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VR Lab’s FAA Research Giving Students Vast Experiences
Graduate students in the Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and Simulation Technology (VAST) Lab are working with the FAA to test technology for workforce development in the aerospace industry. Check out more of the work in the lab by clicking on the video play button.
Inside a computer lab at The University of Texas at Dallas, Chris Gauthier BA’23 fits a black device on his head with a gray tinted visor that shields his eyes like oversized sunglasses.
He lifts his right arm, stretches his index finger and pokes the air. He lowers the same arm and taps his finger repeatedly on invisible, fixed points.
Gauthier, a master’s degree candidate in game development at UT Dallas, is wearing a Microsoft HoloLens 2 virtual reality (VR) headset.
Only he’s not playing a video game.
Gauthier is interacting with scenes he helped create as part of a five-year collaborative agreement between UT Dallas’ Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and Simulation Technology (VAST) Lab and the Federal A students in the Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology working with the FAA to test virtual and augmented reality technology for workforce development in the aerospace industry
The lab’s partnership with the FAA’s Civil Aerospace Medical Institute, which began in 2024, will provide cutting-edge research that could guide how technicians, air traffic controllers or other workers learn their jobs and hone skills. For the FAA, immersive technology could help improve job safety, free up space, money and time for training, and ultimately boost its workforce.
Virtual-World Experience
Though often associated with gaming, VR is being used in police training, medical and military settings, and even to help older populations fight loneliness and memory loss.
Jeff Price, associate professor of game development and virtual reality in the Bass School, leads the VAST Lab. In addition to the ongoing work with the FAA, the lab has distinguished itself for creating 3D environments for artistic and practical purposes. In 2025, the lab won a gold medal for emerging technology in the Davey Awards for creating the UTD Vivarium Digital Twin, a virtual replica of the University’s animal research lab. Gauthier was one of 12 students recognized on the project.
Price established an offshoot — the Virtual, Immersive, and Simulation Training in Aerospace (VISTA) Lab — to focus on the FAA project. Students in the new lab will test headsets, many of which resemble ski goggles, that immerse a user in a virtual environment that precisely mirrors a specific place.
Hamida Khatri, research assistant and an arts, technology, and emerging communication doctoral candidate, and Chris Gauthier BA’23, a master’s degree candidate in game development, are getting real-world experience in the VAST Lab.
“We’re testing augmented reality and VR headsets for wear and accessibility,” said Price, who is the principal investigator on the FAA project.
Simulation technology can be useful when training space is limited because workers can be off-site to learn. It also provides users with a space to safely practice skills, Price said.
“Digital twins connect people and experiences to real-world practices,” he said.
Students in Price’s lab are evaluating the gear’s comfort level and seeing whether the experience triggers motion sickness, dizziness or other symptoms. They also will determine how much time users should spend wearing headsets. When the project is finished, the findings will be presented to the FAA and eventually submitted to peer-reviewed research publications.
Students working on the project credited Price with providing a life-changing learning experience.
Gauthier picked UT Dallas for his undergraduate studies after visiting the campus through an Explore Engineering Day event when he was in high school. Passionate about filmmaking since he was a teen, Gauthier knew he would eventually use his skills for practical applications.
But he never imagined he would be working with virtual and augmented reality.
When a job prospect fell through after graduation, Gauthier returned to UT Dallas as a research assistant in the VAST Lab; Price encouraged him to pursue his master’s.
“His mentorship has been invaluable,” Gauthier said. “VR was foreign to me before I started this project.”
Gauthier designed the scenes users see in the headsets, taking hundreds of photographs at the FAA’s Oklahoma City training facility to re-create equipment with such precision it is difficult to distinguish his design from the real one.
“You’re always learning so much,” Gauthier said of his work on the FAA project. “I have highly specific knowledge on so many different things.”
Real-World Experience
Students in the Virtual, Immersive, and Simulation Training in Aerospace Lab, an offshoot of the VAST Lab, will test headsets, many of which resemble ski goggles.
Brandon Coffey BA’23, a research assistant and master’s degree candidate in game development who also was recognized for the Davey Award-winning project, chose UT Dallas to learn animation. He met Price when he took his VR class.
Coffey can quickly recount detailed specs on the headsets being tested and is considered the technical backbone of the lab.
“So many times we’ve been stuck on a problem, and he fixes it every time,” Price said.
For Coffey, the lab has given him a chance to see his art displayed publicly and gain experience working on projects with clients.
“I’m grateful for all the opportunities that have been offered to me,” he said.
Hamida Khatri, research assistant and an arts, technology, and emerging communication doctoral candidate, transferred from Harrisburg University of Science and Technology in Pennsylvania to UT Dallas to complete her PhD and focus on VR’s applications in mental health.
“I was looking for a lab that I could be part of where I could utilize my skills, because I come from a research background,” said Khatri, another recipient of the Davey Award for the digital twin project. “I wanted to do user studies from the beginning, so when Professor Price introduced this project to us, I was very interested.”
She developed the research protocol for the FAA project after spending months researching prior studies and carefully planned the experiments with the headsets.
“It opened my eyes to how you can build relationships with companies, other organizations and other researchers,” Khatri said of her time in the VISTA and VAST labs. “We’re getting real-world, practical experience and working with the FAA. Who could have imagined that?”
“It opened my eyes to how you can build relationships with companies, other organizations and other researchers. We’re getting real-world, practical experience and working with the FAA. Who could have imagined that?”
Hamida Khatri, an arts, technology, and emerging communication doctoral candidate
Khatri credited Price, who is the examining committee co-chair for her PhD, with immersing her in the research experience she had long sought.
“Professor Price is such a blessing to the whole school,” she said. “He hasn’t just helped me as a person; he’s helped other students in the lab and given them the opportunity to work on projects. He’s a wonderful mentor for students.”
Media Contact: Veronica Gonzalez, UT Dallas, 972-883-4358, veronica.gonzalez@utdallas.edu, or the Office of Media Relations, UT Dallas, (972) 883-2155, newscenter@utdallas.edu.
Tagged:AHTgraduate educationJeff PriceresearchVAST Labvirtual realityVISTA Lab
