Edward of Mississippi Stat University

In any use of mixed reality, an important aspect of virtual environment fidelity is being able to control the locations of virtual objects. Where are virtual objects located? How well can virtual objects be placed among real objects? Can a virtual object be co-located with a real object? Can a virtual object be located behind or beyond a real object (the x-ray vision condition)? Asking any of these questions requires answering the question: “How can we measure the perceived location of a virtual object?” In this talk, I will tell the story of my attempts to find an answer, in the form of an 11-year quest.

However, there is a larger story behind this quest — it occurred as part of my career, where my desire has always been to be a scientist. Like all of us, along the way I’ve had many other roles — student, teacher, mentor, scholar, engineer, administrator, salesman, etc. — but scientist has remained my most desired role. This 11-year quest is the story of the first time that I felt like I achieved this desire.

I will also attempt to touch on some lessons that I learned along the way. In the face of unceasing pressures to take on many different roles, I believe these lessons have helped me stay focused (for the most part) on the role of scientist.

Biography:

J. Edward Swan II is the Virginia Carron Eiland and Brent Eiland Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at Mississippi State University. He previously served in the administrative roles of Interim Associate Dean of Research for the Bagley College of Engineering (2024–26), and Interim Department Head (2017–18). He holds a B.S. (1989) degree in computer science from Auburn University and M.S. (1992) and Ph.D. (1997) degrees in computer science from Ohio State University, where he studied computer graphics and human-computer interaction. Before joining Mississippi State University in 2004, he spent 7 years as a scientist at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. His research has centered on the topics of augmented and virtual reality, perception, data science, empirical methods, human-computer interaction, human factors, and visualization. Currently, he is studying the perception and technology required to give virtual objects definite spatial locations, including depth and layout perception and depth presentation methods. He is also studying efficient data science tools. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Naval Research Laboratory, and the Office of Naval Research. Swan is a member of ACM, IEEE, and the IEEE Computer Society. He has served many roles in the Visualization and Graphics Technical Communities (VGTC) of IEEE Virtual Reality (VR), IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR), and IEEE Visualization. He is currently the chair of the IEEE VR steering committee. Previously, he served as one of the general chairs of VR 2021 and VR 2020, as well as a program chair for ISMAR 2017, ISMAR 2016, VR 2015, and VR 2014, and he was a member of the ISMAR steering committee. His scholarship and service have been recently recognized by induction into the 2024 Class of the VGTC Virtual Reality Academy, the 2023 VGTC Virtual Reality Service Award, and the 2022 ISMAR Impact Paper Award.