2026 (Linked In DVXR Group)

  • Dr. Sharad Sharma served on the panel "AI in Real Estate and Education: Bridging Data, Decisions, and Community Impact", at InfoFORCE: Information and AI Weekend on April 10 & 11, 2026.
  • DVXR Lab students attended and presented at the InfoFORCE: Information and AI Weekend at UNT Frisco on April 10 & 11, 2026.
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  • Students at DVXR Lab proudly presented their research at class HINF 5506 (Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Health), followed by an immersive tour of the DVXR Lab and its VR Cave. (April 6, 2026)
    • DVXR lab students (Johannas Katikala Maimuna Patwary Kanishk Sharma), alongside Dr. Sharad Sharma, delivered impressive presentations showcasing the use of AI, AR, and VR in medical applications and patient care. The session highlighted innovative, human-centered solutions at the intersection of immersive technology and healthcare. The projects included:
      🔹 Enhancing mental health diagnostics using Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI) and VR/AR
      🔹 MindYoga: A mobile and VR solution for mental health management using yoga techniques
      🔹 A non-invasive BCI system integrating gaze tracking and EEG: By UNT TAMS (Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science) students
      🔹 Fire evacuation simulations using VR integrated with BCI devices such as Galea and Emotiv
      🔹 Virtual AI health assistant systems designed to enhance interactive learning experiences
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  • DVXR Lab was proud to showcase student innovation during the SACSCOC accreditation visit last week. (April 1, 2026)
    Our students (Johannas Katikala.Maimuna Patwary Kanishk Sharma Tharun Swaminathan Ravi Kumar ) and Dr. Sharad Sharma delivered impressive research presentations as part of the DVXR Lab tour, highlighting cutting-edge projects at the intersection of immersive technology and human-centered design.
    🔹 Fire evacuation simulations using VR integrated with BCI devices such as Galea and Emotiv
    🔹 Mixed reality applications developed with HoloLens for navigation, evacuation, and emergency response.
    🔹 Virtual AI tutor systems designed to enhance interactive learning experiences
    The demonstrations reflected not only technical excellence but also the creativity and real-world impact of our students’ work. A huge thank you to everyone who contributed to making the visit a success!
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  • 2 papers presented at IEEE SoutheastCon 2026 by DVXR Lab students
    1) Katikala, J., Ovi, P.R., Sharma, S., "Real-Time Multimodal Sensing and Spatiotemporal Event Logging on Mobile Devices" Proceedings of the IEEE SoutheastCon, Huntsville, Alabama, 13-15 March 2026.
    2) Amin, M.A.S.R., Ovi, P.R., Sharma, S., "A Scalable Hybrid Model for EEG-Based Stress Detection Toward Real-Time Deployability" Proceedings of the IEEE SoutheastCon, Huntsville, Alabama, 13-15 March 2026
  • 2 papers presented by students from DVXR Lab at the ERVR-2026 Conference, March 1 - 5, 2026.
    1) Virtual reality-based AI mental health companion: A multimodal system for therapy, mindfulness, and stress detection, Sharad Sharma, Johannas Katikala, Keerthana Srinivasan, Preetom Roy Ovi, Sam Holagh, Navatha Maloth, Ana Cleveland, Timothy McMahan, Regina Kaplan-Rakowski, University of North Texas
    2) Simulating epidemic response and communication using AI-powered NPCs in virtual reality, Faria Alam, Sharad Sharma, Pretom Roy Ovi, K.S.M. Tozammel Hossain, University of North Texas
  • Dr. Sharad Sharma served serving as Conference Chair of Engineering Reality of Virtual Reality, ERVR-2026 (IS&T EI 2026), San Francisco, California, March 1 - 5, 2026.

