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Innovative Media & Technology Graduate Research Award (xREAL)

Innovative Media & Technologies Graduate Research Award

The campus technology innovation lab, the Extended Reality for Learning (xREAL) with Information Technology Services (ITS), provides support, research opportunities, and faculty mentorship for graduate students who are interested in conducting research with, or writing about, immersive media (virtual and augmented reality, 360-degree video), programming with Unity and Unreal, 3D modeling and printing, machine learning, motion capture, and other leading-edge technologies that have practical applications in the classroom.

Award Details

This award, offered by the Extended Reality for Learning Lab at CSUSB (xREAL Lab), will provide support for the 2025 summer term for graduate students interested in conducting research in the general area of immersive reality use (augmented reality, mixed reality, virtual reality), artificial intelligence, robotics, or the intersection of immersive media with other leading-edge technologies. Under the direction of their regular advisors and the Faculty Director of the xREAL Lab, Dr. Mihaela Popescu, awardees will use the Lab’s technology and expertise to advance their research. Recipients will be awarded $1,000 distributed through the Financial Aid office. Program will begin June 9th and end August 14th. 

Please note that all funding awarded to students through the Office of Student Research, including support used to purchase research supplies on your behalf, will be reported to the Office of Financial Aid and may affect your financial aid package. Please consult the financial aid office for more information. 

Applications for the Innovative Media & Technologies Research Grant will be competitively evaluated by the OSR Awards Committee. The quality of the student research or creative activity (RCA) experience will be a determining factor in being selected. The number of awards depends on the budget and the funds available to the OSR each year. To learn more about the XReal Lab, please visit:

xREAL Lab website

Eligibility

  1. Students enrolled in a graduate-level program at CSUSB. Must be enrolled in the Fall.
  2. Students must be in good academic standing (all disciplines are eligible)
  3. Have a GPA of at least 3.0
  4. The topic of their research must be related to augmented reality, mixed reality, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, robotics, or the intersection of immersive media with other leading-edge technologies. All disciplines are eligible.
  5. All projects involving human subjects and/or vertebrate animals must submit proof of Institutional Review Board and/or Institutional Animal Care.

Submission Guidelines

The following submission guidelines should be followed:

  1. Applications are due by June 4th for the summer 2025.
  2. Application and proposal submission must be submitted online through InfoReady.
  3. Please select the grant to which you are applying,
    • Log in with your MyCoyote ID,
    • Complete application
    • The application must be 6 pages in length.
  4. All supporting documentation should be submitted at the time of the application submission.
  5. Letter of support from your faculty advisor.

Document Guidelines

Proposals will only be accepted through InfoReady and must be submitted no later than 11:59 PM on the deadline date.  

  1. The proposal file must be uploaded in PDF format.  
  2. The applicant’s name(s) should appear only on the cover page.  
  3. Please use Times New Roman or Arial font at 12-point size.  
  4. The right and left margins must be no smaller than 0.75 inches. Top and bottom margins must be no smaller than 1 inch.
  5. Please number the pages consecutively beginning with the cover sheet.  
  6. The complete document must contain the items below and, in the order, given. 

Application Guidelines

Apply Today!

Application Opens: May 21, 2025

Application Closes: June 4th, 2025

Submit InfoReady Application

2025 Award Winners

We’re thrilled to recognize a group of passionate and forward-thinking students who have been awarded the XREAL Lab Research Grant for their outstanding project proposals.

  • Alberto Rendon
    Award Amount: $1,000
    Project Title: Broadening Opportunities for Learners with Disabilities through Universal Design for Learning in Virtual Reality
    Major: Communication

  • Erin Ceballos
    Award Amount: $500
    Project Title: Experiments in Immersive, Interactive Installation: Spatial Storytelling, Collective Experience, and New Media
    Major: Studio Art

  • Laxman Kumar Busetty
    Award Amount: $1,000
    Project Title: Beyond Bounding Boxes: A Survey of Object Detection, Image Segmentation, and Classification Techniques in Computer Vision
    Major: Computer Science

  • Logan Ashbaugh
    Award Amount: $1,000
    Project Title: Neurodiversity in XR
    Major: Computer Science

  • Makenna Dykstra
    Award Amount: $1,000
    Project Title: Using Extended Reality to Make the Workplace More Accessible for Neurodiverse Communities
    Major: Communication Studies

  • Nikhil Reddy Kasam
    Award Amount: $1,000
    Project Title: Human-Robot Interaction: Language-Guided Quadruped Locomotion via Advanced Multimodal AI, ASR, and NVIDIA Synthetic Environments
    Major: Computer Science

  • Priscilla Jimenez
    Award Amount: $1,000
    Project Title: Emotion-Driven Insights on AI in Dentistry: A Multimodal Study with AI and XR Visualization
    Major: Business Administration, Management & Interdisciplinary

  • Rakshanda Thakur
    Award Amount: $1,000
    Project Title: Voice-Enabled GO2 Robot for Child-Friendly Educational Interaction
    Major: Computer Science

  • Raymond Moorehead Jr.
    Award Amount: $1,000
    Project Title: Brine to Battery: AI-Driven Lithium Recovery for a Cleaner Future
    Major: Entrepreneurship and Innovation

  • Sakshi Verma
    Award Amount: $1,000
    Project Title: Virtual Reality as a Tool for Non-Technical Skills Development in Business Analytics Careers
    Major: Information Systems and Technology, Business Intelligence & Analytics

  • Santos Nunez
    Award Amount: $1,000
    Project Title: Heirlooms of Virtu
    Major: Studio Art

  • Satya Vipul Akarapu
    Award Amount: $1,000
    Project Title: TutorVR: Designing a VR-Based AI Tutor
    Major: Computer Science