Research in Focus is designed to spotlight faculty, staff, and student research, spark meaningful dialogue, and strengthen engagement across our campuses. In this session, we were inspired by two insightful and amazing presentations:

🔹 Max Rakov, MDes, Jay Lodaya, Ahmed Ghalib, Rob Bajko, Ph.D., and Marco Bertuzzo shared their innovative work on using Virtual Reality (VR) to enhance student engagement in design and liberal arts programs.

🔹 Irene Torres-Arends presented a thoughtful CHAT-informed model to better understand and support international student success through classroom interventions.

These two presentations demonstrate how faculty-led, curiosity-driven, and tech-based research can meaningfully inform and enhance teaching and learning. Particularly, the integration of immersive technologies (VR from Max’s research) and sociocultural frameworks (CHAT model from Irene’s) offers practical tools to support student engagement and learning outcomes, particularly in areas like design education and international student success.

The use of student-centered and participatory approaches, such as design-based research and peer-supported interventions (two key methodology design from Irene’s research), underscores the value of research that is responsive to the needs and experiences of diverse learners.