Events

Dr. Kimberly Hieftje was a keynote speaker at iLRN 2025 in Chicago, IL. Her keynote "Reality Check: What Immersive Technology Needs from Education", highlighted findings from our statewide study based in Connecticut public high schools which examined how immersive technology is being integrated, the challenges schools are navigating, and what educators say they need to move from interest to meaningful implementation.

Justin Berry (Project Director), Michael Gancz (Research Associate), and Dr. Shu Wei (Postdoctoral Associate) attended the IMX Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Justin Berry presented his latest work in his talk, "Lemmings: Creating Re-mappable Gestures for More Accessible Immersive Experiences." Shu Wei presented her demo for "The Arborist: A Collective Bloom Through Physiological Data in Mixed Reality", and Michael Gancz, their demo for "...Screenless Optical Theremin with Tremolo (ScOTT)."

Dr. Kimberly Hieftje was a speaker at the Yale Pediatric Education Learning Community (PELC) Speaker Series. Her talk titled, "The Grief We Don't Teach: Virtual Reality as a Tool for Understanding Child Loss", highlighted Year of the Cicadas, her VR experience that explores grief and child loss over time. Broadly, she shared how immersive technology, and personal narrative can be used as an educational tool to deepen our understanding of grief and meaning-making.

Dr. Asher Marks presented his talk, "Health Equity and Digital Interventions for AYA Patients" during the "Adolescent and Young Adults with Pediatric CNS Tumors - How to Bridge the Gaps" at the SNO Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Conference in San Diego, CA. His talk discussed how technology can be leveraged in AYA (adolescents and young adult) oncology care to amplify AYAs desire to explore, seek, and learn from socially and affectively salient experiences.

Postdoctoral Associate, Dr. Shu Wei, presented her doctoral work in a Late-Breaking Work session titled, "Physiological Responses to Affective Virtual Coach Design in a VR Fear of Heights Consultation" at the 2025 CHI Conference in Yokohama, Japan. Her presentation explored how emotional design elements in virtual reality coaches, like facial warmth and nodding, affect physiological stress and regulation during automated mental health interventions.

Dr. Kimberly Hieftje participated as a panelist in the event "Tech Tools in Training and Patient Care," hosted by the Health Care & Life Sciences Council of the Greater New Haven Chamber & Affiliates. Joined by Ted Dinsmore (President, SphereGen), Dr. Deborah Morrill (Assistant Professor, SCSU), and Dr. David Pearlstone (CEO, DICOM Director), the panel facilitated a community dialogue on the current and future use of immersive technology in healthcare and education, exploring its benefits, challenges, and implementation strategies.

Dr. Kimberly Hieftje, Dr. Asher Marks, Dr. Veronica Weser, Skylar Bartush (Postgraduate Associate), and Abigail Crocker (Graduate Student Collaborator) attended the 2025 Cedars-Sinai Virtual Medicine (vMED) Conference in Los Angeles, CA. The team had a strong presence at the conference with a total of six presentations that showcased our innovative research in projects spanning simulated psychedelics to a virtual experience on parental grief.

Associate Director of XRPeds, Dr. Veronica Weser, was invited to attend the 2025 Eastern Society for Pediatric Research Conference as a plenary speaker. Her panel, "Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Technologies in Pediatric Research," joined by Drs. Kristyn Beam (Harvard) and Mark Mercurio (Yale), explored how cutting-edge technologies like AI and virtual reality are transforming pediatric research, from diagnosis to medical education and more.

Drs. Kimberly Hieftje and Asher Marks participated in the Drexel University DIGM Colloquium series in their talk."A Twister, a Pandemic, and a Vision: A Reflection of 5 Years of XR Pediatrics." They reflected on their journey, milestones, and vision for the future of immersive pediatric care.

Dr. Kimberly Hieftje shared her emotional story describing the feeling of grief after the loss of a child during the Yale Pediatric Grand Rounds: Marjorie S. Rosenthal Stories in Pediatrics. Her experiences inspired the creation of her game, Year of the Cicadas.