NSF CAREER -> Introduction, Recent News, Publications, Datasets, Software, Press Coverage, Invited Talks, Students, Postdocs, Outreach, Curriculum, Thanks

Introduction

The need for accurate and unforgeable identity recognition techniques has become an issue of increasing urgency. Biometric approaches such as iris recognition hold huge promise but still have significant limitations, including susceptibility to “spoofing”. This project seeks to advance our knowledge of security and accuracy of multibiometric systems by inventing, evaluating, and applying innovative methods and tools to combine highly accurate static traits, such as iris patterns, with novel traits based on the dynamics of eye movements. The strategy is to use existing iris recognition hardware to combine three different biometrics approaches related to the eye: measurement of iris patterns, unique characteristics of the eye globe and its muscles, and the brain’s strategies for guiding visual attention. This multimodal ocular biometrics approach has the potential to improve liveness detection and resistance to sophisticated counterfeiting techniques and coercion attacks, while improving identification accuracy. This research tackles important questions related to the individuality, variability, scalability, and longevity of these ocular traits, building a foundation for security and accuracy improvement when those traits are combined with iris recognition. This project aims to benefit efforts such as the Unique Identification project in India, which seeks to use biometric information of 1.2 billion individuals to fight fraud.

Educational activities include three initiatives: 1) creation of a strong outreach activity to K-12 students, 2) expansion of an interdisciplinary research-oriented educational program previously created by the PI for undergraduate and graduate students, and 3) mentoring and guidance to interest undergraduate students in scientific careers and encourage more students from diverse backgrounds to pursue graduate study.

Link for the project at NSF website - link.

Link for the subsequent project funded by NSF and titled "Eye Movement Biometrics in Virtual and Augmented Reality" - link.

Recent News

01/09/17 - I have received Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) 2017. The award was given for my work in cybersecurity with the emphasis on eye movement-driven biometrics and health assessment which is directly supported by this CAREER award. PECASE is "the highest honor bestowed by the United States Government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers". Press release from White House and press release from the National Science Foundation. National Science Foundation stated that the award was given: "For his groundbreaking research on the muscle structure of the eye as a basis for identification, which is transforming approaches to security and medicine. And for his unparalleled outreach on STEM research and education to large populations of underrepresented minorities."

05/20/16 - I gave research talk about Ocular Biometrics at Oculus Research

03/12/16 - I have presented Real-time Eye Movement Person Recognition Demo together with my student Dillon Lohr as a part of the SXSW Innovation Lab which is part of the South by Southwest Festival.

02/26/16 - I have received Google VR Research Award to advance eye tracking in Virtual Reality (VR) with emphasis on hardware and software that provides robust, cost effective and power aware solutions with high sampling frequency, positional accuracy, and low noise. Such advanced eye tracking solutions will enable future applications such as 1) seamless interaction with VR environment by knowing attention loci of a user, 2) gaze-contingent rendering to reduce computational resources needed by the VR device, 3) accurate eye movement prediction to improve immersive VR user experience, 4) user authentication based on eye movements, 5) user health assessment based on eye movements.

01/27/16 - I gave research talk about Ocular Biometrics at Microsoft Holo Lens Group

12/11/15 - I gave research talk about Ocular Biometrics at at zSpace

12/09/15 - I gave research talk about Ocular Biometrics at Google Virtual Reality Group

05/01/15 - Competition on Biometrics via Eye Movements (BioEye 2015) was conducted. Results of the competition will be presented at The IEEE Seventh International Conference on Biometrics: Theory, Applications and Systems (BTAS 2015).

01/19/15 - I will be a visiting professor at Notre Dame University in the lab of Dr. Kevin Boywer during Spring 2015 semester.

11/04/14 - NSF published a Science Nation episode about the work done on my NSF CAREER grant. As of 11/04/14 this is the front page story on the nsf.gov

08/19/14 - I was awarded Google Research Award.

07/25/14 - I will be a visiting professor at Johns Hopkins University in the lab of Dr. Reza Shadmehr during Fall 2014 semester.

05/30/14 - I have presented a research talk “Eye Movements in Biometrics and Human Computer Interaction” at Microsoft Research Headquarters link.

09/08/14 - My talk about how I have received NSF CAREER award delivered at 2014 NSF/DIMACS SaTC Aspiring PI workshop is published. Link to the workshop page.

 

Publications

Most recent publications related to this and similar award can be found at my Google Scholar profile.

