Current Students

I currently supervise the following graduate students:

PhD Students:

• Kristen Grinyer, PhD (digital media), Jan. 2022 - present, improved interaction on low-fi XR devices
• Heather Qian, PhD (digital media), Sept. 2019 - present, eye-tracking in XR interaction
• Assem Kroma, PhD (digital media), Sept. 2019-present, holistic XR frameworks and prototyping (co-supervised with A. Girouard)
• Anthony Scavarelli, PhD (digital media), 2016-present, an interaction framework for hybrid multi-user virtual/augmented reality, (co-supervised with A. Arya)

Master's Students:

• Eric DeMarbre, MIT, May 2023 - present, TBD
• Manya Kakkar, MHCI, Jan. 2022 - present, TBD, (co-supervised with A. Girouard)
• Anand Suraj, MHCI, Sept. 2022 - present, TBD
• Andrew Thompson, MHCI, Sept. 2022 - present, TBD, (co-supervised with L. Istead)
• Eric Lacey, MASc (HCI), Sept. 2021 - present, TBD

Past Students

• Aryan Golshan, MASc (HCI), June 2021 - Jan. 2023, VR as a persuasive tool to improve vaccine confidence (co-supervised with V. McArthur)
• Naz Al Kassm, MCS (HCI), Sept. 2019 - Sept. 2022, The Virtual Reality Questionnaire Watch: Exploring Novel Methods Integrated with Google Forms
• Kristen Grinyer, MIT (digital media), Jan. 2021 - Dec. 2021, fast-tracked to PhD program
• Sepanta Montazeri, PhD (digital media), Sept. 2019 - Sept. 2021,
• Stanislav Kyian, MIT (digital media), Sept. 2019 - Aug. 2021, Selection Performance Using a Smartphone in VR with Redirected Input
• Elaheh Samimi, MIT (digital media), Sept. 2019 - Aug. 2021, Improving VR Selection Using Progressive Refinement with Multi-Touch Marking Menus
• Siju Philip, MIT (digital media), Jan. 2019-Sept. 2021
• Amir Didehkhorshid, MIT (digital media), Jan. 2019-present, Visual illusions and cursor warping in tablet-based VR selection
• Eduardo Soto, MIT (digital media), Sept. 2017-present, Text Entry in Virtual Reality: Implementation of FLIK method and Text Entry Test-Bed
• Erin Martel, MASc (HCI), Aug. 2019 - Jan. 2020, Controlling VR games: Control schemes and the player experience, (co-supervised with K. Muldner)
• Jordan Pollock, MASc (HCI), Sept. 2017 - June 2019, CountMarks: Multi-finger marking menus for mobile interactions with head-mounted displays
• Justin Chin, MDes, Sept. 2017 - June 2019, Identifying interactions for virtual reality: A study of collaboration and engagement in different media(co-supervised with L. Frankel)
• John McClelland, MIT (digital media), June 2017 - Sept. 2018, Haptic Feedback in Virtual Reality with Deformation and Shape-Change, (co-supervised with A. Girouard)
• Siqi Luo, MCS (HCI), Sept. 2016 - Sept. 2018, Camera-Based Selection with Low-Cost Mobile VR Head-Mounted Displays
• Adrian Ramcharitar, MCS (HCI), Sept. 2016 - Aug. 2018, 2D Selection in Virtual Reality with Head Mounted Displays
• Yasin Farmani, MCS (HCI), Sept. 2016 - April 2018, Discrete Viewpoint Control to Reduce Cybersickness in Virtual Environments
• Heather Qian, MCS (HCI), Sept. 2016 - March 2018, Empirical Studies on Selection and Travel Performance of Eye-Tracking in Virtual Reality

Prospective Students

I am currently recruiting master's and PhD students in information technology (digital media) and human-computer interaction (MCS and MASc stream) in the general areas of interactive virtual reality systems, and computer game user interfaces. See my research page for further details of my projects in these areas. Students will have the opportunity to work in a large multi-disciplinary group in a well-equipped CFI-supported lab. Most accepted full-time students receive funding as specified in our graduate programs. This is typically enough to cover tuition and living costs.

For these positions, I am looking for students that meet the following criteria:

• Entrance requirements for your respective program, either Information Technology (MIT or PhD) or Human-Computer Interaction (MCS or MASc)
• Excellent academic achievements. An average of B+ or better is typically required for admission. Higher grades (average of A or better) increase your eligibility for scholarships, and provides you a better funding package
• The ability to work in a team
• A background in related areas of Computer Science and/or Information Technology (e.g., Human-Computer Interaction, 3D/Spatial User Interfaces, Virtual Reality, Game Design)
• Excellent programming/development skills
• Very good English language skills

Further to these general criteria, PhD applications should also have:

• At least one scientific publication
• A MSc thesis in one of the areas described above

Feel free to reach out to me if you are interested in such a position, and meet the criteria outlined above. Please include a CV, transcripts (unofficial are fine), and TOEFL or IELTS scores as appropriate. Finally, note that our application process is very competitive; meeting the minimum requirements outlined above does not guarantee an offer of admission, or of receiving a funded position.

Finally, please note that I receive many supervision requests from prospective applicants. I typically only reply to those who demonstrate that they are actually interested in my research areas (as opposed to sending blanket emails to the entire department).