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Computer Science research

The following research laboratories and groups conduct Computer Science research at Ontario Tech University:

  • Human-Centred Computing Laboratory 

    The Human-Centred Computing (HCC) Laboratory is a Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI)-funded research lab under the direction of Jeremy Bradbury, PhD, Christopher Collins, PhD, and Julie Thorpe, PhD. The HCC Lab is a unique space at the university, designed for conducting controlled experiments that allow researchers to better understand and evaluate how people interact with leading-edge computer technology.

    The lab includes two main areas:

    • An experimental area where human participants interact with software running on a variety of devices, including large-screen touch displays, desktop computers and mobile devices. This area is equipped for participant observation and includes a mobile head-mounted eye-tracker, recording software and multiple video cameras.
    • An observation area for real-time observation of the participants. This area is equipped with a workstation to run usability observation software and two monitors for experiment observers. 
  • Laboratory for Advanced User Interfaces and Virtual Reality

    The Laboratory for Advanced User Interfaces and Virtual Reality is under the direction of Mark Green, PhD. It provides a range of specialized equipment for 3D graphics, user interface and haptics research. There are currently four main research projects utilizing the facilities in this laboratory.

    One of these projects is exploring software tools that enable the interactive visualization of the results of large scale scientific and engineering computations while the computations are running. This allows researchers to make more efficient use of high performance computers.

    A second project is investigating interactive 3D user interfaces for medical visualization applications with the aim of making it easier to locate tumours.

    A third project is using haptics as an alternative interface for controlling electronic devices, such as radios or cell phones, within automobiles.

    The fourth project is investigating techniques for the automatic construction of user interfaces for mobile applications.