I am an Assistant Professor of Computer Science in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. I direct the Interactive Realities Laboratory (IRLab). Prior to joining UNCG, I was Assistant Research Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, and Computer Science at Duke University, where I served as the director of the Duke immersive Virtual Environment (DiVE), one of the few 6-sided surrounding immersive virtual reality systems in the world. I also did a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Florida, where I investigated the use of conversational virtual humans in the domain of medical education. I have authored dozens of journal papers and highly refereed conference proceedings, and received several honors, including the best paper award in the IEEE Symposium in 3D User Interfaces. I was part of the first team to be awarded the IEEE 3D User Interfaces Grand Prize. I received my B.S. and M.S. in Computer Science from the Pontifical Catholic University in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Virginia Tech.

My research centers around extended reality (XR) user experience, Virtual Reality (VR) simulation and applied XR research. Specifically, I work on improving the usability of virtual and augmented reality systems by designing novel interaction techniques, mitigating VR discomfort, and integrating tangible devices onto XR user interfaces. I work with VR simulation on the design, prototyping, and evaluation of next-generation user interfaces for the assessment of technology that is not yet available in the market, particularly in the public safety domain. I also study how XR can be used for training in complex, ecologically valid scenarios. My research is also transdisciplinary and collaborative, where I investigate the employment of XR interfaces in areas such as health care, neuroscience, and the humanities.

My research has been supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the United States Army, the Portuguese-American Development Foundation (FLAD-Portugal), and the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP, Brazil).