A photo of me.

Omar A. Khan

Ph.D. Student in Computer Science

     

     

     

     

     

About Me

I am a first-year Ph.D. student in Computer Science at Drexel University, where I am advised by Dr. Tiffany D. Do as a member of the DIVA Lab. My current research is in embodiment of avatars, social VR, and haptic perception, but spans across other areas of extended reality (XR/AR/VR), all within the broader scope of human-centered computing (HCC).

I am trained in designing and running user studies, then extracting insights on how next-generation computing interfaces shape human perception and behavior. My work has been published at highly selective venues such as the IEEE TVCG journal, and has been 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. Throughout my time there, I did research under the supervision of Dr. Kangsoo Kim as a member of the HXI Lab.

News

Journal and Conference Proceedings

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

New!   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

To appear in IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (TVCG).

Acceptance rate: 20%

Impact Factor: 6.5

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: 6.5

Extended Abstracts and Posters

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): 1st International Workshop on Spatial Memory in XR (XRMemory), pp. 1147–1153, 2025.

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), 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.

Facts