Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn

Brains, games, and VR frames: How UGA researchers are rewriting the rules of learning - UGA Research News

UGA Research write up of some of the cutting edge research on education and training taking place on campus - featuring our recent @noaa.gov project where I got to get into a little more detail about the motivations behind the #VR hurricane experience.
research.uga.edu/news/brains-...

We are working with the legal office to also upload the application to the Meta store for easier downloads.

P.S. Eek, live interviews are always nerve wracking 😱

www.foxweather.com/watch/fmc-mb...

Recent Fox Weather coverage on our “Weather the Storm” virtual reality application.

If you’re interested in trying it out and have access to a Meta Quest headset, please visit www.ugavr.com/weatherthest....

Weather the Storm was collaboratively produced by CACHE at @universityofga.bsky.social, Clemson University, South Carolina Sea Grant, and Georgia Sea Grant. Please share widely to anyone who may be interested!

Registration link provided here: www.noaa.gov/regional-col...

#Hurricane season 2025 is almost here! 🌧️ ☔️
Join @ugavr.bsky.social CACHE and our project partners at the @noaa.gov 2025 Hurricane Awareness Webinars Series to learn about "Weather the Storm," a training package for hurricanes and storm surge events that combines #VR w/ PPT, videos, handouts.

CACHE receives Presidents’ Award of Distinction from Georgia CTSA - Grady A team from the Center for Advanced Computer-Human Ecosystems is the recipient of the Presidents’ Award of Distinction from Georgia CTSA.

Every day, I am blessed to be able to work with these brilliant people who are the best of the best at what they do, and also genuinely care about CACHE's vision and goal to make the world a better place, one project at a time ❤️
grady.uga.edu/news/cache-r...

Although I often represent @ugavr.bsky.social, I cannot emphasize enough how much teamwork goes into all we do. It is a collaborative effort among the Colleges of Journalism & Mass Communication, Engineering, Public Health, and the colleges of all of our faculty affiliates, students, and staff.

We are proud to serve @universityofga.bsky.social University of Georgia's land and sea grant missions and humbled to be recognized for our research impact in the state of Georgia.

We are thrilled to be awarded the President's Award of Distinction from the Georgia Clinical and Translational Science Alliance (CTSA), recognizing our efforts to engage community members and orgs, helping to build capacity and establish strong partnerships that evolve into long-term friendships.

Community-based work has been at the core of our vision at @ugavr.bsky.social Center for Advanced Computer-Human Ecosystems(CACHE). Even when we work with cutting-edge tech, we have strived to direct our findings back to communities so that they may benefit from critical scientific advancements.

Includes fireside chat with @sunjooahn.bsky.social and VR demos following the talk!

VR hurricane storm surge experience could save lives along Georgia’s coast. Here’s how. A first-of-its-kind virtual reality experience is now available to educate coastal residents about the dangers of hurricane storm surge and how to prepare during evacuations.

www.ledger-enquirer.com/news/environ...

Learning the dangers of storm surges in virtual reality: coastal leaders’ attitudes toward VR as a risk communication tool Educating coastal residents on the dangers of storm surge is one of the core missions of coastal community leaders. Virtual reality (VR) can help communicate risks by simulating storm surge events ...

Preliminary findings from semi-structured interviews on integrating the VR experience in coastal communities: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Weather the Storm: A Life-Saving VR Simulation from Center for Advanced Computer-Human Ecosystems. — UGA x CACHE Weather the Storm is an immersive virtual reality experience designed by UGA's CACHE with support from NOAA to help coastal residents understand the true dangers of hurricanes.

The VR experience and education materials can be downloaded here: www.ugavr.com/weatherthest...

Storm surge VR from NOAA shows hurricane danger to teach safety NOAA introduced a new VR simulation called "Weather the Storm," designed to immerse people in the experience of a hurricane's storm surge.

Described as "..incredibly realistic and well-done..."
The VR experience and supplementary education materials are available to anyone who has access to a Meta Quest headset.

winknews.com/2025/03/21/s...

