Protecting the outdoors from indoors: new UNM VR research
October 20, 2022 - Savannah Peat
It’s the advice and lessons schoolchildren have been taught for ages: do your part to save the planet. Whether that’s recycling, cutting down on water use, or carpooling, you’re taught it’s critical to help the environment. Still, it's the actions of many which make a difference.
That’s the lesson University of New Mexico Communication & Journalism (C&J) Professor Michael Lechuga and graduate student Robert Howard are trying to communicate in a unique way.
“We're addressing environmental issues but we're also trying to do it in an innovative way,” Lechuga said.
They worked with the xReal Lab at California State University San Bernardino to develop the ‘Reconnections’ video game, a true representation of why it matters to trust your neighbors to also play their role in a greener future.
Thanks to a nearly $10,000 grant from UNM’s Research Allocations Committee, Lechuga and Howard were able to set up the VR Lab, and purchase Oculus equipment to transport participants to a remote island.
Read more at the UNM Newsroom
