Yingjie “Victor” Chen, associate professor of computer graphics technology, along with professors in the College of Science and the College of Education, received a grant from the National Institutes of Health for research improving training and potential interest in the scientific field of cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM).
Wen Jiang, professor of biological sciences, and Bill Watson, associate professor of curriculum and instruction, will also participate in the multidisciplinary research. The team is developing CryoVR, a virtual reality system that allows people to learn the intricacies of delicate laboratory instruments like the multimillion-dollar cryo-electron microscope and other not readily available instruments.
“This is really about tactile learning, the hands-on training opportunity,” Chen said of the project, adding the virtual reality program lends itself to a trainee’s muscle memory by allowing the person to handle the machine repeatedly.