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    2025 (Linked In DVXR Group)
  • Dr. Sharad Sharma was the Keynote Speaker at the IEEE International Conference on Data Science and Intelligent Network Computing (ICDSINC-2025) on 8th December 2025. The title of his talk was "Integrating Data Science with AI-Driven VR/AR Applications for Situational Awareness and Emergency Management".
  • Halloween Season Meets Innovation at DVXR Lab
    • Students from the INFO 5000 course came for a fun Scavenger Hunt stop at the DVXR Lab (10/30/25)halloween
  • Dr. Sharad Sharma delivered the Inaugural Lecture for the Sinha Endowed Professorship in Data Science (Read here). Video, (October 24, 2025) halloween
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  • Dr. Sharad Sharma was the Keynote Speaker at the International Conference on Cognitive, Green, and Ubiquitous Computing (IC-CGU 2025), on 11th October 2025. The title of his talk was "AI-Driven Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality Applications for Situational Awareness and Emergency Response".
  • Dr. Sharad Sharma was the Judge at the Hackathon organized by GSC (Graduate student council) and Data Science Organization , October 22, 2025halloween
  • 4 DVXR lab students participated in the Hackwell Hackathon at the University of North Texas (10/31/2025)halloween
  • 5 DVXR Lab students attended Mainframe Technical Exchange Conference (10/16/2025)halloween
  • 4 Students from DVXR Lab presented their research at UNT Research Day 2025 highlighting innovative student research in AR/VR, AI, and Human-Centered Computing. Following posters were presented: (10/14/2025)
    1. ARNav: AI-Powered Indoor Navigation and Real-Time Situational Awareness at UNT Discovery Park. [Keerthana Srinivasan ]
    2. Enhancing Mental Health, Stress, and Anxiety Management using EEG Signals and Virtual Reality with Emotiv [Lavanya Nidamanuri ]
    3. Detection of Anomalies in Virtual Environments [Yonas Lemma]
    4. A VR-Based Approach to Employee Training in the Retail Clothing Store [sam rahimzadeh holagh ]    halloween
  • 3 graduate students from DVXR Lab presented their innovative research projects during the AI & Data Science Executive Summit 2025, hosted by the Anuradha & Vikas Sinha Department of Data Science at UNT Frisco. (October 10, 2025)
    Keerthana Srinivasan – ARNav: AI-Powered Indoor Navigation and Real-Time Situational Awareness at UNT Discovery Park
    Johannas Katikala – Mobile App for Real-Time Multi-User Object, Pose, and Name Detection with Location-Based Data and Time Series Analysis
    Abhaya Ladalla – MindYoga: A Mobile Application for Mental Health Care Management Using Yoga-Based Interventions    halloween
  • Research presentations by Keerthana Srinivasan Johannas Katikala and Abhaya Ladalla at DVXR Lab to the NTT DATA Team visiting the UNT College of Information for collaboration. (9/13/2025)halloween
  • Night of Lights Celebration ✨at UNT discovery Park by DVXR lab students collaborated with The UNT Data Science Organization (DSO) and the UNT Health Informatics Student Organization (HISO) on October 24, 2025.
  • Summer Research Presentations in DVXR lab (August 1, 2025) (PDF)
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  • Photos of Summer Research at DVXR Lab Group (July 15, 2025)
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  • Active Shooter Traning Module in VR Demo to UNT Police Department (PICS-ALBUM) (June 17th, 2025)
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  • Toluca, Mexico HS Student Robotics Academy Visit to DVXR Lab. (May 16, 2025)
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  • 3D Wall Pics at DVXR lab during Wipro-UNT MOU Signing (Feb)
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  • Keynote Talk by Dr. Sharad Sharma at the MIRS (Multidisciplinary Inforamtion Research Symposium) on Feb 21, 2025.MIRS
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2024 

