About Us
The VEMI Lab is a diverse collective of individuals joined by an interest in spatial cognition, navigation, multimodal interface design, and use of multimodal virtual and augmented reality technology for behavioral research, innovative applications, and information virtualization and augmentation of complex spatiotemporal datasets or environments. Our lab is part of the Spatial Informatics (SI) program in the School of Computing and Information Science (CIS) at the University of Maine. We are the only department/ research unit of its kind in the country and our focus on both science and engineering allows for a unique melding of theory and practice in our research. The Spatial Informatics program represents faculty and students from various backgrounds who study all matter of things spatial. Interests and expertise span a range of topics, including: computational models and formal ontologies of space, design and implementation of spatial databases, spatio-temporal reasoning, modeling and visualization of spatio-temporal phenomena, GIS and GPS, distributed and ubiquitous spatial computing, data management in geosensor networks, legal issues affecting the creation and use of digital databases and spatial technologies, human-robotics interactions, and spatial cognition and navigation. Students and staff in the VEMI Lab benefit from access to the many resources of the program and school, as well as our connections to the broader campus community and well-established contacts with industry.
Lab Director:
Dr. Nicholas A. Giudice
Assistant Professor, Spatial Informatics program, School of Computing and Information Science
Office Phone: 207-581-2187
Nick's EMail ( giudice@spatial.maine.edu )
Research interests: multimodal spatial cognition, functional and anatomical equivalence of spatial representations, information requirements for multimodal interface design, navigation of real and virtual environments, wayfinding without vision, cross-modal brain plasticity
Lab Manager:
Richard Corey
Master's candidate, Intermedia
Rick's Email
Research interests: Re-evaluating unrecognized spaces that exist in public domains and establishing an emotional connection with that space, as well as orchestrating the lab's smooth operation.
Czar of Happiness and Programmer:
Timothy McGrath
Undergraduate, Mechanical Engineering
Tim's Email
Research interests: Simulated physics and collisions, virtual mapping of physical environments, exploring concepts for multimodal interaction with program objects
Graduate Research Assistant:
Christopher Bennett
PhD candidate, Spatial Information Science and Engineering
Chris's Email
Research interests: multimodal integration and Functional Equivalence
Graduate Research Assistant:
Hengshan Li
PhD candidate, Spatial Information Science and Engineering
Henshan's email
Research interests: Spatial cognition and Indoor Navigation
Graduate Research Assistant:
Monoj Raja
Master's candidate, Spatial Information Science and Engineering
Monoj's Email
Research interests: Indoor positioning and mobile Navigation Technology
Graduate Research Assistant:
Saranya Kesavan
Master's candidate, Spatial Information Science and Engineering
Saranya's Email
Research interests: Visual-Spatial Image Conversion and non-visual scene descriptions
Graduate Research Assistant:
Shreyans Jain
Master's candidate, Spatial Information Science and Engineering
Shrey's Email
Research interests: Multimodal interface design and Indoor Navigation
Official Lab Non-Human
Uro the Dogg
GSD, Fidelco
Uro's Email
Research interests: Blind navigation, spatial reasoning and spatial uncertainty, guidance of bipedal mammals in complex environments, and psychophysics of bone chewing gratification as a function of bone size, density, and marrow content.
program administrative Contact:
Karen Kidder
Spatial Informatics program, School of Computing and Information Science
Office phone: 207-581-2188
Email: kkidder@spatial.maine.edu
www.spatial.umaine.edu
Lab Address:
Virtual Environment and Multimodal Interaction Laboratory
Room 348, Boardman Hall
Spatial Informatics program,
Orono ME, 04469-5711
Note that snail mail is sent to the SI main office but the physical lab location is 236 Boardman Hall.
General Lab EMail
Lab Phone: 207-581-2151
Fax: 207-581-2206