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Dynamic Virtual Production (DVP)

Working Group leader: Jean-Marc Gauthier

Group members: Clayton Christensen, Payton Finney, F. B. Wróblewski

Originated: April 2019

Description: This Working Group is part of the U of I’s NSF Track-2 EPSCOR Grant. They hold virtual reality meetings and user evaluation meetings bi-monthly.

The DVPS workgroup develops a novel approach to storytelling in the metaverse. During the past two years, we created new viewer’s experience immersed in the virtual ecosystems of Paradise Creek, a small river running between Moscow (Idaho) and Pullman (Washington). Realizing some of the original environment was altered, we created a story where herons and humans encounter each other in unexpected ways and the original river space could be discovered.

Feedback:
“Your work and achievements, and the projects at the Virtual Reality Lab at University of Idaho greatly contribute to our AR/VR/MR community at SIGGRAPH.” Anna Queiroz, Ph.D. Virtual Human Interaction Lab, Stanford University / Immersive Pavilion Chair, SIGGRAPH 2023

Current projects:

AUGMENTING VIRTUAL LUNAR TERRAIN WITH PROCEDURAL AND MACHINE LEARNING MODELS IN REAL-TIME

54th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 13-17/03/2023, J. M. Gauthier, Virtual Technology and Design, and F. B. Wróblewski, Department of Earth and Spatial Sciences, University of Idaho.

“Moments in Nature” (MiN), a collaborative storytelling environment in virtual reality. (2022) was selected with the 10 best virtual reality projects worldwide and presented at Real Time Live! Siggraph Asia 2022 an international conference and exhibition on computer graphics and interactive techniques, in Daegu, South Korea. (12/2022). Credits: Jean-Marc Gauthier in collaboration with Payton Finney. Narration by Savannah Thomson. Music and sound design by Alex Ho. VTD collaborators: Emma Ferguson, Clayton Christensen and Randall Erickson. Jean-Marc Gauthier, All Rights Reserved. December 2022.

VR Classroom online project, version 1.0 (2021- 22) and version 2.0 (2022- 23). Interdisciplinary virtual reality project to be part of a new online curriculum. Design and implementation by Jean-Marc Gauthier in collaboration with Clayton Christensen, Brian Cleveley (VTD), Rayce Bird, (VTD) and Ken Udas, Vice-Provost for Digital Learning Initiatives.

Virtual Forest VR project (2022 to present). Interdisciplinary virtual reality project as part of a new online curriculum in partnership with the US Forest Service and other agencies. Design and implementation by Jean-Marc Gauthier in collaboration with Sunny Wallace Office of the President & Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President, Heather Heward, CNR, Charles Goebel (CNR) and Ken Udas, Vice-Provost for Digital Learning Initiatives.

Fire Danger animations (2022- present). Hand drawn animations created for the Fire Danger group at University of Idaho and the US Forest Service. Created by Jean-Marc Gauthier, Payton Finney and Ciara Bordeaux.

Working Groups

Single Cell Variation in Phenotype (SCWG)

Working Group leader: Andreas Vasdekis

Group members: Daniel Weinreich, Chris Marx, Tanya Miura, Brenda Rubenstein, Shala Nemati, Monica Pedroni, Sergey Stolyar, Akaorde Serki, David Morgan, Maya Weisman

Originated: October, 2019

Description:

SCGW is interested in fusing expertise at UI and Brown towards understanding the response of cell populations with single-cell resolution to stress, as well as the relationship between this form of stress response with evolution.

One of our goals is to generate and submit manuscripts that are related to the GenoPheno EPSCoR project. A second goal pertains to the generation of preliminary data towards submitting future proposals that aim at relating single-cell phenomena with stress response and eventually evolution.

Working Groups

U of I Study: Some Vaccine Doubters Swayed by Outbreaks

This news article was written by Kathy Foss, Marketing and Communications Manager for the College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences. Drs. Florian Justwan and Bert Baumgaertner are active CMCI faculty participants and part of the Social-Epi working group.

MOSCOW, Idaho — Aug. 28, 2019 — People skeptical of the medical establishment who live close to a measles outbreak have a greater chance of changing their mind, according to a University of Idaho study.

The study, led by Assistant Professor of Political Science Florian Justwan, found people who are skeptical of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — as well as similar institutions — and live farther away from a disease outbreak harbor less favorable vaccination views than those who are skeptical but live in close proximity to an outbreak. People who have high levels of trust are not affected by disease proximity.

Bert Baumgaertner, an associate professor of philosophy at U of I, Juliet Carlisle, an associate professor of political science at the University of Utah, and former student researchers from U of I’s College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences, contributed to the study, published today, Aug. 28, in the journal PLOS One.

“The implication of our study is that some people base their vaccine decision-making to a considerable degree on whether or not a given disease occurs in close vicinity to their community,” Justwan said. “If someone has high confidence in institutions such as the CDC, this person is likely to vaccinate regardless of whether he or she lives close to a recent measles outbreak. Fostering public trust in institutions such as the CDC is an important objective from a public health perspective.”

The researchers found an individual’s proximity to a measles outbreak independently had no effect on measles vaccination attitudes. Research suggests, however, that people who are skeptical of the CDC and similar institutions may consider whether or not a given disease occurs nearby when making decisions about vaccination. About 61 percent of low-trust individuals had a more favorable opinion of vaccines if they lived within 100 miles of an outbreak, That increase in favorability dropped to about 39 percent if a person lived within 500 miles of an outbreak and to 17 percent within 1,000 miles of an outbreak.

Researchers surveyed 1,006 online respondents across the U.S. about their political beliefs, vaccination attitudes and demographics as part of the study. The survey was carried out in January 2017, a year after two highly publicized outbreaks of measles in the U.S. The pool was generated by a market research firm to be a nationally representative sample of the U.S. voting age population and the final sample matched known population factors for gender, age, income race and census region.

A growing vaccine hesitancy in the U.S. and globally can manifest itself in increased non-medical exemption rates, decreased vaccination rates and increased outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases, according to the study. The formation of attitudes about vaccination is complex and linked to many factors including media and peer group influence, distrust of science, information access and socio-economic barriers.

The research team, housed in U of I’s Center for Modeling Complex Interactions, is continuing its study into other factors that may influence a person’s decision to vaccinate.

Publications, Working Groups

IMCI Postdocs

Working Group leader: JT VanLeuven

Group members: Erich Seamon, Li Huang, Tuan Phan, Nurbanu Bursa, Chenangnon Tovissode

Originated: August 2018

Description:

The IMCI postdocs working group brings IMCI core fellows and postdocs together to provide each other a support system that helps peers to navigate the challenges at work. In addition, the working group provides a platform to practice oral presentations, present research updates and discuss networking and career opportunities.

Working Groups