H. Griffith, D. Lohr, E. Abdulin, O. Komogortsev, GazeBase, a large-scale, multi-stimulus, longitudinal eye movement dataset, Scientific Data, Nature, 8 (13), 2021, link.

I. Rigas, and O. V. Komogortsev Current research in eye movement biometrics: An analysis based on BioEye 2015 competition, Journal of Image and Vision Computing,58, 2017, link.

O. V. Komogortsev, C. Holland, A. Karpov, Oculomotor Plant Characteristics: The Effects of Environment and Stimulus, IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security, 11 (3), pp. 621 – 632, 2016. [.pdf]

I. Rigas, O. V. Komogortsev, and R. Shadmehr, Biometric Recognition via the Complex Eye Movement Behavior and the Incorporation of Saccadic Vigor and Acceleration Cues, ACM Transactions on Applied Perception, 13 (2), pp. 1-21, 2016. [.pdf]

I. Rigas, E. Abdulin, O. Komogortsev, Towards a multi-source fusion approach for eye movement-driven recognition, Elsevier Information Fusion, vol. 32, Part B, pp. 13-25, 2016. [.pdf]

I. Rigas and O.V. Komogortsev, Eye movement-driven defense against iris print-attacks, Elsevier Journal Pattern Recognition Letters, Special Issue – Soft Biometrics, 68 (P2), pp. 316–326, 2015. [.pdf]

O. V. Komogortsev, I. Rigas, E. Abdulin, Eye Movement Biometrics on Wearable Devices: What Are the Limits?, In Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), 2016, pp. 1-6. [.pdf]

D. J. Lohr, E. Abdulin, and O. V. Komogortsev, Detecting the onset of eye fatigue in a live framework, In Proceedings of the ACM Symposium on Eye Tracking Research & Applications (ETRA 2016), 2016, pp. 1-2. [.pdf]

O. V. Komogortsev, A. Karpov, C. Holland, Attack of Mechanical Replicas: Liveness Detection With Eye Movements, IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security, 10 (4), pp. 716 – 725, 2015. [.pdf]

O. V. Komogortsev, C. Holland, A. Karpov, L. R. Price, Biometrics via Oculomotor Plant Characteristics: Impact of Parameters in Oculomotor Plant Model, ACM Transactions on Applied Perception, 11 (4), 1-17, 2014. [.pdf]

O. V. Komogortsev and I. Rigas, BioEye 2015: Competition on Biometrics via Eye Movements, In Proceedings of the IEEE Sixth International Conference on Biometrics: Theory, Applications and Systems (BTAS), 2015, pp. 1-8. [.pdf]

E. Abdulin and O. V. Komogortsev, Person Verification via Eye Movement-driven Text Reading Model, In Proceedings of the IEEE Sixth International Conference on Biometrics: Theory, Applications and Systems (BTAS), 2015, pp. 1-8. [.pdf]

I. Rigas and O. V. Komogortsev, Single-Pixel Eye Tracking via Patterned Contact Lenses: Design and Evaluation in HCI Domain, In Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), 2015, pp. 1-6. [.pdf]

E. Abdulin and O. V. Komogortsev, User Eye Fatigue Detection via Eye Movement Behavior, In Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), 2015, pp. 1-6. [.pdf]

I. Rigas and O. V. Komogortsev, Gaze Estimation as a Framework for Iris Liveness Detection, In Proceedings of the IEEE International Joint Conference on Biometrics (IJCB), 2014, pp. 1-8. [.pdf]

O.V. Komogortsev, C. Holland, Ocular Biometric System Demonstration, presented as a technical demo track at the IEEE International Joint Conference on Biometrics (IJCB), 2014.

O. V. Komogortsev and C. Holland, The Application of Eye Movement Biometrics in the Automated Detection of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, In Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), 2014, pp. 1-6. [.pdf]

I. Rigas and O. V. Komogortsev, Biometric Recognition via Fixation Density Maps, In SPIE 9075, Biometric and Surveillance Technology for Human and Activity Identification XI, 90750M, 2014, pp. 1-10. [.pdf]

O. V. Komogortsev, C. Holland, A. Karpov, Template Aging in Eye Movement-driven Biometrics, In SPIE 9075, Biometric and Surveillance Technology for Human and Activity Identification XI, 90750M, 2014, pp. 1-10 [.pdf]

O. V. Komogortsev and C. Holland, Software Framework for an Ocular Biometric System, In Proceedings of ACM Symposium on Eye Tracking Research And Applications (ETRA), 2014, pp. 1-2. [.pdf][video of system demo]

