Dr. Ahn appointed coordinator of Grady's Games and Virtual Environments Lab

Dr. Ahn testing virtual simulation activities

The innovative Games and Virtual Environments research lab at Grady College has being successfully growing as interdisciplinary lab for virtual environment simulation activities. 

Dr. Sun Joo Ahn, Assistant Professor in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations has been appointed as the coordinator of the lab as her responsibilities will include establishing operating policy and scheduling procedures. Plus, Dr. Ahn will be working with affiliate researchers Dr. Bart Wojdynski, from the Department of Journalism, and Dr. Shira Chess from the Department of Telecommunications.

Dr. Ahn, who first began establishing the lab when she started teaching at Grady, in August 2011, mentioned that the lab has been fully functional since August 2012. Currently, the lab has six undergraduate and graduate students working on lab related activities under Dr. Ahn’s coordination.

"The biggest appeal about laboratories like this is that it is very interdisciplinary. We have students from Artificial Intelligence working here, students from Drama and Theater who do 3D animation, AdPR, Communication Studies. We have a collection of different majors that come together to produce work that is not being done in any other major,” said Dr. Ahn.

According to Dr. Ahn, a big part of the lab’s main goal is training students to become independent scholars. “The lab is a collaborative and collective project where we have input from different people, and where students can join me for several years to learn how to become experimentalist, how to become efficient and effective reporters of the data they collect over the years.” Therefore, this innovative research project reflects a “nurturing ground for a lot of students who might be interested in any line of research in the future,” said Dr. Ahn.

"We are excited for Dr. Ahn. She invested much time in the creation of this lab and we expect her efforts to move the field forward," said Dr. Tom Reichert, AdPR Department Head.

Dr. Ahn is currently looking for undergraduate and graduate research assistants to work in the Games and Virtual Environments lab. Interested students can apply contacting directly Dr. Ahn through her email sjahn@uga.edu.