<![CDATA[Virtual Futures: How Virtual Worlds Shape the People Who Use Them]]> 36792 Abstract: What happens to people inside virtual worlds is not an accident of technology. It is a consequence of design decisions: whose voice an avatar speaks with, what color it wears, how the world responds to a keystroke. In this talk I present a decade of controlled experiments, often with more than a thousand players inside real games my lab builds, showing that seemingly small design decisions systematically change motivation, performance, and learning. I trace three threads: avatars and identity (why hearing your own voice in a game changes how you play), feedback and juice (what actually makes rich audiovisual feedback motivating), and virtual reality for learning (from tutorial design to a robotics assembly experiment testing how much help VR should give). I close with where the program is heading.Bio: Dominic Kao is an Assistant Professor in the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he directs the Virtual Futures Lab. His research asks how virtual worlds shape the people who use them: how avatars and identity, feedback design, and virtual reality change motivation, performance, and learning. His lab builds its own games and VR systems and runs controlled experiments inside them, with more than 30,000 study participants to date. Before academia, he worked as a game developer at Electronic Arts. His work has been recognized with an NSF CAREER Award, a Best Paper Award from ACM Transactions on Interactive Intelligent Systems, and Honorable Mentions at CHI and CHI PLAY. He received his PhD in Computer Science from MIT.
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IPaT: GVU Lunch Lecture Series
The IPaT: GVU Lunch Lecture Series is free and features guest speakers presenting on topics related to people-centered technologies and their impact on society. Lunch is provided at 12:00 p.m. (while supplies last) and the talks begin at 12:30 p.m. Join us weekly or watch video replays. Lectures are held in the Tech Square Clubhouse behind the Centergy One building in Technology Square.
https://peopletech.gatech.edu/news/lunch-lecture-series
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- 681408 image <![CDATA[Dominic Kao]]> image/jpeg 1791811778 2026-10-12 13:29:38 1791811820 2026-10-12 13:30:20
<![CDATA[Conversations@TechSquare: Talkin' Trash]]> 27513
This Conversations@Tech Square will start with Tim Trent (IPaT faculty) providing a short overview of the new Trash Lab and updates on the miniTrashpresso equipment. From there we hope to have a broader conversation with folks across campus about engagement with the lab and ways the Trash Lab can act as a tie-in to the GT circular and sustainable economy ecosystem. We encourage you to join with ideas on how plastic waste may be diverted to the new lab, how the equipment may tie into classes, and what research may be catalyzed by this new system or come prepared to join the conversation and brainstorm with us!------------------
Conversations@TechSquare is a dynamic space for new ideas, not an environment for established concepts. We gather creators and innovators from across Georgia Tech, the broader Tech Square community, and beyond, to engage in open dialogue around some of today’s biggest challenges and opportunities. These gatherings are organized and hosted by the Georgia Tech Institute for People and Technology (IPaT) and will occur several times during a semester at the Tech Square Clubhouse. The Clubhouse address is 848 Spring Street NW, Atlanta, Georgia, 30308 (street level, behind the Centergy One Bldg.).
Tech Square Clubhouse
All conversation gatherings are held in the Tech Square Clubhouse.
The Clubhouse address is 848 Spring Street NW, Atlanta, Georgia, 30308.
The Tech Square Clubhouse is on the bottom level (street level, behind the Centergy One Bldg.), close to LA Fitness and only a few blocks away from the Midtown and North Ave. MARTA stations. Look closely and you'll see there is an outdoor staircase to the left of the Centergy One Building leading down to the street where you'll find the Tech Square Clubhouse.
PARKING:
Parking is available at the Centergy One parking deck, located right next door. You can also find additional street parking via Park Mobile on Spring and 5th Street. Centergy One parking deck daily rates: Half Hour: $3.00 | One Hour: $6.00 | Two Hours: $12.00 | Daily Max: $20.00
GT CAMPUS BUS: Take the Gold route bus which stops at Tech Square.
]]> Walter Rich 1 1791206800 2026-10-05 13:26:40 1791210961 2026-10-05 14:36:01 0 0 event This Conversations@Tech Square will start with Tim Trent (IPaT research faculty) providing a short overview of the new Trash Lab and updates on the miniTrashpresso equipment. ]]> 2026-10-20T15:30:00-04:00 2026-10-20T17:00:00-04:00 2026-10-20T17:00:00-04:00 2026-10-20 19:30:00 2026-10-20 21:00:00 2026-10-20 21:00:00 - 2026-10-20T15:30:00-04:00 2026-10-20T17:00:00-04:00 America/New_York America/New_York datetime
- 2026-10-20 03:30:00 2026-10-20 05:00:00 America/New_York America/New_York datetime
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- 681352 image <![CDATA[Tim Trent]]> Tim Trent]]> image/jpeg 1791206555 2026-10-05 13:22:35 1791206646 2026-10-05 13:24:06