2023

  • Congratulations to the graduate students: Bhoj Bhatt and Sri Chandra from our DVXR Lab to secure 1st prize and 2nd Prize at the UNT COI 15th-anniversary celebration event (November 10, 2023).
    • 1st Place: Mobile App for Object Tracking and Location-Based Data for Time Series Analysis (Bhoj Bhatt)
    • 2nd Place: Crime Data and Visualization through HoloLens 2 and Oculus Quest Pro (Sri Chandra)
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  • Dr. Sharma won the Faculty Excellence Award for Top 5 Recipients & Most Awarded Grants Award and Outstanding Mentor Award at UNT on November 10, 2023.
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  • DVXR Group at the UNT COI 15th-anniversary celebration event (November 10, 2023).
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  • Five (5) Posters presented at the UNT COI 15th-anniversary celebration event by the DVXR graduate students on November 10, 2023. The posters were:.
    • Mobile App for Object Tracking and Location-Based Data for Time Series Analysis (By: Bhoj Bhatt), (1st Place Award)
    • Crime Data and Visualization through HoloLens 2 and Oculus Quest Pro (By: Sri Chandra Dronavalli), (2nd Place Award)
    • Mobile Application for Identifying Anomalous Behavior and Conducting Time Series Analysis using Parking Lot Data, (By: Maruthi Prasanna)
    • Real Time Object Detection and Emotion Detection via Camera using React Native, Python Flask, Coco Dataset and OpenCV, (By: Suruthi Selvam)
    • Situational Awareness-based Augmented Reality Instructional (ARI) Module for Building Evacuation, (By: Rishitha Reddy Pesaladinne)
  • Dr. Sharma was the Moderator at 6TH IFIP International Internet of Things (IoT) Conference, Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, Texas, USA, 2-3 November 2023.
    • Expert Panel - IoT for Food Safety and Healthcare, Thursday, November 2 16:30 - 17:30
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  • Dr. Sharad Sharma was the Conference Planning Committee member for the 2nd Annual NSF HDR Ecosystem Conference, Denver, CO, October 16-18, 2023
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  • Discovery Series: Software Systems Lab: An Overview of Ongoing Projects at UNR by Dr. Frederick C. Harris, Jr. and Dr. Sergiu Dascalu
    • Date: September 29, 2023 from 2:00 - 3:00 p.m.
    • Location: In-Person at Business Leadership Building (BLB), Room 010, and Zoom
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  • Research Presentations by 7 DVXR Lab students to UNR Professors on September 29, 2023 from 11:00 - 1:00 p.m.
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  • Education Outreach Day 2023
    • Recruiting event hosted at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Dallas on 5/18/2023.
    • Students Participated: Rishitha Reddy Pesaladinne & Praneeth Koppolu
    • You Tube Video, Pictures of the event.
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  • 15 Final Group Projects on Virtual Reality Presented on May 3, 2023. (Flyer)
  • The following 2 paper in accepted for publication and presentation in Summer 2023.
  • Two conference proceedings paper presented at the IS&T International Symposium on Electronic Imaging (EI 2023) in the Engineering Reality of Virtual Reality Conference on January 15-19, 2023.
    • Sharma, S., Park, J.W, Morris, B. T, "Immersive security personnel training module for active shooter events," Proceedings of the IS&T International Symposium on Electronic Imaging (EI 2023) in the Engineering Reality of Virtual Reality Conference, January 15-19, 2023.
    • Sharma, S., Engel, D., "Mobile augmented reality system for object detection, alert, and safety", Proceedings of the IS&T International Symposium on Electronic Imaging (EI 2023) in the Engineering Reality of Virtual Reality Conference, January 15-19, 2023.
  • Elsevier Safety Science Journal paper published focusing on active shooter events and behavior modeling.
    • Arteaga, C., Park, J.W, Morris, B.T, Sharma,S., "Effect of trained evacuation leaders on victims' safety during an active shooter incident", Elsevier Safety Science, ISSN 0925-7535, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2022.105967, Volume 158, 105967, 2023.

2022

  • IEEE -CSCI paper on Mobile AR application for navigation and emergency response accepted for presentation on December 15, 2022
    • Mannuru, N. R., Kanumuru, M., and Sharma, S., "Mobile AR application for navigation and emergency response", Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Computational Science and Computational Intelligence , (IEEE-CSCI-RTMC), Las Vegas, USA, December 14-16, 2022.
  • Dr. Sharma was the program chair for the 2nd Graduate Research Workshop (GRW2022) at Bowie State University on April 29, 2022.
  • Dr. Sharma has 6 NSF Grants active in 2021-2022.
  • Dr. Sharma gave a Key Note Talk at the 2022 IEEE International Mobile and Embedded Technology Conference (MECON - 2022), titled "Mobile Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Applications for Situational Awareness and Emergency response", 11 March 2022.