Engineering bodies and minds
The Embodied Dynamics Laboratory (EmD Lab) at the University of Maryland, College Park, explores the dynamics in human embodied experiences—how our bodies, perceptions, and somatic interactions contribute to the formation of physical skills, knowledge, subjectivity, and behavior.
We design and engineer new embodiments via on-body somatic interfaces, creating novel ways to communicate physical skills and subjective experiences across people in order to support sharing perspectives in diverse domains including motor learning, rehabilitation, product design, and musical pedagogy.
Join our team at the intersection of engineering, interaction design, and human science!
Research Streams
Engineering Bodies
How can we engineer novel on-body interfaces to create new embodiment, perceptions, and communication channels?
Designing Interactions
How can we support users in acquiring new embodied skills and knowledge through new bodies?
Computing Subjectivity
How can we optimize subjective feelings when our bodies are actuated, assisted, and shared?
Our Space
Our lab space is situated within the Brendan Iribe Center for Computer Science and Engineering, which serves as a home for the Department of Computer Science. Our facilities are equipped with PCB/mechanical fabrication machines, an immersive media design studio, a maker space, and user study spaces.
The university is located in College Park, about 7 miles (11km) from the center of the nation's capital, Washington, D.C, which is a profoundly culture-rich and diverse city, offering convenient access to other research institutions such as NSF, NIH, NIST, and NASA.
Team
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Jun Nishida
Principal Investigator →
Embodied Knowledge, Haptics, Body Perception
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Kyungyeon Lee
PhD Student →
Haptics, Skill Learning, Personalization
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Yoon Kyung Shon
PhD Student →
Haptics, Affective Computing, Behavior Change
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Yuran Ding
PhD Student (UMD/MPI) →
Embodiment, Proprioception, Haptics
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Wooje Chang
PhD Student →
Haptics, Computer-Supported Collaborative Work
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Hamza Shah Khan
Master Student
Haptics, EE/MechE
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Logan Stevens
Master Student →
Learning Science, Body Illusion
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Daniel Yang
Undergrad RA
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Roksana Khanom
Collaborator (UMD) →
IoT/Wearable Devices, CV, ML
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Kriti Singh
Collaborator (UMD) →
Thanato-/slow-technology, social media, media arts
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Ziyue Piao
Collaborator (McGill U) →
Singing, Knowledge Transfer, Haptics
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Jamie Ngoc Dinh
Collaborator (UMD) →
Neurofeedback, Media Arts, VR/AR
Lab Alumni
Dario Liu | Master Student | 2024 → Georgia Tech PhD
Chingwen Hung | Visiting PhD | 2024 → National Taiwan University
