03/20/19
Fort Hays State University’s Nicholas Caporusso, assistant professor of informatics, and Dr. Gordon Carlson, director of the Institute for New Media studies and associate professor of communication studies, will travel to Washington, D.C., in July to present their virtual reality research at the tenth Annual International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics.

Caporusso and Carlson wrote, “Immersive Virtual Reality Beyond Available Physical Space” with co-authors and graduate research assistants Meng Ding and Peng Zhang.

The team will discuss the limitations of physical simulation spaces while using virtual reality and design strategies to overcome these obstacles. Caporusso and Carlson will demonstrate the strides that have been made in the field of new media by exploring how people navigate two different mazes while trying to maintain a sense of direction and physical scale.

One maze layout will remain the same throughout the simulation while the other will change, demonstrating the impact limited physical space has on life-sized simulations.

The project will showcase the range of human factors that go into the design of virtual reality environments.

The conference will run from July 24 through July 28. Tutorials will begin the conference, followed by exhibitions, and meeting of special interest groups.