Chief Meteorologist @mattdevittweather.bsky.social of WINK News reviews "Weather the Storm," a life-saving #VR simulation we developed and tested at the @ugavr.bsky.social, in collab with @noaa.gov, Clemson University, the National Hurricane Center, Georgia Sea Grant, and South Carolina Sea Grant.

Our study on IEEEVR2020 was one of the craziest but exciting field studies we were able to pull together miraculously during the early days of COVID. Thanks to @drlauralevy.bsky.social for being such an amazing partner-in-crime 😎 Let's do it again soon!
URL to the paper & findings in Laura's post!

Special thanks to all of my partners and collaborators on this project at Clemson University, Georgia Sea Grant, South Carolina Sea Grant, NOAA @noaa.gov, and the National Hurricane Center. We couldn't have done this without their expertise, wisdom, and guidance.

The package contains two versions of the #VR experience (a quick demo with fast throughput, and a longer one for education) and supplementary slides/videos/handouts. Instructions and video manuals on how to download and use the VR experience are provided on the website.

Bringing storm surge to virtual reality - NOAA Weather Program Office A new virtual reality simulation funded by WPO shows people why coastal evacuation orders are so important during storms.

Delighted to share the results of our 3-year partnership with NOAA and the National Hurricane Center!
"Weather the Storm," a training and education package for hurricanes and storm surge events, is now available for public use (download link in the article).
wpo.noaa.gov/bringing-sto...

Sun Joo Ahn (University of Georgia), Multimodal Extensions of Realities - LAPPS

lapps.parisnanterre.fr/navigation/c...

In Paris to give a talk at Université Paris Nanterre 🇫🇷
This is a three university inter-laboratory collaboration, where the labs are interested in exploring the use of #VR in the psychological mechanisms that shape and drive embodiment and ensuing behavior change. If you're in Paris, swing by!

Federal employees, academics, private sector leaders have come together to figure out how to navigate the future of communities facing extreme weather.

People got us in this mess but we need to remember that people will get us out of it ❤️

Here for a social behavioral & economic sciences summit at @noaa.gov. It is incredibly reassuring to see hear and discuss how each person at this summit is contributing to holding the line the best they can, bravely leading organizations in their corners of the world in these very uncertain times.

One of the best things about working on federally funded projects is getting to know the people behind the scenes. What used to feel like just numbers and calls for proposals is now filled with friends and familiar faces and that really changes what the job feels like.

Learning the dangers of storm surges in virtual reality: coastal leaders’ attitudes toward VR as a risk communication tool Educating coastal residents on the dangers of storm surge is one of the core missions of coastal community leaders. Virtual reality (VR) can help communicate risks by simulating storm surge events ...

✅ Community leaders believe VR can be widely distributed by integrating VR into existing extreme weather preparedness programs
✅ Financial burden of VR still on community leaders' minds

More details provided in the paper: tinyurl.com/3xm4f2ns

✅ Strong emotional responses (e.g., fear, excitement) elicited in VR is useful to capture attention
✅ VR content should represent wide variances in specific communities and lived experiences to increase utility & relevance
✅ VR may be useful because it is novel... but novelty is a double-edged sword

We knew that community leaders (decision-makers, opinion leaders, includes industry professionals, engineers, civil servants, educators) were key drivers of VR adoption. Some themes from community leader interviews on opportunities and challenges of VR as a tool for extreme weather preparedness:

[NEW PUBLICATION] This is the first in a series of pubs coming up from our @noaa.gov project in partnership with the National Hurricane Center, using #VR to communicate the risk of storm surge/flooding. One of the first Qs to address was, can we scale the use of VR as a risk communication tool?

To our own CACHE graduates (@ugavr.bsky.social)— you’ve left your mark here, and we are so excited for you to Press Start 👾 on your next adventure. Chase those dreams, change the world, and never forget: Once a Dawg, Always a Dawg! 🐾❤️🎉

#UGA #UGAGrads #Graduation2024 #GoDawgs