The ATLAS community is excited to learn that Kate Starbird, PhD (Technology, Arts & Media ‘12) was awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).

The PECASE Award is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers. The awards are conferred annually at the White House following recommendations from participating agencies.  

Now associate professor at the University of Washington in the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering, Starbird came to ATLAS on the recommendation of Bobby Schnabel, Computer Science department external chair and professor. She had a BS in computer science and a desire to broaden her expertise. The ATLAS Technology, Arts and Media program (now Creative Technology and Design) seemed the perfect fit.

Schnabel recalls, “I was fortunate to meet Kate in summer 2006 connected to a visit to Seattle for the National Center for Women & Information Technology. Kate had just finished her professional basketball career and was exploring options for grad school, and from our discussion it was clear the multidisciplinary ATLAS PhD was a great fit for her interests. We were thrilled that she chose to enroll at CU, where she was a star student, and her career has blossomed ever since.”

Starbird began her research career with Leysia Palen, professor, founding faculty, Department of Information Science, who was conducting pioneering research in crisis informatics. They studied the use of social media during crisis events and developed mapping techniques to make the data useful to those affected, officials and volunteers. Together, they published the paper in CSCW 2013.

Over the years, Starbird found that rumors and misinformation spread on social media had become a bigger part of crisis events. Originally much of this was accidental, but in time it became clear that intentional disinformation was sinking into the infrastructure of social media. This has since become the greater focus of her research.

Palen was effusive in describing Starbird’s impact: “Kate demonstrated early on in her PhD degree that she is not only a gifted scholar, but a generous one. I saw it then and I see it today: as the leading pioneer in disinformation research, Dr. Starbird offers the fruits of her talents in ways that are intended to protect and improve our society. She is beloved and needed.” 

Starbird notes the importance of the interdisciplinary nature of her work. “We're blending this understanding of technology, this understanding of media—and media is vastly reconfigured by internet technology and how it's been used in the last 15 to 25 years—and then the impacts, not just individually, but on society at large.” 

This overlap of disciplines is signature of what makes ATLAS special. Our community members apply elements of engineering, design, and the humanities to analyze problems and develop sophisticated responses to them. 

Design thinking is a key aspect of this approach. Starbird notes, “There are all sorts of folks that come into the space of studying mis- and disinformation from political science or other [disciplines]. I'm looking at what it is about the design of these information spaces and how people are using [them] that are shaping not just how information flows, but all of these other broader phenomena. So I do think design is critical in my work.”

Many of us can feel overwhelmed or even hopeless when it comes to navigating the current media landscape. From her perspective as a leading expert in the field of mis- and disinformation, Starbird offers some advice for staying engaged and informed:

I would approach information spaces right now with a lot of humility in the sense of not being overconfident about what you're seeing. We all have a tendency to think that the problem is someone else, and yet we know that there's a lot of misinformation out there. There's a lot of propaganda out there that individuals play a role in spreading. Sometimes that's aligned with where you want the world to go and then also in some cases, we become pawns in somebody else's political game. 

In terms of how we approach information spaces, try not to tune everything out—I don't think that's a good idea. We need to be aware of what's happening. Definitely take breaks—there's a lot coming out. It can be really depressing at the moment for some of us and understanding that you don't want to be spending 24/7 in some of these information spaces, but do spend half an hour, spend an hour and be intentional about it. 

I also don't want people to be too skeptical because [if] we get too skeptical of everything, then we tune out. Focus on learning what we can trust rather than not trusting anything. Try to build up a set of sources that you really feel you can trust. Look them up, look at who funds them. Where did they come from? How long have they been around? Spend some time with those. 

When you go to social media, you don't get to determine what comes at you, especially if you're on TikTok and some of these algorithmic [platforms]. Be critical there, but also learn to find information sources that you can trust. 

For more information on Kate Starbird’s work, refer to .

Photo credit: Doug Parry / University of Washington Information School

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It’s one thing to study how the relief and albedo of the ice sheets affected weather patterns during the Last Glacial Maximum 20,000 years ago. And it’s a whole other thing to develop an interactive, engaging museum exhibit on the subject for general audiences. But that’s just what teams from the (CIRES), the (NSF NCAR), NOAA and ATLAS managed to do.

Millennia ago, ice sheets formed over huge swaths of North America that were nearly as tall as some of our continent’s highest mountains. They were so massive that they essentially created their own weather.

Former CIRES postdoc Dillon Amaya (now at NOAA’s ) along with Kris Karnauskas, CIRES fellow and associate professor in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, with NSF funding. 

