Virtual Experience Research Accelerator (VERA)

Supported by five collaborative grants from the U.S. National Science Foundation, the Virtual Experience Research Accelerator (VERA) project is developing a human-machine system for carrying out human subjects research related to extended reality (XR), including Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality, for the XR researcher community. The project also seeks to foster a vibrant, diverse, and inclusive VERA research community, and to foster the professional growth of individual researchers.

More about VERA.
About the VERA logo.

To serve the community of XR researchers by providing tools to accelerate and improve the quality of their human subjects research, building and sustaining a diverse and inclusive collaborative community of XR researchers, and fostering the next generation of XR researchers.

[17 OCT 2024] Updated information on the 21 OCT 2024 tutorial on testing at ISMAR 2024.
[03 JUL 2024] We are planning a tutorial on testing at ISMAR 2024.
[28 MAR 2024] The 2024 VERA Community Committees are out!
[27 FEB 2024] The VERA Accessibility Survey is out!
All news

Principal Investigators

• • Greg WELCH (Lead PI), University of Central Florida
  • Shiri AZENKOT, Cornell Tech
  • Jeremy BAILENSON (Director of Community Outreach), Stanford University
  • Gerd BRUDER, University of Central Florida
  • John MURRAY, University of Central Florida
  • Tabitha PECK, Davidson College
  • Valerie Jones TAYLOR, Rutgers University

Investigators

• • Jonathan BEEVER (Ethics and Privacy), University of Central Florida
  • Nicholas Alvaro COLES (Big Team Science, Director PSA), Stanford University
  • Carolina Cruz-NEIRA (Partnerships, Sustainability), University of Central Florida
  • Rui XIE (Statistics and Data Science), University of Central Florida

Development and Operations

• • Ali HASKINS LISLE, Director of Development and Operations, University of Central Florida
  • Dylan FOX, Accessibility Lead and XR Access Director of Operations

• Chloe Beato, Development Project Manager
• Dharini Chandrashekar, UX/UI Designer
• Zubin Choudhary, Developer
• Corey Clements, Developer
• Jaz DeGuzman, Developer
• Hiroshi Furuya, Developer
• Lam Nguyen, Developer
• Akhil Pavan Sai Machavaram, Developer

• Ryan SCHUBERT, Special Projects Coordinator, University of Central Florida
• Alex MOLINA, Administrative Assistant to Prof. Greg Welch, University of Central Florida

External Advisors

• • Anthony STEED, Senior Technical Advisor, University College London

Student Teams

• • UCF 2023–2024 Computer Science Senior Design Team, "VERA Locomotion Accessibility Toolkit"
    • Team: Parsa Baghaie, Corey Clements, Josh Federmann, Adam Lei, Christian Merino, and Oliver Wacker
    • Advisors: Greg Welch and Dylan Fox

Outreach and Engagement Committee

• • Chaired by Jeremy Bailenson, focuses on broad community involvement and building/growing a diverse user community.
  • Members: Shakiba Davari, Francesco Ferrise, Isabel Fitton, Meg Fozzard, Joseph Grannum, Aleshia Hayes, Eileen McGivney, Nathan Ornick, and Billy Woody.

DEIA Committee

• • Chaired by Valerie Jones Taylor and Dylan Fox, focuses on project-wide DEIA efforts.
  • Members: Isayas Adhanom, Lysette Chaproniere, Zuri Chavers, Stephen Gilbert, Abraham Glasser, Haley Hatfield, Shalece Kohnke, Amanda Lannan, Cassidy Nelson, Tiffany Pilgrim, and Allyson Vignola.

Ethics and Privacy Committee

• • Chaired by Jonathan Beever, focuses on potential ethical concerns related to engagement, research participation and data reuse, and platform design.
  • Members: Brendan David-John, Alexander Giovannelli, Natalie Laurent, Michael Middleton, Mark Miller, Jason Ortiz, Lauren Stanger, and Allyson Vignola.

Participant Pool Committee

• • Chaired by Tabitha Peck, focuses on all matters related to the participant pool including demographics, payments, IRB approvals, and the inclusion of vulnerable populations.
  • Members: Isayas Adhanom, Zuri Chavers, Pablo Figueroa, Isabel Fitton, Lee Lisle, Laura Sheerman, Jeanine Stefanucci, and Billy Woody.

Systems and Operations Committee

• • Chaired by Gerd Bruder and John Murray, focuses on development and operations of VERA systems, services, and tools.
  • Members: Aryabrata Basu, Christos Mousas, Balakrishnan Prabhakaran, Evan Suma Rosenberg, and Daniel Zielasko.

The VERA Community Advisory Board (CAB) provides strategic perspectives, critical thinking, and specific advice to the entire VERA organization.

• VERA mail lists
• VERA on LinkedIn
• VERA on Twitter (X)

• 2022 VERA Summary
• Open Information & Discussion (06 APR 2022, 0900 EDT and 1500 EDT)
• IEEE VR 2022 Panel & Discussion (15 MAR 2022, 0930 NZDT)
• ISMAR 2021 Panel & Discussion (07 OCT 2021, 1615 CEST)
• ISMAR 2022 Workshop on Inclusive and Generalizable Human Subject Research in XR  (17 OCT 2022)

25 OCT 2024

This material is based upon work supported primarily by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number 2235066.

Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.