Office of Information Technology and Biggio Center Award AUX grant to 11 faculty members

The Office of Information Technology and the Biggio Center are excited to announce that the AUX: Immersive Learning Experiences grant for 2023 has been awarded to 11 faculty members and faculty teams for a total of $330,507. All projects implement innovative technology, including augmented and virtual reality, to transform teaching and learning experiences for Auburn students.

The collaborative team received many excellent proposals, and the review committee had a difficult time selecting the 2023 recipients. Nonetheless, the awarded faculty members stood out for their innovative applications and potential to make a significant impact in their respective fields.

Grant recipients are listed below:

Chandana Mitra (Department of Geosciences) - "Earth as Art" Interactive Globe Museum.

Project Team: Marilyn Vogel (Co-PI), Miriam Wyman (Co-PI), Rebecca Dodge (Co-PI), Brent Yantis (Collaborator), Chris Molinski (Collaborator), and Auburn Online.

Donna Burnett (Department of Nutritional Sciences) -  Developing an immersive VR culinary experience for multiclass/multidisciplinary use.

Project Team: Ramesh Jeganathan (Co-PI), Annie Kirby (Co-PI), and Auburn Online.

Jennifer Pindyck (Department of Architecture and Interior Architecture) - Immersive Architecture Lab: XR, design and visualization of the built environment.

Project Team: Gorham Bird (Co-PI), Frank Hu (Co-PI), and Steven Wall (Collaborator). 

Kimberly Garza (Department of Health Outcomes Research and Policy) - EmpathyVR: Expansion of a Haptics plus Virtual Reality Application to Promote Empathy for Patients with Chronic Diseases.

Project Team: Chad Rose, Gary Hawkins, Cheryl Seals, and Adelia Grabowsky.

Kristen Tordella-Williams (Department of Art and Art History) - Immersive Woodshop Safety Training.

Project Team: Brian Cooley and Auburn Online.

Mark Traynor (Department of Hospitality Management) - Food Safety Immersive Learning Virtual Experience: Phase 2 – The development of a fully immersive virtual reality environment.

Project Team: Yee Ming Lee (Co-PI), Alecia Douglas (Co-PI), and Auburn Online.

Mary Mendonca (Department of Biological Sciences) - Immersive Augmented Reality Physiology Teaching Labs.

Project Team: Gary Hawkins (Co-PI), Linda Pastorello, Ashley Peart, Cissy Ballen, and Lily McGuckin.

Pankush Kalgotra (Department of Business Analytics and Information Systems) - Network Analytics through Virtual Reality: An Illustrative Application of Comorbidity Network.

Project Team: HCOB IT and Auburn Online.

Rachel Prado (Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry) - Extending the web-VR applications for visualizing organic molecules and reactions.  

Project Team: Vanessa Falcao (Co-PI) and Auburn Online.

Rebecca Retzlaff (Department of Political Science) - Racial City Planning and Housing Discrimination: Visualizing Montgomery from Redlining to Gentrification.

Project Team: Keith Hebert (Co-PI), Robert Sproull (Co-PI), and Auburn Online.

Thorsten Knappenberger (Department of Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences) - Exploring Stream Restoration Sites in a Virtual Reality Space.

Project Team: James Lindner (Co-PI) and Eve Brantley (Co-PI).

We congratulate each awardee and extend a generous thank you to all faculty that applied. To read about previous grant projects, please visit the AUX grant website.