O. V. Komogortsev and C. Holland, Biometric Authentication via Complex Oculomotor Behavior, In Proceedings of the IEEE Sixth International Conference on Biometrics: Theory, Applications and Systems (BTAS), 2013, pp. 1-8. [.pdf]

O. V. Komogortsev, A. Karpov, Liveness Detection via Oculomotor Plant Characteristics: Attack of Mechanical Replicas, In Proceedings of the IEEE/IARP International Conference on Biometrics (ICB), 2013, pp. 1-8. [.pdf]

I. Rigas and O. V. Komogortsev, Biometric Recognition via Probabilistic Spatial Projection of Eye Movement Trajectories in Dynamic Visual Environments, IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security, 9 (10), pp. 1743-1754, 2014. [.pdf]

C. Holland, and O. V. Komogortsev, Complex Eye Movement Pattern Biometrics: The Effects of Environment and Stimulus, IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security, 8 (12),pp. 2115-2126, 2013. [.pdf]

I. Rigas and O. V. Komogortsev, Gaze Estimation as a Framework for Iris Liveness Detection, In Proceedings of the IEEE International Joint Conference on Biometrics (IJCB), 2014, pp. 1-8.

O. V. Komogortsev and C. Holland, The Application of Eye Movement Biometrics in the Automated Detection of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, In Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), 2014, pp. 1-6. [.pdf]

I. Rigas and O. V. Komogortsev, Biometric Recognition via Fixation Density Maps, In SPIE 9075, Biometric and Surveillance Technology for Human and Activity Identification XI, 90750M, 2014, pp. 1-10. [.pdf]

O. V. Komogortsev, C. Holland, A. Karpov, Template Aging in Eye Movement-driven Biometrics, In SPIE 9075, Biometric and Surveillance Technology for Human and Activity Identification XI, 90750M, 2014, pp. 1-10 [.pdf]

O. V. Komogortsev and C. Holland, Software Framework for an Ocular Biometric System, In Proceedings of ACM Symposium on Eye Tracking Research And Applications (ETRA), 2014, pp. 1-2. [.pdf][video of system demo]

O. V. Komogortsev and C. Holland, Biometric Authentication via Complex Oculomotor Behavior, In Proceedings of the IEEE Sixth International Conference on Biometrics: Theory, Applications and Systems (BTAS), 2013, pp. 1-8. [.pdf]

O. V. Komogortsev, C. Holland, S. Jayarathna, A. Karpov, 2D Linear Oculomotor Plant Mathematical Model: Verification and Biometric Applications, ACM Transactions on Applied Perception, in press. [.pdf]

M. Brooks, C. Aragon, O.V. Komogortsev, Identifying people by eye movements potential replacement for passwords, To appear in SPIE News Room [.pdf]

O. V. Komogortsev, A. Karpov, Liveness Detection via Oculomotor Plant Characteristics: Attack of Mechanical Replicas, In Proceedings of the IEEE/IARP International Conference on Biometrics (ICB), 2013, pp. 1-8. [.pdf]

C. Holland, and O. V. Komogortsev, Complex Eye Movement Pattern Biometrics: Analyzing Fixations and Saccades, In Proceedings of the IEEE/IARP International Conference on Biometrics (ICB), 2013, pp. 1-8. [.pdf]

M. Brooks, C. Aragon, O.V. Komogortsev, Perceptions of Interfaces for Eye Movement Biometrics, In Proceedings of the IEEE/IARP International Conference on Biometrics (ICB), 2013, pp. 1-8. [.pdf]

C. Holland, A. Garza, E. Kurtova, J. Cruz, and O. V. Komogortsev, Usability Evaluation of Eye Tracking on an Unmodified Common Tablet, In Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), Paris, France, 2013, pp. 1-6. [.pdf]

O. V. Komogortsev, A. Karpov, C. Holland, H. P. Proença, Multimodal Ocular Biometrics Approach: A Feasibility Study, In Proceedings of the IEEE Fifth International Conference on Biometrics: Theory, Applications and Systems (BTAS), 2012, pp. 1-8. [.pdf]

C. Holland, and O. V. Komogortsev, Biometric Verification via Complex Eye Movements: The Effects of Environment and Stimulus, In Proceedings of the IEEE Fifth International Conference on Biometrics: Theory, Applications and Systems (BTAS), 2012, pp. 1-8. [.pdf]

P. Kasprowski, O. V. Komogortsev, A. Karpov, First Eye Movement Verification and Identification Competition at BTAS 2012, In Proceedings of the IEEE Fifth International Conference on Biometrics: Theory, Applications and Systems (BTAS), 2012, pp. 1-8. [.pdf]

