7 minute read
Virtual Reality Educational Opportunities Expanding
A Whole New Virtual/ Augmented World
Faculty member’s vision becomes reality in nationally ranked VAR Lab
If it weren’t right in front of your eyes, literally and figuratively, it might be hard to see how quickly one good idea can bloom into a world of opportunity.
What started as an effort by Dr. Chris Shelton, assistant professor of clinical psychology, to reduce barriers to accessing mental health support with virtual technology has expanded into a nationally ranked, and very busy, Virtual/Augmented Realty (VAR) Lab at Behrend.
Animation Career Review, an online resource for those aspiring to careers in digital and graphic arts as well as game design and animation, recently placed the virtual and augmented reality programs of Penn State Behrend, offered through the VAR Lab and the Digital Media, Arts, and Technology major, among the top ten on the East Coast. This placed Behrend’s programs among powerhouses like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University, Rochester Institute of Design, Cornell University, and Harvard University. Among the programs of all the public schools and colleges in the United States, Behrend’s VAR Lab ranked fourteenth.
It’s a welcome, if somewhat astonishing, honor, said Shelton, who leads the VAR Lab and has been shepherding growing activity there over the past three years with the help of considerable grant funding, student research talent, and partnering faculty expertise. Current projects range from smartphone apps to virtual tours of Wintergreen Gorge to immersive history projects for the Hagen History Center in Erie.
PSYCHOLOGICAL ROOTS
Why would a psychologist be involved in virtual and augmented reality, an area many people might associate with engineering? In fact, Shelton explained, some of the earliest work in VR was done by psychology researchers who were trying to help treat combat veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. “They used it to do exposure therapy with veterans,” Shelton said. “More recently, though, we are seeing a lot of research suggesting that this type of technology can be quite effective at helping to address a wide variety of mental health issues, including overall wellness and stress management.”
Shelton’s personal interest in virtual technology stems from a desire to overcome obstacles to mental health treatment. “I call them the 4 As: accessibility, availability, affordability, and acceptability,” he said. “Digital mechanisms can help address these issues.”
Case in point: Serene is a mental health resource and mindfulness smartphone app developed by a team of Behrend students. The team launched the app during the pandemic to help users track their emotions and suggest activities and resources that could help with overall wellness. Following the successful launch of Serene, work is now underway, in partnership with the college’s James R. Meehl Innovation Commons ideation lab, on a new app targeting stress and depression in college students.
OPEN LAB EXEMPLIFIED
Most recently, the technology, equipment, and interests of student researchers have led to a variety of projects following Behrend’s Open Lab model of learning, which brings students together with external partners to develop solutions and address challenges.
The VAR Lab has been collaborating with the Hagen History Center in Erie on a variety of immersive exhibits, including the demonstration that accompanies the Oliver Hazard Perry telescope on display at the museum.
On a 55-inch touchscreen monitor, visitors can get an up-close look at the artifact from all angles, zoom in to see the inscription, play an “eye-spy” game that illustrates what it might have been like to spot ships through a telescope in 1813, and dive deep into the history of the Battle of Lake Erie to learn more about the warships and commanders involved.
REVOLVING AROUND STUDENTS
While Shelton runs the VAR Lab, the work is firmly student-centered, providing opportunities for Behrend students from across the college to experience, research, and implement the technology. Dozens of students are engaged in VAR activities, doing research work or teaching others how to use the technology in a new learning space on campus known as VAR Edu.
VAR Edu features eight active user and five stationary user spaces for students and faculty members to experience immersive technologies, including AR and VR headsets as well as VR-capable PCs, TVs, and more. VAR Edu is open 12 hours a week for drop-in “play” and offers more than 300 titles in its immersive content catalog.
The space will also be used to teach faculty members from across the college how VR technology can be integrated into course curriculum and enhance the learning environment of all students at Behrend, regardless of major.
LOOKING FORWARD
Future plans for the VAR Lab include further expansion into industry, with students helping to connect external partners with immersive technology solutions. The VAR Lab is already working with U.S. Steel. Plans are also underway for a VAR Studio for 3D modeling and production as well as reality recording.
“The lab has seen immense growth in just three years,” Shelton said. “I’m excited about the future and all of the student-driven endeavors that are already underway or in the planning stages. I do think the best is yet to come.”
Visit behrend.psu.edu/varlab to learn more.
BY THE NUMBERS
Animation Career Review helps high-school students find the top university programs in animation, game design, and graphic design. In the publication’s first ranking, Behrend’s augmented and virtual reality programs placed in the:
fTop 10 on the East Coast (#9) fTop 25 Nationally among Public Schools and
Colleges (#14)
fTop 50 Nationally (#26)
Injury Leads to New Life for Rail Lover
It’s hard to imagine that anyone could love a job in which you are on call 24/7 and have no holidays or weekends off, but Warren Fargo did. He worked as a railway engineer in Buffalo for sixteen years (once working for ninety-three days in a row) before suffering a career-ending back injury.
“Sixteen years down the drain,” he said.
His injury required back surgery, which was successful, but limited his lifting ability. “So, at that point,” Fargo said, “I was 38 years old without a job, and I didn’t know what to do.”
He started researching trade schools. After his niece was accepted at Penn State Behrend, Fargo looked into Behrend’s associate degree in Electrical Engineering Technology (EET).
“I felt that Behrend would be a better fit for me than a trade school, but I was told I had a lot of catching up to do, especially in math, before taking the entrance exam,” he said.
No stranger to hard work, Fargo got tutoring help, passed the exam, and started classes in the fall of 2002, twenty-four hours after leaving his job with the railroad.
As with most things Fargo does, he went all in.
“Over the next three years, I believe I spent every single day, seven days a week, at school,” he said.
He graduated in 2005 with two associate degrees from Penn State: EET from Behrend and Telecommunications Engineering Technology, earned through the Wilkes-Barre campus.
Having never lost his love of locomotives and given his past career experience, he quickly landed a job in the rail industry.
“My great-great grandfather, great- grandfather, grandfather, father, and his three brothers all worked for the railroad,” he said. “It’s in my blood.”
Today, he is a senior field service specialist with New York Air Brake (NYAB) Corporation, where his primary responsibilities are to troubleshoot and resolve locomotive air brake issues. He travels all over the world but spends many of his days working for NYAB at Wabtec in Erie.
“I receive trouble calls from all over the world and have traveled all over the United States and Canada and to South Africa and Australia,” he said. “I get to meet and work with a broad range of people, and it’s a good feeling to know that I can often resolve issues for someone halfway around the world.”
His work also provides a tangible sense of pride.
“When I see a train, I know there’s a good chance the products that I support are on those railcars or on that locomotive,” he said. “I really enjoy what I do, and I’m glad that I decided to go to college and that I stuck with it.”
His advice to older adults considering a return to the classroom: Definitely do it, but don’t follow exactly in his footsteps.
“If I had it to do over again, I would start with just a couple of classes at first, instead of jumping right in with fifteen credits in my first semester. That was really tough.”
