Vivian Shen, Robotics Institute Ph.D. student, emerged as the champion of the Carnegie Mellon University Three Minute Thesis competition (3MT). The internationally recognized competition, hosted by Carnegie Mellon Libraries, challenges Ph.D. students from across the university to present their thesis in an accessible language in just three minutes.
3MT offers CMU doctoral candidates of any level the opportunity to practice sharing their research with a non specialist audience and staff, faculty, and alumni of multiple departments. CMU Libraries hosted the preliminary rounds in February; winners received $250 and went on to compete in-person in the championship, on Tuesday, March 11. Finalists competed for additional prize money and to gain early career recognition.
Shen presents during the 3MT Championship on Tuesday, March 11 in McConomy Auditorium.
Shen is advised by Chris Harrison, associate professor at the Human Computer Interaction institute (HCII), and works in the Future Interfaces Group. For the competition, she presented a version of her thesis, titled “Body Aligned Design for Haptic Immersion in Extended Reality,” which describes her work in developing haptic devices to enhance the realism of virtual and augmented reality. Shen focuses on creating practical, user-friendly devices that provide realistic touch sensations and more accurate tactile feedback beyond the current standard of simple vibrations used in many virtual reality headsets.
“Our bodies have different sensitivities in different areas, which guides my framework,” said Shen. “ For example, our hands and fingertips are super sensitive to touch, but the skin on our limbs is not as sensitive. The devices that I make are matched to the sensitivity and capabilities of each body region.”
Shen has worked on several different haptic devices, including haptic gloves, a mouth haptic device, a novel actuation method used for facial haptics, a haptic vest, and even a haptic floor that simulates continuous walking and ground sensations. Each device utilizes novel actuation methods or form factors tailored to specific body regions and aims to imitate real human sensorimotor experiences.
“My goal is to optimize between practicality and immersion,” said Shen. “I’m looking at devices that are immersive enough to be interesting, but not so complex that they are impractically bulky and expensive. A large part of my process considers cost, ergonomics, size, and ease of setup.”
Shen moved forward from the preliminary round to the championship, where she was named the winner and received $3,000 in prize money for her succinct and persuasive presentation. Judges of the competition included Anne Molloy, Board of Trustees and Libraries Dean’s Advocacy Council member; Hillard Lazarus (Engineering ’70), Alumni Association Board and Libraries Dean’s Advocacy Council member; Brad A. Myers, Charles M. Geschke Director and professor at the Human-Computer Interaction Institute; Teresa Trombetta (Heinz ’18), Assistant Vice President of Alumni and Constituent Engagement; and Tysen Kendig, Vice President for University Communications and Marketing.
“I really like public speaking, but I usually don’t memorize my points,” said Shen while describing the experience of presenting during 3MT. “ It was a fun challenge to formulate my thoughts and describe my thesis within a time limit, especially to a non specialist audience. I never had the opportunity to tackle that specific task until now.”
Alongside winning the Three Minute Thesis competition, Shen was recently awarded the Jane Street Graduate Fellowship, which provides a full year of funding for her research. The Jane Street Fellowship supports doctoral students in the fields of computer science, mathematics, physics and statistics who demonstrate technical excellence and curiosity in their research. Shen’s research significantly overlaps with the fields and specialties Jane Street supports, and her specialty in human-computer interaction made her a stand-out candidate.
“ I appreciated that the Jane Street Fellowship is not limited to a strict area of research,” said Shen. “A lot of the recipients’ work is very different from mine, and yet we are all being supported by the fellowship in unique ways.”
The prize money and fellowship will continue to support Shen’s work in haptic technology and human-computer interaction. She looks forward to continuing to push virtual and augmented reality to new horizons.
For More Information: Aaron Aupperlee | 412-268-9068 | aaupperlee@cmu.edu