Portrait of Omar A. Khan

Omar A. Khan

Ph.D. Student in Computer Science

About Me

I am a Ph.D. student in Computer Science at Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA. I am advised by Dr. Tiffany D. Do as a member of the DIVA Lab. I am broadly interested in embodiment, interaction, and perception in XR (AR, VR, MR), with a focus on avatars, social VR, multisensory perception, body perception, haptics, and tangible/physical user interfaces, all within the larger scope of human-centered computing.

I am trained in designing and implementing XR systems across the reality-virtuality continuum, and conducting user studies to extract insights on how next-generation spatial computing interfaces shape human perception and behavior. My work has been published in the prestigious IEEE TVCG journal, and presented at flagship conferences such as IEEE VR, IEEE ISMAR, and ACM CHI.

I graduated with a B.Sc. with First-Class Honours in Computer Science from the University of Calgary, in Canada. Throughout my time there, I did research in avatars under the supervision of Dr. Kangsoo Kim as a member of the HXI Lab.

Timeline

Journal Articles

Our 4 experimental conditions for feeling dog ears: no haptics, active haptics, passive haptics, and both.

New! Having Dog Ears "for Real": Effects of Active and Passive Haptics on Embodying Non-Human Body Parts in VR

Omar A. Khan, Bao Han Trinh, Lee Lisle, Tiffany D. Do

IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (TVCG), 2026.

Acceptance rate: 16%

Impact Factor: 6.8

Avatars of various levels of body weight, body completeness, and clothing.

Influence of Avatar Appearance and Target Distance on Locomotion Method Selection in Virtual Reality

Omar A. Khan, Junyeong Kum, Hyeongil Nam, Myungho Lee, Kangsoo Kim

IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (TVCG), vol. 32, no. 5, pp. 4668-4677, 2026.

Acceptance rate: 20%

Impact Factor: 6.8

Gorilla and human avatars.

🏅Honorable Mention for Best Paper Award at IEEE ISMAR 2025 (Top 3%)

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

Omar Khan, Hyeongil Nam, Kangsoo Kim

IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (TVCG), vol. 31, no. 11, pp. 9878–9888, 2025.

Acceptance rate: 8%

Impact Factor: 6.8

Conference Proceedings

Participant speaking to the embodied AI counselor in VR.

New! Listening and Mirroring: The Effects of Verbal Attunement and Behavioral Mimicry on Social and Empathic Perceptions of Embodied AI Agents in VR

Nathalia Gomez, Haig Shamlian, Omar Khan, Tiffany D. Do

Proceedings of 2026 ACM Virtual Reality Software and Technology (VRST), pp. 1-10, 2026.

Acceptance rate: 27%

ICORE conf. rank: B

Extended Abstracts and Workshop Papers

Non-human avatars with various body parts labeled, along with the frequencies reported in our survey.

New! Non-Human Body Parts in Social VR: A Survey of Furry and Kemonomimi Communities

Omar A. Khan, Lee Lisle, Tiffany D. Do

Proceedings of the ACM Symposium on Spatial User Interaction (SUI), 2026.

Acceptance rate: TBA

Excerpt of our system and study conditions.

Exploring Experiential Differences Between Virtual and Physical Memory-Linked Objects in Extended Reality

Zaid Ahmed, Omar A. Khan, Hyeongil Nam, Kangsoo Kim

Proceedings of ACM CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA), no. 269, pp. 1-5, 2026.

Acceptance rate: 38%

ICORE conf. rank: A*

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), pp. 1147–1153, 2025.

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

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), pp. 504–509, 2025.

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), pp. 1202–1203, 2025.

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), pp. 883–884, 2024.

Academic Service

Facts