DES Student Crystal Candalla Wins Marcus Research Grant

DES Vis Com student Crystal Candalla has been awarded a Marcus Undergraduate Research Fellowship Grant for AY2019-2020. She won the grant for a proposal with her faculty mentor, Assistant Professor Josh McVeigh-Schultz. Their $4,000 grant will support the project "Embodiment in XR:  Using Research through Design (RtD) Techniques in VR to Ecplore New Approaches to:  Attention, Interaction Rituals, and Spatial Metaphors." 

In describing her project, Crystal states, "Our project will explore new UX/UI principles and the role of embodied cognition in XR design using Research through Design (RtD) methodology. Our goal is to develop a series of XR prototypes to explore new approaches to embodiment, in particular examining: (1) new design approaches to attention, (2) new embodied gesture-based interaction modalities, (3) new spatial metaphors as an alternative to menu-based interactions. These prototypes will be tested by DES students in the Interaction Design III course in Fall 2019. This will allow for regular user testing while staying consistent with transitioning design curriculum. More importantly, this will provide School of Design students with an opportunity to engage in design theory, research and development in its early phases of impact."

This is one of two winning proposals from School of Design students and faculty. The other is for Anucha Poh Maga's work with Associate Professor Silvan Linn to work on a Hybrid Motorcycle.