C. Holland and O. V. Komogortsev, Eye Tracking on Unmodified Common Tablets: Challenges and Solutions, In Proceedings of ACM Eye Tracking Research & Applications Symposium, Santa Barbara, CA, 2012, pp. 1-4. [.pdf]

O. V. Komogortsev, A. Karpov, C. Holland, CUE: Counterfeit-resistant Usable Eye-based Authentication via Scanpaths and Oculomotor Plant Characteristics, In Proceedings of SPIE Defense Security+Sensing Conference on Biometric Technology for Human Identification IX, 2012, pp. 1-9. [.pdf]

O. V. Komogortsev, A. Karpov, L. Price, C. Aragon, Biometric Authentication via Oculomotor Plant Characteristic, In Proceedings of the IEEE/IARP International Conference on Biometrics (ICB), 2012, pp. 1-8. [.pdf][presentation at the conference]. Best paper award.

 

Selected Press Coverage

Admin, Patent on eye movement ID published, Planet Biometrics, 2016. [link]

France A. Córdova, Conversation at Texas Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas (TAMEST)
Texas Research Summit
, National Science Foundation Press Release, 2015. [link]

Stephen Mayhew, Competition invites researchers to develop biometric identification solutions via eye movements, Biometric Update, 2015. [link]

Betsy Isaacson, 7 Ways Your Next Password Will Be Part Of Your Body, The Huffington Post, 2013. [link]

Mary-Love Bigony, The Eyes Have It, Texas State University, 2013. [link]

Admin, The Eye On The Future, Texas State University, 2013. [link]

Admin, New Iris Scanner Tech is More Secure And Less Costly, LiveScience, 2013. [link]

Francie Diep, Eye movements could be next PC password, NBC News, 2012. [link]

Jesse Emspak, Eye Movements Could ID Computer Users, Discovery, 2012.[link]

Eric Limer, Are Your Future Passwords Hidden In The Jiggling Of Your Eyeballs?, Gizmodo, 2012. [link]

Edwin Kee, Password of the future: Your eye movement, Ubergizmodo, 2012. [link]

Nikki Tucker, Remembering Your Password May Be a Thing of the Past, Medical Daily, 2012. [link]

Sanjeev Ramachandran, Eye-Movement Tracking Allows for Stronger Password Protection, Device Magazine, 2012. [link]

Berkay, Eyes movements could be a Password?, Tech Buzzer, 2012. [link]

Archimedes, Coming Soon: Eye movements are itself the future passwords, Bubblews, 2012. [link]

Ron Schenone, Passwords: Soon to Be Replaced by Eye Movement Tracking, Locker Gnome, 2012. [link]

Admin, Will your jiggly eyeballs hold the passwords of tomorrow?, Tegato, 2012. [link]

Ankur, Your eye movement can be the password for your PC in next few years, Nothing Wired, 2012. [link]

Steve Anderson, Could Passwords One Day be as Easy as Eye Twitches?, Info Tech Spotlight, 2012. [link]

Dhanushka Kumara, New biometric method for authentication – Eye Movement, Techaunt, 2012. [link]

Admin, The Jiggling of Your Eyeballs Might Be the Future Of Eye Scanning Security Systems, Geekapolis, 2012. [link]

Admin, Los movimientos oculares pueden ser la nueva contraseña de nuestro ordenador, Focal Estudio, 2012. [link]

Admin, Движения наших глаз заменят ввод паролей, Московский Комсомолец, 2012. [link]

Admin, Heartbeat and eye movement: passwords of the future, Cyberpunk World, 2012. [link]

Travis Andrews, Eye movements could be our new passwords, Dvice, 2012. [link]

Shane McGlaun, Eye movements could act as passwords in the future, Slash Gear, 2012. [link]

Admin, Eye Movements Passwords, New Advancement On Security Technology, Techaw, 2012. [link]

PTI, Soon, eye movements can be your new password, The Economic Times, 2012. [link]

Press Trust of India, Eye movements can be your new password, NDTV Gudgets, 2012. [link]

Shinji Tutoru, Eye Movements For The New Biometric System, Prescouter Journal, 2012. [link]

Admin, Here's Looking at You!, HROC (Heightening Return on Communication), 2012. [link]

Admin, Researching Ways To Apply the Unique Nature of Human Eye Movement to Computer Technology, The Computing Research Association, 2012. [link]

 