Researchers long hypothesized that the ice’s massive scale during the Last Glacial Maximum was enough to block the jet stream and change weather patterns sweeping in from the Pacific Ocean. For example, back then the area around what is today Southern California was much wetter while the Pacific Northwest was relatively drier. Today that is reversed.

Through advanced computer simulations, the CIRES team discovered that albedo creates a cooling effect that alters atmospheric circulation in ways that cannot be explained solely by the sheer size of ice sheets. Albedo is a measure of the amount of light reflected off of a surface—and ice sheets reflect a lot of sunlight, significantly impacting wind patterns. The research showed the Pacific Ocean was the driver behind the changes.

Translating Complex Research
In spring 2022, ATLAS offered a class called Design a Science Exhibit for ATLAS and Computer Science students. It centered on designing approachable museum exhibits that translate hard science for everyday people. Led by ATLAS director Mark Gross and adjunct faculty member Wayne Seltzer in collaboration with Eddie Goldstein from the Denver Nature and Science Museum, student teams partnered with researchers and museum specialists to prototype exhibitions that incorporated coding, materials selection, fabrication and storytelling.

Gross notes, “We should be teaching our engineers to communicate with broad audiences, particularly around climate change. We might do good science and engineering, but we’re not always good at communicating it to the public.”

A team of CU Boulder students formed a group to translate the CIRES ice sheet research into an exhibit prototype, including, ATLAS PhD student, David Hunter; Natasha Smith (MS Environment, Environmental Policy); and ATLAS undergraduate students Caileigh Hudson, Logan Turner and Julia Tung.

Seltzer explains, “The that inspired this exhibit is not all that accessible to readers who are not climate scientists. The students focused on what they decided was essential knowledge—the factors that result in an ice age and how computer models can help us predict climate change.”

Experimenting with Form
The team originally conceived of a sandbox as the project medium. As you moved the sand around to build different topographies, visual projections overlaid from above would show how weather patterns change. The idea made sense in theory, but practical stipulations (sand can be challenging to manage in a museum space) pushed the team in a different direction.

Hunter details this evolution, “We made little blocks that represent [topographic features], and then you could put the blocks on top of each other so you could sculpt [a landscape.] As a team, we went about designing and building the whole rig and had a prototype by the end of the semester, and we got to show it alongside everyone else's work at NCAR.” 

NSF NCAR science educators were so impressed with the prototype that they invited the team to work on a permanent installation. 

Making it Real

The biggest challenge then became orchestrating all the different people and components involved in developing a functional exhibit that could live for the long-term with as little ongoing maintenance as possible. Hunter notes, “There’s the digital prototype building, but then there’s the physical make-this-real part as well as the education part and ensuring visitors would get the right message.” 

After two years of iterative collaboration with scientists, curators, coders, fabricators and educators, the exhibit is now officially on permanent display at the Mesa Lab Visitor’s Center. Thousands of guests each year will be able to explore how massive ice sheets can alter the climate in surprising ways.

Amaya related, “This was probably one of the most gratifying experiences of my scientific career. It's not often that a piece of research like this leads to such tangible educational outcomes, so I'm super proud of our team for seeing it through! It's my hope that this exhibit can help illustrate some of these exotic climate interactions so that visitors can leave with a better physical intuition for how and why things were so wildly different.”

If you go:

1850 Table Mesa Drive
Boulder, CO

Free Admission

Hours:
Monday - Friday: 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. MT
Saturday, Sunday & Holidays: 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. MT

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Partnerships between universities and industry can yield important research and commercial breakthroughs. ATLAS professor Ellen Do has worked to cultivate relationships between CU Boulder and industry players, including as a member of the Pervasive Personalized Intelligence (PPI) Center, to support graduate students and enhance opportunities for commercialization of ATLAS research.

The , which recently concluded its tenure, was founded “with a mission of bringing industry and university talent together to solve the intelligence challenges faced by software and computer engineers in Internet of Things systems." It operated under the supervision of the National Science Foundation and included members from NEC, Intel and Trimble.

“It’s been such a good experience. We’ve learned a lot. Ellen Do and her team have helped to expand our thinking and encouraged us to explore new areas.” - Dr. Haifeng Chen, Head of Data Science Department at NEC Laboratories, and his colleague Kai Ishikawa, Principal Researcher (PPI Center event recap)

The PPI Center’s in Portland, OR, included a research poster session, and ATLAS students were honored with three of the four awards industry attendees voted on at the event. 

