Avatars, Virtual Reality, ChatGPT and Siri Works in Progress Event
Please join the Provost Office for a Works in Progress Event featuring Assistant Professors of Computer Science Aline Normoyle and Adam Poliak. This free luncheon event is scheduled for 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., Wednesday, March 29 in Wyndham Alumnae House, Ely Room.
Aline Normoyle presents “How the design of avatars can affect feelings of body ownership in virtual reality"
Virtual reality gives us the opportunity to directly experience situations from the perspectives of other people. The sense of body ownership, of how much a virtual body feels like one's own, can contribute to a person's immersion in virtual reality; however, the strength of the body ownership illusion can be weaker or stronger depending on the devices and algorithms used to map someone's movement onto an avatar.
In this talk, I will briefly describe my work with colleagues at Clemson University and Meta, which investigates how the avatar's ability to grasp virtual objects affects feelings of body ownership. We compare joysticks to detailed hand tracking, and we study the effect of mismatches in hand size, visualizations, and virtual environment and task. To conclude the talk, I will introduce in-progress work that looks at how the feeling of body ownership for non-human avatars, whose bodies and perception of the world might be very different from our own.
Aline Normoyle is an Assistant Professor in the Computer Science Department. Aline completed a B.Sc. in Computer Science from McGill University and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Before her Ph.D., she was a software engineer who implemented tools and APIs for networking, simulation, visualization, and behavioral modeling. Her research uses a mix of experimental and modeling approaches to understand the effect of design on non-player characters, avatars, and video games.
Adam Poliak presents "Beyond ChatGPT and Siri: Exploring the Capabilities and Limitations of Natural Language Processing in AI and its Applications in Social Science and Public Health”
Natural Language Processing (NLP) is a branch of Artificial Intelligence that aims to build machines that humans can seamlessly interact with through spoken and written language. As NLP becomes more ubiquitous in our daily lives, through technologies like ChatGPT and Apple’s Siri, understanding the limits of these systems is critical. In the first half of the talk, I will be sharing my research on analyzing what these models learn about language. Specifically, I will discuss the insights we can gain from studying the inner workings of these models. With the remaining time, I will also explore the ways in which AI and NLP can be used to expand the types of data that researchers in social science and public health can analyze. By leveraging emerging technologies, we can gain new perspectives on complex social and health-related issues, such as identifying patterns in public health data or analyzing online communication. The talk will begin by briefly situating this work in the broader context of Computer Science. We will discuss how Computer Science is not about Computers nor Science. Join us to find out what Computer Science is actually all about!
Adam Poliak is an Assistant Professor in the Computer Science Department. Adam completed his Ph.D. in Computer Science at Johns Hopkins University where he was a member of the Center for Language and Speech Processing. He has done research stints at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Bloomberg L.P., and the Human Language Technology Center of Excellence. Adam's research has been funded by the FDA, Google, Columbia School of Nursing, DARPA, and others.
Bryn Mawr College welcomes the full participation of all individuals in all aspects of campus life. Should you wish to request a disability-related accommodation for this event, please contact the event sponsor/coordinator. Requests should be made as early as possible.