Research

Research Area 1: Human-Computer Interaction

Interactive Product Design

During my time as a Master of Industrial Design (MID) student at Georgia Tech, I was a Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) at the Ka Moamoa Lab in the School of Interactive Computing. I was involved in designing and prototyping energy-harvesting prostheses and rehabilitative products for pediatric patients with mobility needs.

I made the following video to share progress on a lower-limb prosthesis prototype I made.

The goal was to create a modular proof-of-concept and deliver it to my lab members to test with energy harvesting components.

I was a member of the CodeCraft Group and worked on the RadioCrafters project. I served as a facilitator for workshops and helped middle school students create interactive models using Microbits, sensors, and traditional craft materials.

3D-Printed Prosthesis Design

University of Houston Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF)

I participated in the SURF program to conduct design research on hand prosthetics. I worked with my research mentor Professor Jeff Feng to create functional fingers for a hand amputee patient living in Houston as part of an ongoing project.

3D-Printed Hand Prosthesis Design – Undergraduate Research day Poster

Virtual Reality (VR) Research

I was involved in a research project exploring spatial navigation in virtual reality (VR). We explored the idea of creating an avatar-based interface to guide users as they teleport in VR and help them become less disoriented.

This research was sponsored by the National Science Foundation: Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program at Iowa State University – Virtual Reality Applications Center.

Partially Concordant Teleportation involves moving your body and choosing a spot in front of you to teleport.
Discordant Teleportation involves standing forward and placing a marker in the position and direction you want to face when you teleport.

Triangle Completion Task

We tested our participants’ spatial navigation abilities using a triangle completion task. They would teleport to two vertices of a triangle, and then point back to where they think they started.

We tested our participants using the triangle completion test in four different interfaces. The 2×2 experimental design included the variables with/without the avatar interfaces, and partially concordant or discordant interfaces.

See what the interfaces looked like in the headset:

For a detailed explanation, see my research presentation video on YouTube.

Reducing Disorientation in Teleportation – Undergraduate Research Day Poster.

Research Area 2: Design History and Education

“Design Practice in Support of Capitalism: Industrial Design and Cold War Consumer Politics”

The United States and the Soviet Union were political rivals in a battle between U.S. capitalism and Soviet communism known as the Cold War. While the Cold War can be understood as an armament and space race, it can also be studied as a battle of cultural conflict and contrasting ideologies.

Industrial designers were commissioned by the U.S. government to depict a positive message of capitalism and granted creative freedom in choosing how to represent the U.S. abroad. Industrial designers played a pivotal role in Cold War politics; they presented U.S. culture by showing physical artifacts and consumer technologies at international exhibitions. This thesis examines three exhibitions: the Marshall Plan exhibits in Berlin, the Brussels World’s Fair, and the American National Exhibition in Moscow, to argue that industrial designers influenced politics as cultural diplomats.

See this post for my academic journey on this topic.

Publication and News

Overview paper published by the Industrial Designers Society of America (2023):
The Politics and Design and Capitalism: From Historical to Contemporary Perspectives

The full thesis as published by the University of Houston libraries:
https://hdl.handle.net/10657/10505

The thesis was awarded Outstanding Senior Honors Thesis by the Honors College at the University of Houston. This article shared by the UH College of Architecture and Design provides a brief overview:
CoAD stories: Industrial Design Student wins 2022 Outstanding Thesis Award