• Suibi Che-Chuan Weng, PhD student, won "Most Industry Ready" for Editing Reality: Empowering Users to Manipulate Reality through Addition, Erasing, and Modification with Speech to Prompt in Mixed Reality.
• Rishi Vanukuru, PhD student, won "Most Impactful" for Asynchronous spatial guidance using mobile devices and Augmented Reality.
• Ada Zhao, MS student, won "Most Impactful" for The WizARd and Apprentice: Augmented Reality Expert Capture for Training Novices.

2 more ATLAS PhD students participated: Krithik Ranjan presented PuppetGuide: Tangible Personalized Museum Tour Guides using LLMs and David Hunter presented Tangible Interaction with Object Detection and Large Language Models.

As for the experience participating in the PPI Center, Do says, “it is good to know that the industry is interested in supporting research and considers our research relevant.” She sees ways ATLAS could form partnerships within several industry sectors on a range of themes due to the multidisciplinary nature of the research conducted here.

Since their involvement in PPI started, Do and her team have had a series of meetings with mentors from global technology firms, discussing collaborative research opportunities.

Vanukuru is currently doing an internship at Microsoft Research Cambridge focused on spatial computing in its VR/AR group. Weng and Zhao are working on research in the ACME Lab this summer, extending the Editing Reality (and PuppetGuide), and WizARd and Apprentice projects with interns from the CU SPUR program. Zhao is also conducting a pilot study, interviewing laser cutter operating experts about how they would demonstrate operations and how they can annotate their demonstration using the WizARd prototype for novice learners. Hunter has embarked on an internship with Trimble this summer, while he and Ranjan are also working in the ACME Lab.

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Billed as the premier conference for Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR) and Virtual Reality (VR), IEEE ISMAR was the perfect location for ATLAS community members to showcase their work this month.  

ATLAS PhD students Rishi Vanukuru, Torin Hopkins and Suibi Che-Chuan Weng attended in Sydney, Australia, from October 16-20, along with leading researchers in academia and industry.

Vanukuru presented his work on DualStream, a system for mobile phone-based spatial communication employing AR to give people more immersive tools to “share spaces and places.” He also participated in the “1st Joint Workshop on Cross Reality” with his research on using mobile devices to support collaboration.

Meanwhile, Hopkins and Weng displayed their respective research on improving ways for musicians to collaborate remotely. 

Research ATLAS PhD students presented at ISMAR 2023

Rishi Vanukuru, Suibi Che-Chuan Weng, Krithik Ranjan, Torin Hopkins, Amy Banić, Mark D. Gross, Ellen Yi-Luen Do

Abstract: In-person human interaction relies on our spatial perception of each other and our surroundings. Current remote communication tools partially address each of these aspects. Video calls convey real user representations but without spatial interactions. Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR) experiences are immersive and spatial but often use virtual environments and characters instead of real-life representations. Bridging these gaps, we introduce DualStream, a system for synchronous mobile AR remote communication that captures, streams, and displays spatial representations of users and their surroundings. DualStream supports transitions between user and environment representations with different levels of visuospatial fidelity, as well as the creation of persistent shared spaces using environment snapshots. We demonstrate how DualStream can enable spatial communication in real-world contexts, and support the creation of blended spaces for collaboration. A formative evaluation of DualStream revealed that users valued the ability to interact spatially and move between representations, and could see DualStream fitting into their own remote communication practices in the near future. Drawing from these findings, we discuss new opportunities for designing more widely accessible spatial communication tools, centered around the mobile phone.
 

Exploring the use of Mobile Devices as a Bridge for Cross-Reality Collaboration []
Rishi Vanukuru, Ellen Yi-Luen Do 

Abstract: Augmented and Virtual Reality technologies enable powerful forms of spatial interaction with a wide range of digital information. While AR and VR headsets are more affordable today than they have ever been, their interfaces are relatively unfamiliar, and a large majority of people around the world do not yet have access to such devices. Inspired by contemporary research towards cross-reality systems that support interactions between mobile and head-mounted devices, we have been exploring the potential of mobile devices to bridge the gap between spatial collaboration and wider availability. In this paper, we outline the development of a cross-reality collaborative experience centered around mobile phones. Nearly fifty users interacted with the experience over a series of research demo days in our lab. We use the initial insights gained from these demonstrations to discuss potential research directions for bringing spatial computing and cross-reality collaboration to wider audiences in the near future.
 

