Ryan P. McMahan

About

Dr. Ryan P. McMahan is an Associate Professor of Computer Science and of Learning Sciences at the University of Central Florida (UCF), where he directs the eXtended Reality & Training (XRT) Lab. His research primarily focuses on using extended reality (XR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies to facilitate and enhance training and education. Before joining UCF in Fall 2019, he was an Associate Professor of Computer Science and of Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication at the University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas). He earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science and Applications from Virginia Tech in 2011. Dr. McMahan has contributed to acquiring over $3.4 million in funding and is personally credited with over $2.3 million in awards. He is a recipient of the National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award. He is a coauthor of the book "3D User Interfaces: Theory and Practice, 2nd Edition," and has over 5000 citations, an h-index of 26, and an i10-index of 49. He has advised 7 Ph.D. graduates and 6 M.S. thesis graduates to completion. His teaching experience includes over 30 courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels in computer science, consistently earning high student perception of instruction scores averaging over 4.8 out of 5.0. He has received multiple teaching awards, including the Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award from the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science at UT Dallas in 2016 and the Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award from the…

Research topics

• Artificial Intelligence
• Computer Science
• Physics
• Computer vision
• Human–computer interaction
• Psychology
• Optics
• Engineering
• Data science
• Computer graphics (images)

Selected publications

• The Interaction Fidelity Model: A Taxonomy to Communicate the Different Aspects of Fidelity in Virtual Reality

  International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction · 2024-10-02 · 15 citations

  articleOpen access

  Fidelity describes how closely a replication resembles the original. It can be helpful to analyze how faithful interactions in virtual reality (VR) are to a reference interaction. In prior research, fidelity has been restricted to the simulation of reality-also called realism. Our definition includes other reference interactions, such as superpowers or fiction. Interaction fidelity is a multilayered concept. Unfortunately, different aspects of fidelity have either not been distinguished in scien…

  PublisherDOI

• Cultural Reflections in Virtual Reality: The Effects of User Ethnicity in Avatar Matching Experiences on Sense of Embodiment

  IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics · 2024-09-09 · 13 citations

  articleSenior author

  Matching avatar characteristics to a user can impact sense of embodiment (SoE) in YR. However, few studies have examined how participant demographics may interact with these matching effects. We recruited a diverse and racially balanced sample of 78 participants to investigate the differences among participant groups when embodying both demographically matched and unmatched avatars. We found that participant ethnicity emerged as a significant factor, with Asian and Black participants reporting l…

  PublisherDOI

• AdaptiveCoPilot: Design and Testing of a NeuroAdaptive LLM Cockpit Guidance System in both Novice and Expert Pilots

  2025-03-08 · 12 citations

  article

  Pilots operating modern cockpits often face high cognitive demands due to complex interfaces and multitasking requirements, which can lead to overload and decreased performance. This study introduces AdaptiveCoPilot, a neuroadaptive guidance system that adapts visual, auditory, and textual cues in real time based on the pilot’s cognitive workload, measured via functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS). A formative study with expert pilots (N=3) identified adaptive rules for modality switchin…

  PublisherDOI

• Mitigating Response Delays in Free-Form Conversations with LLM-powered Intelligent Virtual Agents

  2025-07-05 · 10 citations

  articleOpen access

  We investigated the challenges of mitigating response delays in free-form conversations with virtual agents powered by Large Language Models (LLMs) within Virtual Reality (VR). For this, we used conversational fillers, such as gestures and verbal cues, to bridge delays between user input and system responses and evaluate their effectiveness across various latency levels and interaction scenarios. We found that latency above 4 seconds degrades quality of experience, while natural conversational f…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Fidelity-based Presence Scale (FPS): Modeling the Effects of Fidelity on Sense of Presence

  2025-04-24 · 4 citations

  preprintOpen access

  Within the virtual reality (VR) research community, there have been several efforts to develop questionnaires with the aim of better understanding the sense of presence. Despite having numerous surveys, the community does not have a questionnaire that informs which components of a VR application contributed to the sense of presence. Furthermore, previous literature notes the absence of consensus on which questionnaire or questions should be used. Therefore, we conducted a Delphi study, engaging…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• CAREER: Leveraging the Virtualness of Virtual Reality for More-Effective Training

  NSF · $435k · 2016–2020

• CAREER: Leveraging the Virtualness of Virtual Reality for More-Effective Training

  NSF · $289k · 2019–2023

Frequent coauthors

• Doug A. Bowman

  24 shared

• Alec G. Moore

  18 shared

• D. Tiffany

  University of Central Florida

  16 shared

• Chengyuan Lai

  The University of Texas at Dallas

  10 shared

• Regis Kopper

  University of North Carolina at Greensboro

  9 shared

• James Coleman Eubanks

  RTX (United States)

  8 shared

• Eric D. Ragan

  8 shared

• Camille Isabella Protko

  6 shared

Similar researchers at Virginia Tech

• Wenjing Louh-77
• Wu-chun Fengh-46