Evan Suma Rosenberg Elected to IEEE VGTC Virtual Reality Academy
Department of Computer Science & Engineering (CS&E) Associate Professor Evan Suma Rosenberg has been elected to the IEEE Visualization and Graphics Technical Community (VGTC) Virtual Reality Academy. The academy was established in 2022 to recognize and honor the accomplishments of the leaders in the fields of virtual and mixed reality. Nominees must demonstrate strengths in cumulative and noteworthy contributions to research and/or development; broad influence on the field, the community, and on the work of others; or significant service and/or active participation in the community. Suma Rosenberg is one of nine inductees for 2025, and the second CS&E faculty member to earn this honor (Victoria Interrante, 2022).
“I first attended IEEE VR when I was an undergraduate in 2004, and this has been my academic home for over 20 years,” Suma Rosenberg said. “This conference is where I met my future PhD advisor, it has been the central focus for submitting research work, and it is where I meet collaborators and colleagues. To be elected to the VR Academy is especially meaningful and significant, and is one of the most important recognitions that I could receive.”
Suma Rosenberg is a longtime member of the IEEE VR community, and has served multiple leadership roles including General Chair of the conference in 2017, hosting the event at their previous institution in Los Angeles. Suma Rosenberg's research interests are situated at the intersection of virtual reality and human-computer interaction, encompassing immersive technologies, 3D user interfaces, and spatial interaction techniques. Their research contributions include widely cited techniques such as change blindness redirection (VR 2011), impossible spaces (VR 2012), and flexible spaces (3DUI 2013).
“I have such a gratitude for everyone within the IEEE VR community, many of whom I met while attending conferences,” Suma Rosenberg said. “I want to especially thank and acknowledge my mentors, collaborators, and of course, the students who are such a privilege to teach and advise.”
Suma Rosenberg joined the Department of Computer Science & Engineering in 2018 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2022. Prior to the University of Minnesota, they completed postdoctoral work at the University of Southern California and went on to serve as a Research Assistant Professor. Suma Rosenberg earned the George W. Taylor Career Development Award for exceptional contributions to teaching in 2022.
Suma Rosenberg's former students include Jerald Thomas, now an Assistant Professor at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and Mahdi Azmandian, a recipient of the Honorable Mention for the IEEE VR Best Dissertation Award. This year, their student Tongyu Nie earned a Best Paper Award for introducing a novel cybersickness mitigation technique called peripheral teleportation.
“I am really proud of this particular paper, because this is a very novel idea,” Suma Rosenberg said. “Tongyu came up with a new cybersickness mitigation technique known as peripheral teleportation, which creates a rest frame only in the peripheral vision by blending virtual content at discrete camera positions within the virtual environment. It is designed to reduce the motion-flow stimuli in the periphery during virtual movement, which is often associated with visually induced motion sickness.”
Learn more about Suma Rosenberg’s work and the IEEE VGTC Virtual Reality Academy at their websites.