Brandon Woodard
Areas: multimodal interaction (HCI) and generative world models (AI/ML)
Email: brandon_woodard (at) brown (dot) edu
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About Me:
I'm a Computer Science PhD candidate at Brown University and a researcher for the Visual Computing Group.
I build and research multimodal interaction systems for spatial computing — XR prototypes that combine gaze, gesture, voice, and spatial audio to make virtual and augmented environments more intuitive. My recent projects include collaborations with JPL, Dolby Laboratories, Carnegie Mellon University, and Cornell.
I’m particularly interested in how users' underlying cognitive and behavioral processes can be operationalized into XR applications and generative world models that better understand the human experience of space.
Updates
Updates
I’m grateful to share that I successfully defended my PhD thesis at Brown. One of the most meaningful moments was seeing Andy van Dam show up to support me. Feeling incredibly thankful for the mentors, friends, family, and community who helped me reach this point.
During the final stretch of my PhD, I worked with Overworld, a team building world models that generate video game environments from user prompts.
On the “Unorthodox Views” podcast, hosted by Dr. Krzysztof Pietroszek.
If something feels real to me in a virtual environment, then is that subjective experience enough to consider it a living entity?
Publications
Publications
Brandon Woodard, Melvin He, Mose Sakashita, Jing Qian, Zainab Iftikhar, and Joseph LaViola Jr. 2025. Cam-2-Cam: Exploring the Design Space of Dual-Camera Interactions for Smartphone-based Augmented Reality.
Mose Sakashita, Hyunju Kim, Brandon Woodard, Ruidong Zhang, and François Guimbretière. VRoxy: Wide-Area Collaboration From an Office Using a VR-Driven Robotic Proxy.
Kaili Shan, Tiger Sun, Jarrod Tart, Brandon Woodard, Irene Humer, Christian Eckhardt. Virtual Learning Laboratories for High School Chemistry Lab: An Immersive Learning User Study
Daniel Kharlamov, Brandon Woodard, Liudmila Tahai, and Krzysztof Pietroszek. TickTockRay: Smartwatch-Based 3D Pointing for Smartphone-Based Virtual Reality.
Brandon Woodard, Margarita Geleta, Joseph J. LaViola Jr., Andrea Fanelli, and Rhonda Wilson. 2025. AudioMiXR: Spatial Audio Object Manipulation with 6DoF for Sound Design in Augmented Reality.
Kayla Davis, Taylor Hayase, Irene Humer, Brandon Woodard, and Christian Eckhardt. A Quantitative Analysis of Redirected Walking in Virtual Reality Using Saccadic Eye Movements. In Advances in Visual Computing
Oren Erlich, Sarah Aristizabal, Lucas Li, Brandon Woodard, Irene Humer, Christian Eckhardt Comparing NVIDIA RTX and a Novel Voxel-Space Ray Marching Approach as Global Illumination Solutions
Invited Talks & More
Invited Talks & More
At Ubicomp 2025 in Finland, I presented strategies for resolving thin financial safety nets and limited sponsorship networks that many first-gen PhDs experience during their programs. (Link)
A guest lecture introducing foundational topics in Augmented & Virtual Reality for Brown University's CSCI 1300 (UI & UX) course!
Contributed to a Neotranshumanist art exhibit in San Francisco with augmented soundscape experiences.
A New Era of Art: Neotranshumanism Takes Center Stage with Ada Cyborg
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