Investigating the Effects of Limited Field of View on Jamming Experience in Extended Reality []
Suibi Che-Chuan Weng, Torin Hopkins, Shih-Yu Ma, Chad Tobin, Amy Banić, Ellen Yi-Luen Do

Abstract: During musical collaboration, extra-musical visual cues are vital for communication between musicians. Extended Reality (XR) applications that support musical collaboration are often used with headmounted displays such as Augmented Reality (AR) glasses, which limit the field of view (FOV) of the players. We conducted a three part study to investigate the effects of limited FOV on co-presence. To investigate this issue further, we conducted a within-subjects user study (n=19) comparing an unrestricted FOV holographic setup to Nreal AR glasses with a 52◦ limited FOV. In the AR setup, we tested two conditions: 1) standard AR experience with 52◦-limited FOV, and 2) a modified AR experience, inspired by player feedback. Results showed that the holographic setup offered higher co-presence with avatars.
 

Networking AI-Driven Virtual Musicians in Extended Reality [Poster]
Torin Hopkins, Rishi Vanukuru, Suibi Che-Chuan Weng, Chad Tobin, Amy Banić, Mark D. Gross, Ellen Yi-Luen Do

Abstract: Music technology has embraced Artificial Intelligence as part of its evolution. This work investigates a new facet of this relationship, examining AI-driven virtual musicians in networked music experiences. Responding to an increased popularity due to the COVID-19 pandemic, networked music enables musicians to meet virtually, unhindered by many geographical restrictions. This work begins to extend existing research that has focused on networked human-human interaction by exploring AI-driven virtual musicians’ integration into online jam sessions. Preliminary feedback from a public demonstration of the system suggests that despite varied understanding levels and potential distractions, participants generally felt their partner’s presence, were task-oriented, and enjoyed the experience. This pilot aims to open opportunities for improving networked musical experiences with virtual AI-driven musicians and informs directions for future studies with the system.

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ATLAS PhD student, Purnendu, presented research at the recent in Delft, Netherlands. Haptics is the science of touch, and this gathering is billed as “the premier international conference covering all aspects of haptics including the fundamental scientific findings, technological developments, algorithms and applications.”

Purnendu developed a wearable electrohydraulic fingertip interface during an internship at Meta’s , with the aim to improve how we perceive and use physical touch in virtual and augmented reality environments. Meta created Reality Labs to “bring together the brightest cross-disciplinary minds in one place to deliver our mission: build tools that help people feel connected, anytime, anywhere.”

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHb_Jq3AXyw]

We connected with Purnendu to hear more details on his haptics work and the conference. Take a look:

What was the initial inspiration behind this research?

The inspiration behind this research was to be able to augment human fingertips with a reliable sense of 'artificial touch' for the Metaverse (Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality Environments). Fingertips are one of the most sensitive regions of human skin and to be able to provide them with desirable tactile cues is an open problem. The most promising pathway is attaching a high density of multimodal actuators with capabilities to render a variety of forces (normal/shear) as well as vibrations.

This research leveraged my prior research on soft electrohydraulic actuators (happened at ATLAS) to develop a high resolution fingertip wearable multimodal haptic interface consisting of 16 individual actuators that can render high intensity pressure as well as a wide range of vibrations (within an area of 1 cm sq).

What was it like to work at Meta?

Meta Reality Labs is an amazing workplace. The realization that many of these research projects happening around me will form the foundation of the products that will come out in the next 5-10 years was thrilling. The depth as well as the breadth of the work happening there is mind boggling. But not only the research being performed was cutting edge, the team and people were really nice. Reality Labs is filled with folks who are super smart, skilled, motivated, and above all very kind. I had a great time working there.

How was your experience presenting at the conference?

IEEE World Haptics Conference is a premiere venue for the haptics community to present, discuss, and demonstrate research ideas and prototypes. My experience was beyond expectation. My presentation went really well; it was an instant hit and a lot of people reached out to me afterwards. The other presentations and demos were quite good (both from industry partners as well as academic labs). The highlight for me was to get to interact closely with the most senior researchers in the haptics community. 

How has this research shaped your ongoing work as a PhD student in ATLAS?

This research has been along the lines of my PhD work at ATLAS and will be included in my dissertation. It had origins in the previous research I performed at ATLAS on soft electrohydraulic actuators. It helped me orient more towards my thesis work on steering soft materials with high-intensity electric fields.

