Moderator: Ann McNamara, Texas A&M Universtity, Texas A&M University, United States of America
Ann McNamara is an Associate professor in the Department of Visualization at Texas A&M University. Her research focuses on novel approaches for optimizing an individual's experience when creating, viewing and interacting with virtual and augmented spaces. She is the recipient of an NSF CAREER AWARD entitled ''Advancing Interaction Paradigms in Mobile Augmented Reality using Eye-Tracking”. In 2019, she was named as one of twenty-one Presidential Impact Fellows at Texas A\&M University.

Lecturer(s): Ann McNamara, tex, United States of America
Ann McNamara is an Associate professor in the Department of Visualization at Texas A&M University. Her research focuses on novel approaches for optimizing an individual's experience when creating, viewing and interacting with virtual and augmented spaces. She is the recipient of an NSF CAREER AWARD entitled ''Advancing Interaction Paradigms in Mobile Augmented Reality using Eye-Tracking”. In 2019, she was named as one of twenty-one Presidential Impact Fellows at Texas A\&M University.

Description: Virtual Reality has the potential to transform the way we work, rest, and play. We see use cases as diverse as education and pain management, with new applications being imagined every day. VR technology comes with new challenges, and many obstacles need to be overcome to ensure good user experience. Recently many new Virtual Reality systems with integrated eye tracking have become available. This course presents timely, relevant information on how Virtual Reality (VR) can leverage eye-tracking data to optimize the user experience and to alleviate usability issues surrounding many challenges in immersive VEs. The integration of eye tracking allows us to determine where the viewer is focusing their attention. If we, as the content creators and world builders, need the user to focus on another area of the VE we can use techniques to attract attention to these regions and also we can confirm we are doing so successful as we continually track the users gaze. Advancing these approaches could make the VR experience more comfortable, safe, and useful for the user.