Datasets

Eye Movement Biometric Database (EMBD) v1

Eye Movement Biometric Database (EMBD) v2

Eye Tracker Print-Attack Database (ETPAD) v1

Eye Tracker Print-Attack Database (ETPAD) v2

 

Software

Eye Movement Classification Software (offline classification)

Eye Gaze Guided Interface Code (interface code, real time eye movement classification algorithms)

Neural Network Eye Tracker (NNET) - Eye Tracker that can be employed on unmodified mobile devices (code, documentation)

Balura Game - Eye-gaze-controlled game for research and education

 

Invited Talks

"Eye Movements: Their Prediction and Use in Biometrics and Health Assessment", presented at Oculus Research, May 2016.

Presented Real-time Eye Movement Person Recognition Demo together with my student Dillon Lohr as a part of the SXSW Innovation Lab which is part of the South by Southwest Festival, March, 2016.[pic1][pic2]

"Eye Movement Biometrics: its Future and Applications", presented to Microsoft Holo Lens Group, January 2016.

"Eye Movement Biometrics: its Future and Applications", presented at zSpace, December 2015.

"Eye Movement Biometrics: its Future and Applications", presented to Google Virtual Reality Group, December 2015.

"Eye Movement Biometrics: Its Future and Applications", presented at Global Identity Summit. [pic]

“Eye Movements in Biometrics and Human Computer Interaction”, presented at North Carolina State - Charlotte, November, 2014.

“Eye Movements in Biometrics and Human Computer Interaction”, presented at Kent State University, October, 2014.

“Eye Movements in Biometrics and Human Computer Interaction”, presented at Microsoft Research Headquarters, May, 2014. link.

“Eye Movement Biometrics: Past, Present, and Future”, presented at the National Institute of Standards, May, 2014. “Person Identification via Eye Movements”, presented in the TED-inspired talk at South by Southwest Festival, Austin, TX, March, 2014.

“Eye Movements in Biometrics and Human Computer Interaction”, presented at NASA meeting at Texas State University, December, 2013.

“Eye Movements in Biometrics and Human Computer Interaction”, presented at San Marcos High School, December, 2013.

“Getting a Paper Published in a Peer-Reviewed Journal”, presented at Texas State Fifth Annual International Research conference for Graduate Students, November, 2013.

“Eye Movements in Biometrics and Human Computer Interaction”, invited and presented at Johns Hopkins University, November, 2013.

“Multimodal Ocular Biometrics Approach: A Feasibility Study”, presented at Global Identity Summit (formerly known as the Biometric Consortium Conference), Tampa, FL, September, 2013.

“Eye Movements in Biometrics and Human Computer Interaction”, invited and presented at Notre Dame University, September, 2013.

“Eye Movements in Biometrics and Human Computer Interaction”, invited and presented at Texas Tech University, April, 2013.

“Eye Movements in Biometrics and Human Computer Interaction”, invited and presented at New Mexico State University, February, 2013.

 

Students

Following students are/have participating/ed in the project

Irma Vasquez - Minority and disadvantaged undergraduate student

Dillon Lohr - Undergraduate student

Tjitse Miller - Undergraduate student

Nicholas Myers - Undergraduate student

Christina Heinich - Minority undergraduate student

Corey Holland - Disadvantaged graduate student

Elena Kurtova - Minority undergraduate student

Jose Kruz - Minority undergraduate student

Nadia Dowla - Minority undergraduate student

Joseph Moorman - Undergraduate student

Ryan Pawlak - Undergraduate student

Ukwatta (Sam) K. S. Jayarathna - Graduate student

 

Postdocs

Following postdocs are/have participating/ed in the project

Dr. Lee Friedman

Dr. Ioannis Rigas

Dr. Evgeny Abdulin

Dr. Alexey Karpov

 

Outreach

Overview: In this activity, K-12 students will experience several modes of interaction with an immersive game-like environment called Balura, created by graduate and undergraduate students of the HCI lab. Balura presents the user with the task of harvesting resources in a complex dynamic environment. Resources are represented by a group of colored balloons that move across the screen at various speeds, stop at random time intervals and get obscured by similar balloons of a different color. The goal of a participant is to select all balloons of one color as soon as possible by 1) selecting targets via a mouse, 2) selecting targets by eye dwelling on each (experiencing an eye fixation), 3) selecting a target “instantaneously” using a novel ultra-fast method that allows prediction of intended target location by analyzing the onset of the eye movement trajectory leading to the target [145]. During the third mode of interaction, participants usually get the feeling that the computer guesses their actions before they are consciously performed, evoking a “wow” factor. In addition, participants get very involved, start asking questions about how such “stuff” works and express their ideas on how to make it work even better (this is what happened during demo sessions). After each session, I briefly explain the ideas behind the technology, provide information in terms of what it is like to study toward a major in STEM and what benefits such a major will bring to their future careers. Graduate and undergraduate students will help run this activity and answer K-12 students’ questions.

