Week 10: Post 2

On Thursday, we had our poster symposium. I was very nervous to actually speak to people about my project because I'm not really a public speaker. But it went way better than I thought it would. Quite a few people showed up and people were actually interested in my research and asked me questions about it, which I was very delighted to answer. However, there was one person who was a little rude, but I guess it checks out because the methodology didn't make sense. He asked me, "why were the participants sitting down instead of standing up? Wouldn't it make more sense if they actually walked?" But in order for me to actually do this with VR I would have to have a massive room so that people could walk through it. And another option that is possible is redirected walking but that takes forever to do, and I'm not knowledgeable enough on the topic to know how it actually works. But other than that I thought that the presentation went really well. 

As for my ongoing study, I finally ran a total of five participants. With the data that we have now, it seems like participants enjoy the active movement better than the passive. This project will be continuing on through another student an should be completed within the next few months. Vicki is hoping that we can publish this paper. I will be so glad if it does get published because that means that all of my work this summer actually meant something. 

Vicki also asked me if I was considering grad school or not. I told her that I wasn't really sure if I wanted to or not. She said that I should apply to the University of Minnesota and that she would write me a referral if I wanted it. I think that she was hinting around that she wanted to be my advisor but I'm really not sure. But I will apply for grad school just in case I don't find a job before I graduate. 

Overall, I feel like this has been a good experience and I have learned quite a bit about VR and how research is actually performed. I think I could see myself doing this in grad school.