate student studying Industrial and Systems Engineering with a Health Systems Engineering concentration and a minor in Supply Chain Engineering. She is currently working on improving worker health through improving employee training using augmented reality. Emily is also interested in enhancing health systems through improving supply chain management. Her hobbies include working on her art and improving in video games.

Fangyuan (Sophie) Cheng

Ph.D. Student
fcheng5[at]ncsu[dot]edu
Education
M.E., Tongji University, 2023
B.E., Hunan University, 2020

Fangyuan Cheng’s primary research interest is the integration of virtual reality and learning sciences, aiming to leverage VR affordance and human-computer interaction design to enhance the learning process, experience and outcomes.

Kalene Thomas

Ph.D. Student
kmhanson[at]ncsu[dot]edu
Education
M.S., North Carolina State University

B.S., North Carolina State University

Kalenes‘s primary research interest is the engineering education.

Liliana Gomez

Master’s Student
legomez2[at]ncsu[dot]edu
Education

Liliana‘s primary research interest is the human factors and mental health.