Progress: Immersive gaming sessions are being scheduled with schools districts with high populations of disadvantaged and minority students. More specifically following school districts are considered: San Marcos CISD, Rio Grande Valley ISD, Prairie Lea ISD, and La Joya ISD.

Following activities took place already:

05/17/16 - Together with my undergraduate research student Irma Vasquez we have conducted an outreach session for K-12 students of San Marcos High School. A presentation highlighting ocular biometrics research and importance of STEM education together with immersive gaming sessions were presented to 9th grade students. [pic1][pic2]

04/01/16 - I have presented a talk about Ocular Biometrics and the importance of STEM education to Spatial Visualization Training "Viz Stars" minority students group at Texas State University.

08/19/15 - My post-doc Dr. Abdulin and undergraduate research student Irma Vasquez gave a presentation describing ocular biometrics and conducted immersive gaming session for students participating in the the NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) program which has a site at Texas State University under professor Clara Novoa from Engineering Department.

05/19/15 - Together with my post-doc Dr. Abdulin and undergraduate research student Irma Vasquez we have conducted an outreach session for K-12 students of San Marcos High School. A presentation highlighting ocular biometrics research and importance of STEM education together with immersive gaming sessions were presented to approximately fifty five 9th grade students.

01/20/15 - Immersive gaming sessions were presented during a field trip to Texas State for approximately eight fifth grade gifted and talented students from San Marcos High School District.

05/01/14 - Immersive gaming sessions were presented during a field trip for approximately thirty middle school children from Doris Miller and Owen Goodnight Middle schools (San Marcos CISD).

01/31/14 - Immersive gaming sessions were presented during "College of Science Awareness" event hosted by Texas State University. The presentation was done by graduate student Corey Holland to sixty five fifth grade San Marcos CISD Gifted and Talented students.

12/12/13 - Together with my post-docs Drs. Rigas and Abdulin we have conducted an outreach session for K-12 students of San Marcos High School. A presentation highlighting ocular biometrics research and importance of STEM education together with immersive gaming sessions were presented to approximately twenty 10th grade students. Here are several pictures from the event: pic1, pic2, pic3, pic4.

11/21/13 - Immersive gaming sessions were presented during "Women in Science and Engineering (WISE)" Conference hosted by Texas State University. The presentation was done for High School students participating in the conference. Here are several pictures from the event: pic1, pic2.

09/27/13 - Immersive gaming sessions were presented during "Show 'Em State Family Weekend" event hosted by Texas State University.

Contribution to the broader community: I have made the code of the game Balura publicly available here. The code is currently compatible with Eye Link 1000, Tobii REX, and Tobii X120 eye trackers.

 

Curriculum Modification and Development Providing Interdisciplinary Emphasis

Overview: Interdisciplinary thinking develops the abilities “to see new and different questions and issues,” and “draw on multiple methods and the knowledge to address them” [ref]. The educational aim of this project is to introduce interdisciplinary thinking and learning in an appropriate form in several courses that I teach at Texas State. This aim is realized by 1) engaging students in perspective-taking 2) introducing knowledge and modes of thinking that come from other disciplines 3) providing an interdisciplinary understanding of a sophisticated phenomenon and 4) introducing various approaches to studying these phenomena.

Progress: Following courses are being modified to include more interdisciplinary components to benefit student development and provide broader career opportunities: CS 4326 Human Factors of Computer Systems, CS 5326 Advanced Studies in Human Factors of Computer Science, CS 5329 Algorithm Design and Analysis.

 

Special Thanks

Special thanks goes to all people who supported, inspired, advised and continues to do so in the preparation and continuation of the work for this project. There are some people who I would like to mention specifically: my wife, Kevin Bowyer (University of Notre Dame), Alan Hein (MIT), Cecilia Aragon (University of Washington, Seattle), Reza Shadmehr (Johns Hopkins University), David Zee (Johns Hopkins University), Patrick Flynn (University of Notre Dame), Andrew Duchowski (Clemson University), Larry Price (Texas State University), Lucy Deckard, and many, many others.