Meet Our Team
See the faces behind the amazing work created by our lab
LEAD STAFF

Leanne Chukoskie
Principal Investigator
Dr. Leanne Chukoskie is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy, Movement, and Rehabilitation Science in the Bouvé College of Health, and the Games Program in the College of Arts, Media, and Design at Northeastern University. Her researcher focuses on sensory-motor behavior, especially eye movement behavior and its neural correlates across both typical and atypical development.

Ara Jung
Lab Supervisor
Ara has merged her background in psychology and love for games to pursure her Masters for Game Science and Design at CAMD with a focus on user experience (UX). She continues to be an active member of the Games Research and User Experience Group to further integrate UX principles into the lab’s projects.

Anna Schwartz
Postdoctoral Scholar

Olga Maslova
Fulbright Research Scholar
Olga is a Ph.D neurosociologist who focuses on social capital impact of VR in various contexts, including biofeedback for cognitive development by physical activity in elderly adults. Her research interests are quality of life and social aspects of digital inclusion of people with motor and cognitive disabilities into VR rehabilitation technologies, including individual and collaborative VR video games for cognitive and communicative skills development in people with autism.
PH.D. STUDENTS

Minxin Cheng
Doctorate Program in Human Movement and Rehabilitation Sciences
Minxin Cheng finished her BA in television editing and journalism and earned her MA in digital media design. She joined the PTHMRS program and the ReGame-XR Lab in 2019. Her work focuses on individual factors and contextual factors that impact children’s motor learning in virtual environments, with the ultimate goal of creating transferrable knowledge on using immersive virtual reality to improve children’s motor function rehabilitation.

Sundararaman Rengarajan
Doctorate Program in Human Movement and Rehabilitation Sciences
Sundar’s primary research focuses on understanding the theoretical framework of Active Inference under multi-sensory conflict in individuals with Autism through the use of sensor technologies. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from, a Master’s degree in Immunology from Tokyo Medical and Dental University and another Master’s degree in Biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University. He started his Ph.D at UC San Diego with Dr. Chukoskie in the UCSD/SDSU Joint Doctoral Program in Language and Communicative Disorders before joining.

Trent Simmons
Doctorate Program in Human Movement and Rehabilitation Sciences
Trent’s research interests involve the creation of novel virtual reality interventions for use in various non-neurotypical disorder treatments. He is focused on using his time as a student to hone his skills for this kind of work, and plan to take his talents into the private sector with the goal of helping as many people as possible.

Uri Seitz
Doctorate Program in Interdisciplinary Design and Media
Uri’s primary research interest is in designing AAC devices and systems to increase the autonomy of, and reduce stigmatization against, minimally verbal individuals with autism. Using his background in computer science, he seeks to utilize an iterative participatory design approach that includes individuals with autism, clinicians, researchers, parents, teachers, and communication partners within the design process.

Yijun (Shirley) Qian
Doctorate Program in Human Movement and Rehabilitation Sciences
Yijun comes from a Human-Computer Interaction Graduate Student at Drexel University before joining the Human Movement and Rehabilitation Sciences program at Northeastern to further their knowledge in medical research.
MASTER’S STUDENTS

Naren Mohan
Master's in Data Analytics Engineering
Naren is focusing on the predictive analytics and classical modeling techniques for statistical inference on finger tracking and eye movement behavior to learn and apply data science and visualization techniques in the healthcare domain in order to bring out the key insights and explain the story behind the data.

Ashwini Nilkanth Khedkar
Master in Information Systems at College of Engineering

Hariharan Sundaram
Master's in Data Analytics Engineering

Daijin Yang
Master's in Game Science and Design
Daijin Yang is focusing on modeling in-game player behaviors with eye-tracking technology. He is also interested in using artificial intelligence (AI) to design interesting and fun player experiences and explore creative human-AI interactions.

Yichi Zhang
GSND Master
Yichi uses visual or environmental design as a tool for interdisciplinary research

Abhinav Reddy, Chitty
Master's in Game Science and Design
Abhinav is focused on creating narrative-centered games that can emotionally connect with the players

Kalpan Agrawal
Game Science and Design
Kaplan is interested in Virtual Reality and aim to work with VR Projects. He hopes to experience Fully Immersive Virtual Reality eventually.

Lara Lewis
Game Science and Design
Lara’s interest lies in gaming as a vehicle for storytelling and communication, and what interaction brings to the narrative experience. She joined the ReGame lab as an intern in 2022, and seeks to use her Narrative Design experience to create immersive and memorable research projects. She begins her work as a GSND graduate student in Autumn 2023.

Viraj Shirodkar
Game Science and Design
Viraji is interested in the role of Software Engineer, specifically focusing on Gameplay Programming and Computer Graphics.

Shravan Dinakaran
Master's in Electrical & Computer Engineering
Shravan’s main interest lies in the intersection of image processing, machine learning and computer vision.
RESEARCH VOLUNTEERS & UNDERGRAD STUDENTS

Victoria Rivera
Pre-Med Bioengineering/Biochemistry
Interest in research pertaining to developing devices and systems to assist those on the autism spectrum with limited motor or verbal abilities

Cheyenne Chin
Pre-Med - Cell and Molecular Biology
Interest in research and virtual reality

Jacqueline Testaiuti
Health Science major on the Pre-Med Track
Interest in researching how different populations within the autistic community receive treatment

Sophia Krasny
Behavioral Neuroscience
Specialized interest in the connection between visual and motor learning, specifically with regards to long-term muscle memory

Kaela Herzog
Institute for Health, Equity, and Social Justice Intern
Interest in researching inequities and how the social determinants impact individuals on the autism spectrum

Guanyu Wang
Computer Science
Interest in game development & data

Joshua Van Alfen
Psychology - Pre-Med
Interest in cognitive psychology, focused on the biological psychology behind memory and learning

Brian Wilkins
Design - Experience Design
Interest in taking a deep-dive into XR for Dignity and Autonomy.

Kate Bevec
Bioengineering with a Clinical SLPA Minor
Interest in Communication Devices for Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.

Jaeyoung Lee
Communication and Media Studies
Interest in the power digital storytelling has to bridge marginalized voices and communities together.
ALUMNI

Hannah Truong
Interdisciplinary Designer

Jeffery Allen
Mechanical Engineer and Product Designer

Amy Min
Khoury College of Computer Science

Nathaniel Sawant
Khoury College of Computer Science
Concentration in Artificial Intelligence looking to integrate with other disciplines

Brendan Baron
Khoury College of Computer Science
Focus on web development & networking

Sarvesh Prajapati
Master's in Robotics

Cole Clericuzio
Institute for Health, Equity, and Social Justice Intern
Interest in innovating ways to promote health for marginalized populations through virtual reality immersion

Justin Almendral
Computer Engineering with Specialty in Game Design
Interest in extended reality applications and developing serious games for patient research
Want to see what we do?Â
Check out our projects page for all the current research or
reach out to us if you’d like to join our teamÂ