At UCSC OpenLab I built immersive VR environments to help people viscerally understand wildfire risk, then rigorously measured whether the experience actually changed awareness.
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The goals
✦Make abstract wildfire risk feel real and personal
✦Design an experience grounded in behavioral research
✦Measure impact with statistical rigor
What I did
✓Designed and exhibited immersive 3D/VR environments at UCSC's OpenLab CRC integrating environmental data, AI, and narrative-driven interactive simulations
✓Designed the study methodology and ran statistical validation across 30+ participants
✓Validated experimental effectiveness through paired-sample t-tests and Likert-scale analysis