HI, I'M
Imani A. Murph
My Research Interests and Career Goals
My ultimate research goal involves Human Factors in space. But for now, I'm interested in attention, perception and AR/VR technology. I love being involved early in design processes of new technology, but improving existing technology is cool, too.
After earning my Ph.D., I hope to be a role model in my career field for minority women who want to pursue graduate degrees.
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Current Projects
NASA Funded Diminished Reality Study, NCSU LACELab - 2020-2021
We're currently designing a virtual environment to mimic diminished reality, which is when visual and audio distractors can be diminished in order to aid the user in completing a task. Our hope is that DR will aid attention and focus on a primary task.
To the right you can view a demo of the VR environment with sound! And if you click here, you can see an interactive prototype of the experimenter interface
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I have also been awarded the North Carolina Space Grant ($10,000) for work that stems from this project.
Past Projects
FDA Mobile Rehabilitation App, NCSU, PSY 540 - Fall 2020
The FDA was interested in tracking rehabilitation progress remotely. My team was tasked with creating, validating, and conducting usability testing on a prototype. I led the team through the design and validation process.
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Take a look at our first prototype, here.
Our revised prototype, created using feedback from user testing, can be found, here.
Both prototypes are interactive!
Haptic Sleep Belt, ERAU Aerospace Physiology Lab - 2019
We developed a belt that uses haptic feedback to train snorers to sleep on their side. There is research showing that snoring may be alleviated by side sleeping. We tested the belt's effectiveness as a method to reduce chronic, severe, position-dependent snoring.
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This research was presented at the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting in October 2019 as a part of the Student Forum.
Click here to read the paper for the Haptic Sleep Belt.
Click here to see a poster presented at Embry-Riddle's Student Research Symposium.
Our research was also published in the Journal of Sleep, here.
Below is an infographic on why it's important to solve snoring. Click here to a high-res version.
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Optokinetic Nystagmus and VR, ERAU Aerospace Physiology Lab - 2018-2020
The Optokinetic Drum (OKN) can reliably induce Nystagmus,
a type of Vestibulo-Ocular Reflex. Inducing this can cause vection, which in turn leads to motion sickness. We hope to study this further with our virtual reality version of the drum.
We also plan to study the effectiveness of current motion sickness medicine and the usefulness of Nystagmus as a tool to diagnose Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.
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This research was presented at the Aerospace Medical Association Annual Meeting in May 2019 as a panel presentation.
This research was presented at the Human Factors and Applied Psychology Conference at the University of Central Florida.
Click here to see the poster.
Watchbill Whiz Wheel 3D Prototype, Naval Postgraduate School, Summer 2019
During my time at the Naval Postgraduate School, Human Systems Integration Lab internship, I taught myself how to 3D model using Fusion 360. Over several iterations, I created and printed a 3D tool to help sailors understand and adhere to different ship watchbills, as naval ships often operate based on 2 or more watchbills at a time.
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Below are the different iterations of the wheel. The first picture was drawn by Dr. Shattuck, one of my internship mentors, who came up with the idea of a 3D watchbill aid. The other pictures show the evolution of the wheel design.
Final Design
Embry-Riddle Human Factors Ph.D. Program Application Usability Study - Spring 2019
I worked in a team to conduct a usability study of Embry-Riddle's application process for the Human Factors Ph.D. program. This assignment required remote and face to face usability testing and analysis of the data collected. The final results were presented to staff members of the Embry-Riddle Admission Department as part of a class project. Click here to see the final presentation.
Balsamiq Wireframe Prototype Project - Spring 2019
I created an interactive Balsamiq Wireframe as a class project. The assignment required me to make an app or website designed to track the national energy consumption of a popular grocery store. Click here to see it and please make sure to click around. It's interactive!