About Me
My name is Sarah Coufal and I am a rising senior at Bryn Mawr College. I am majoring in Computer Science and Mathematics and will be graduating in Spring 2022. My 2021 DREU experience is taking place at the University of Minnesota, although I am working remotely from Pittsburgh.
About My Mentor
I am working with Dr. Victoria Interrante this summer. Dr. Interrante is a professor of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, as well as the director of the Center for Cognitive Sciences at the University of Minnesota. Her research is on the intersection of computer graphics and psychology/perception and focuses on improving the quality of virtual reality experiences.
About My Project
Virtual reality (VR) can be used in many application areas such as education, job training, design, and more. Unfortunately, many users experience cybersickness, or feelings of nausea, eye strain, and dizziness when using VR technology. There are several strategies that have been implemented to reduce cybersickness in VR experiences, but some of these methods sacrifice important parts of the virtual experience, such as the user’s sense of space in their environment. A possible strategy to combat cybersickness while maintaining a sense of space is to use non-photorealistic rendering. We can reduce the detail of the environment, which may be less sickness inducing than a very photorealistic, detailed environment. The objective of this project is to develop a non-photorealistic filter that the user can turn on if they are experiencing cybersickness.