Interactive Visualization Lab director Dr. Daniel Keefe has students who can draw in mid-air.

And that’s just one aspect of  his award-winning research work in virtual and augmented reality.

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Dr. Keefe, or Dan, as he prefers to be called, is an associate professor at the University of Minnesota.   He’s also an artist, as well as a computer scientist.  And he’s exploring what amounts to magic: human-computer interaction, scientific data visualization and computer graphics.

In other words, he’s putting AR and VR users into scenarios, to experience them firsthand.

Working with a team that includes scientists, artists, engineers and designers, Dan’s Interactive Visualization Lab is examining the ways AR and VR can solve problems and lead to new insights in multiple disciplines, including the arts.   Their goal: to make these technologies accessible to everyone.

Real-world applications, multiple awards

Among the questions Dan’s research answers: what were the conditions facing orators in ancient Greece?   How can we look inside the human heart, to more effectively design medical devices?  And, how can mobile VR help manage chronic pain?

Dan’s recent honors, for his research work, have included the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, the University of Minnesota’s Guillermo E. Borja Award for research and scholarly accomplishments and the University of Minnesota McKnight Land-Grant Professorship, according to his website.  In addition, he has garnered numerous “Best Paper” and “Best Panel”awards at multiple international conferences.

Dan talked about his background, what VR can mean for users in the arts and offered an exploration of some of the virtual-reality environments at the Interactive Visualization Lab.

On this edition of Over Coffee®, you’ll hear:

• What led Dan to become both an artist, and a scientist;

• The landmark experience that first interested him in virtual reality;

• What an arts person might experience, during a first visit to the University of Minnesota’s Interactive Visualization Lab;

• How one artist made the space his own while creating work in the virtual-reality cave;

• How anyone (not just Minnesota residents!) can use the programs the Interactive Visualization Lab has developed (hint: their software is open-source!);

• What the Interactive Visualization Lab is beginning to do in conjunction with K-12 educators (including a cool resource currently available through the U.S. Forest Service);

• Dan’s prediction of the ways VR will appear in the life of the average person in the future;

• How artists are helping to develop this technology;

• How you can get involved, if you’d like to know more;

• Dan’s recommendation for a future approach to developing computer science (hint: artists welcome!).