A photo of me.

Omar A. Khan


About Me

I am a Research Associate with Dr. Kangsoo Kim in the Human-X-Interaction Lab at the University of Calgary. I work on projects in Extended Reality (XR), Avatars, and Virtual Humans.

I received my Bachelor of Science in Computer Science with First-Class Honours at the University of Calgary in Spring 2025. Throughout my time there as an undergad, I was deeply involved in research, and took specialized courses in Human-Computer Interaction and Computer Graphics.

I will begin my Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Computer Science at Drexel University in Fall 2025.

See my publications below.


Conference and Journal Publications

Gorilla and human avatars.

New -- Impact of Avatar-Locomotion Congruence on User Experience and Identification in Virtual Reality

Omar Khan, Hyeongil Nam, Kangsoo Kim

To appear in IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (TVCG), vol. xx, no. xx, pp. xx–xx, 2025.

Acceptance rate: 8%, JCR IF-2024: 6.5.

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Tune in to my presentation at ISMAR 2025!

Workshop Papers and Posters

An illustration depicting our concept of TangibleMoments: the user uses a sticker to embed an XR memory of playing a video game on the controller, then re-experiences the memory at a later time.

TangibleMoments: Embedding XR Memories onto Physical Objects

Omar Khan, Zaid Ahmed, Hyeongil Nam, Kangsoo Kim

Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops (IEEE VRW): 1st International Workshop on Spatial Memory in XR (XRMemory), 2025, pp. 1147–1153.

[ doi ]

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A symbol-based guide cue and virtual human guide cue.

Investigating Visual Guide Cues in VR: Impacts of Virtual Humans and Symbol-Based Navigation on Real-World Performance and Experience

Omar Khan, Anh Nguyen, Hyeongil Nam, Kangsoo Kim

Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops (IEEE VRW): 1st International Workshop on Real and Virtual Spaces Influences (ReViSI), 2025, pp. 504–509.

[ doi ]

[ pdf ]

Four avatar-locomotion combinations.

“I look like a gorilla, but don’t move like one!”: Impact of Avatar-Locomotion Congruence in Virtual Reality

Omar Khan, Hyeongil Nam, Kangsoo Kim

Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops (IEEE VRW), 2025, pp. 1202–1203.

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[ pdf ]

[ poster ]

Virtual Human and Symbol-based Guide Cue in a digitally reconstructed campus building.

Exploring the Impact of Virtual Human and Symbol-Based Guide Cues in Immersive VR on Real-World Navigation Experience

Omar Khan, Anh Nguyen, Michael Francis, Kangsoo Kim

Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops (IEEE VRW), 2024, pp. 883–884.

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[ pdf ]

[ poster ]


Links

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