Publication Details

Purnendu, Jess Hartcher‑O’Brien, Vatsal Mehta, Nicholas Colonnese, Aakar Gupta, Carson Bruns, Priyanshu Agarwal

Fingertips are one of the most sensitive regions of the human body and provide a means to dexterously interact with the physical world. To recreate this sense of physical touch in a virtual or augmented reality (VR/AR), high-resolution haptic interfaces that can render rich tactile information are needed. In this paper, we present a wearable electrohydraulic haptic interface that can produce high-fidelity multimodal haptic feedback at the fingertips. This novel hardware can generate high-intensity fine tactile pressure (up to 34 kPa) as well as a wide range of vibrations (up to 700 Hz) through 16 individually controlled electrohydraulic bubble actuators. To achieve such a high intensity multimodal haptic feedback at such a high density (16 bubbles/cm2) at the fingertip using an electrohydraulic haptic interface , we integrated a stretchable substrate with a novel dielectric film and developed a design architecture wherein the dielectric fluid is stored at the back of the fingertip. We physically characterize the static and dynamic behavior of the device. In addition, we conduct psychophysical characterization of the device through a set of user studies. This electrohydraulic interface demonstrates a new way to design and develop high- resolution multimodal haptic systems at the fingertips for AR/VR environments.

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Sandra Bae, PhD student and member of the Utility Research Lab and ACME Lab at ATLAS, has been honored with a Best Paper Honorable Mention at VIS 2023 for her research on network physicalizations. 

Billed as “the premier forum for advances in theory, methods and applications of visualization and visual analytics”, will be held in Melbourne, Australia, from October 22-27, and is sponsored by IEEE. The Best Papers Committee bestows honorable mentions on the top 5% of publications submitted. 

The paper introduces a computational design pipeline to 3D print physical representations of networks enabling touch interactivity via capacitive sensing and computational inference.

[video:https://youtu.be/uv0Yu0WUeSQ]

 
S. Sandra Bae, Takanori Fujiwara, Anders Ynnerman, Ellen Yi-Luen Do, Michael L. Rivera, Danielle Albers Szafir

Abstract
Interaction is critical for data analysis and sensemaking. However, designing interactive physicalizations is challenging as it requires cross-disciplinary knowledge in visualization, fabrication, and electronics. Interactive physicalizations are typically produced in an unstructured manner, resulting in unique solutions for a specific dataset, problem, or interaction that cannot be easily extended or adapted to new scenarios or future physicalizations. To mitigate these challenges, we introduce a computational design pipeline to 3D print network physicalizations with integrated sensing capabilities. Networks are ubiquitous, yet their complex geometry also requires significant engineering considerations to provide intuitive, effective interactions for exploration. Using our pipeline, designers can readily produce network physicalizations supporting selection-the most critical atomic operation for interaction-by touch through capacitive sensing and computational inference. Our computational design pipeline introduces a new design paradigm by concurrently considering the form and interactivity of a physicalization into one cohesive fabrication workflow. We evaluate our approach using (i) computational evaluations, (ii) three usage scenarios focusing on general visualization tasks, and (iii) expert interviews. The design paradigm introduced by our pipeline can lower barriers to physicalization research, creation, and adoption.

Bae describes potential use cases for sensing network physicalizations:

• Accessibility visualization - Accessible visualizations (e.g., tactile visualizations) focus on making data visualization more inclusive, particularly for those with low vision or blindness. However, most tactile visualizations are static and non-interactive, which reduces data expressiveness and inhibits data exploration. This technique can create more interactive tactile visualizations. 
• AR/VR - Most AR/VR devices use computer vision (CV), but most devices using CV cannot reproduce the haptic benefits that we naturally leverage (holding, rotating, tracing) with our sense of touch. Past studies confirm the importance of tangible inputs when virtually exploring data. But creating tangible devices for AR/VR requires too much instrumentation to make them interactive. Our technique would enable developers to more easily produce fully functional, responsive controllers right from the printer within a single pass.

The work continues as Bae plans to pursue more complex designs and richer interactivity including:

Fabricating bigger networks - The biggest network Bae has 3D printed so far is 20 nodes and 40 links, but this is rather small for most network datasets. She will scale this technique to support bigger networks.

Supporting output - Interactive objects receive input (e.g., from touch) and produce output (e.g., light, sound, color change) in a controlled manner. The sensing network currently addresses the first part of the interaction loop by responding to touch inputs, but she next wants to explore how to support output.

Bae showcased this research along with fellow ATLAS community members at the Rocky Mountain RepRap Festival earlier this year. We’re excited to see where her innovative research leads next.

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