Director: Andrea Stevenson Won (she/her)

Lab Manager: Isabelle McLeod Daphnis (she/her)

After working in the VEL as an undergraduate, Isabelle McLeod Daphnis took on the role of Lab Manager. She works primarily on the companionship project, studying people’s experience of pain in virtual reality. She is particularly interested in children and VR and VR exposure therapy.

Affiliated PhD Students

Ria Gualano (Communication)

Jiahao Liu (Mechanical Engineering)

Jiahao is an Information Science PhD student at Cornell University, advised by Professor Andrea Stevenson Won. Before coming to Ithaca, he received his bachelor’s degree from Xi’an Jiaotong Univerity, China. His general research goal lies in how to better leverage data and information to deepen the understanding of people’s interaction with each other, with technology, and eventually with our society and world, which are closely related to research fields of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Virtual and Mixed Reality (VR/MR), Computational Cognitive and Behavioral Science, etc. In his free time, he enjoys playing badminton and tennis, traveling, photography, and movies.

Tianqi Liu

Tianqi Liu (Information Science): Tianqi Liu received her Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Tsinghua University. Her research focuses on artificial intelligence, human–AI collaboration, human behavior modeling, and virtual reality. She is especially interested in designing AI systems that can develop a deeper understanding of their human teammates, enabling more natural and effective collaboration.

Kevin Martinez (Communication)

Kevin received a B.A. in Sociology from UC Berkeley. He’s interested in pedagogical applications of XR, how social networks and interactions on XR platforms influence culture and identity, and how XR technologies can be used for teamwork and cooperation. Outside of his studies, he enjoys playing guitar, cooking, and spending time with friends and family. 

Julia Sebastien (Communication)

Julia Sebastien’s interdisciplinary research interests combine social psychology communication, perception and cognition, Human-Computer Interaction, education, prosocial behavior, and mental health. During her Ph.D. studies at Cornell University, she is specifically investigating how immersive technological and social environments can manipulate our perceptions, behaviors, and mental well-being, for better or worse, across a variety of Social Computing and/or immersive media environments including social media, Virtual Reality, and virtual games.

Before embarking on her Ph.D. journey, Julia obtained a Master’s degree in Learning Design, Innovation, and Technology from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she collaborated with colleagues from Harvard and MIT to design and evaluate evidence-based educational technologies and immersive learning experiences.