Currently, I am working at Oculus on multiple projects in the VR space including research on hardware and interface designs for future products.
I work with the user experience research team to design, moderate, and analyze data from user experience testing for hardware and ergonomics, software, and health and safety systems on the Oculus Quest and Rift S virtual reality headsets.
Hardware/Ergonomics Research
At Oculus, I work closely with the Hardware User Experience Research and Product Development teams on projects surrounding the overall comfort of Oculus headsets and peripherals (facial interfaces and controllers). We examine the headsets and peripherals holistically to determine the overall comfort of the products and provide the optimal, most comfortable experience to VR users for long-term wear. I have worked on research projects aimed at launching the Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift S, and headsets that will be released at a future date.
To determine the overall comfort and appeal of the headsets and their peripherals, we ran multiple studies on iterative designs for the headsets and peripherals looking at multiple facets of the ergonomics and hardware comfort to determine the most influential points of discomfort and comfort. With this holistic view of what makes VR headsets comfortable, the research team has been able to provide the product development teams with in-depth design recommendations to ensure user comfort for long-term VR use.
Methods used: 1-1 interviews, prototype evaluation, card sorting, usability testing, KPI testing, diary/camera studies
Software/Experiences Research
Leading up to the launch of the Oculus Quest and Oculus Rift S, I worked on research for First Steps, the first interactive experience that users of the headsets go through to learn about how to use their new VR headset. I have also contributed to work on social experiences in VR.
Methods used: 1-1 interviews, play testing, usability testing
I would love to talk more about my work at Oculus in person!
As an Apple Specialist, I helped customers choose the devices that they will use in their daily personal and professional lives. This involved being able to translate the technical specifications of each machine into the features and benefits that are relevant to a particular customer's needs. After the purchase of the machine, I helped many of my customers set up their new device to take advantage of all of the services and features that Apple builds in to their products.
When not working directly with customers, I helped my team in the store by assisting in creating employee training on new products and software, as well as presenting the trainings on Sunday mornings.
By working at Apple, I became a certified mobile technician and developed my skills in working directly with customers.
As a member of the Adaptive Digital Media Lab (ADAM Lab) at Georgia Tech, I started by recruiting and collecting data from an average of 20 participants per week to complete data collection previously started by other lab members.
By the summer of 2014, I was actively involved in designing, recruiting, and collecting data for new empirical research to determine the nature of creative play between a child and an adult. After collecting video recordings, I analyzed the given data to assist in creating a concise characterization of creative play among dyads.
In my time with the lab, I co-authored two articles that were published and presented at conferences.
In addition to my position as a research assistant in the Attention and Working Memory Lab, I was also given the responsibilities of being the lab's webmaster. Included in these responsibilities were creating a functional website, including a logo for the lab, to host the lab's general information including all publications, current lab member biographies, and software developed by the lab for experimental testing purposes.
As an undergraduate research assistant for the Attention and Working Memory Lab, I recruited participants for and collected data for studies that were funded by the United States Air Force. Over the course of my employment, I helped recruit and collect data from 100-200 participants, managed data backups for the digitally collected data, and scored 10-20 creativity related tasks on a weekly basis.
Over the summer of 2013, I worked in the Adult Cognition Lab recruiting and collecting data from 7-10 elderly adult participants each week. Data collected included audio recordings, which I then transcribed and provided to graduate students to score for analysis.