Recruiting

Table of Contents

Recruiting Experiment Paricipants

Recruiting Paid or Volunteer Research Assistants
Recruiting Computer Programmer
Recruiting Undergraduate Students
Recruiting Graduate Students

 

Recruiting Participants

We invite you to participate in our study using virtual reality technology to explore the strategies humans use to navigate through space. Subjects are required to ride a stationary bike through a virtual environment while wearing a head-mounted display. Subjects must have normal or corrected-to-normal vision.
Remuneration of $10/hour will be provided. We prefer to test all subjects through multiple sessions (3 to 5 hours at same or different days), but participation of only 1 hour is also welcome.
Most experiments will be run in the Psychology Building (west of the Health Science Building).

Please contact: Jenny Campos
Email: camposJL@mcmaster.ca
Phone Number: 525-9140 ext. 27565


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Recruiting Volunteer Research Assistants

We are seeking a Research Assistant in a VIRTUAL REALITY LABORATORY (principal investigator: Dr. Sun) in the Department of Psychology where we study human spatial ability. The position mainly involves testing human subjects on visually-guided locomotion tasks. Training will be provided as needed.
Duties include;
· Basic administration tasks; Booking and confirming appointments, library searches, xeroxing
· Running Experiments; Setting up equipment, recording human movements as they watch a visual display
· Participating in psychophysical experiments,
· Assisting in keeping the lab running smoothly!
Preferred Requirements:
· Course work in Psychology
· Basic understanding of research design and data analysis
· Familiarity with computers
· Excellent interpersonal, communication and organization skills
· Willingness to learn a variety of research techniques

Please contact: Dr. H. Sun, http://www.science.mcmaster.ca/psychology/sun/
E-mail: camposjl@mcmaster.ca
Phone Number: (905) 525-9140 x 27565

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Recruiting Computer Programmers
We are seeking the services of engineering or computer science students with expertise in software and hardware for the creation of dynamic, real-time, visual animation of complex simulated environments on our Silicon Graphics workstation.

There are two ongoing projects in our lab. The first project is mainly concerned with developing a virtual reality setup. We require an individual capable of graphic programming, designing and building the necessary interfaces and custom input/output devices. The second project requires the creation of dynamic visual animation of complex 3-D environments which will be used to study visual perception.

Skill/Knowledge:

• Preferablely proficient in C with experience in computer graphics in a real-time environment. Knowledge of animation techniques would be an asset.
• Experience with A/D and D/A subsystems including design and construction of custom systems.

Students who qualify for OSAP and Ontario Work Study are especially encouraged to apply.

Please contact: Dr. Hong-Jin Sun, http://www.science.mcmaster.ca/psychology/sun/
E-mail: sunhong@mcmaster.ca
Phone Number: (905) 525-9140 x 24367 or x27565

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Recruiting Undergraduate Thesis/Independent Project Students and/or NSERC Summer Students

We welcome applications from excellent students interested in any of the following areas: visual perception, visual motor control, spatial navigation and spatial memory. Students in my lab can work on problems ranging from low-level vision through visual cognition. All students have the opportunity to work on a variety of projects, in a collaborative atmosphere, using state-of-the-art equipment.

Undergraduate students can apply to work in the lab for either one of the following credits:
· Undergraduate Thesis PSYCH 4D06
· Independent Lab Study PSYCH 3QQ3 or PSYCH 4QQ3
· Independent (Library) Study PSYCH 3Q03 or PSYCH 4Q03

Or through the NSERC Summer Research Fellowship Programme (application due in January).

Please contact: Dr. Hong-Jin Sun, http://www.science.mcmaster.ca/psychology/sun/
E-mail: sunhong@mcmaster.ca
Phone Number: (905) 525-9140 x 24367 or x27565

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Recruiting Graduate Students

Our Visual Neuroscience and Virtual Reality Laboratory is actively recruiting graduate students at the Master's or PhD level. Students with strong backgrounds in Psychology, Cognitive Science, Neuroscience, Computer Science, or Engineering, are encouraged to apply.

Our research is in the field of visual perception, cognition and visual neuroscience. The details of our research can be accessed from my web page: http://www.science.mcmaster.ca/psychology/sun/

Students will have the opportunity to work in a highly interdisciplinary, very well equipped laboratory, and will receive full funding support. Typically the research projects of the graduate students do not have to be limited to the supervisor's research projects. With a virtual reality, psychophysics, single cell recording and computational modelling setup, we can extend beyond the projects listed on our web page.

Research activities conducted in our lab will make significant contributions to the training of psychology and neuroscience graduate students and postdocs.
Students collaborate with their superviosor and their fellow students on all stages of the project: designing the experiment, building the apparatus, programming the visual stimuli, performing the experiment and writing the research paper. Our students are exposed to different levels of analysis in neuroscience (from single units recording to behavioural analysis) and to a variety of techniques (neurophysiology, neuroanatomy, neural modelling, computer graphics, virtual reality, psychophysics and human factors).
The skills that our students obtain are transferable. After completing their training in our lab, they are qualified to pursue careers in industry, as well as academic jobs. They could, for example, expect to compete successfully for jobs in companies like Nortel, IMAX, CAE, Spar Aerospace, etc., where they could apply the skills learned in our lab to fields such as human factors, human computer interaction, usability testing (of visual or auditory interfaces), interface design, multimedia, software design, etc.
Our research projects also provide excellent training for skills in computer science. Students will gain valuable experience in computer graphics, animation, system administration, network, communication and design and hardware interfacing, etc.
We are also collaborating with Drs. S. Becker, Dr. D. Elliott at the Department of Kinesiology here in McMaster, and Dr. C. Ellard at Waterloo on a number of projects. Such collaboration will certainly lead to excellent training opportunities, which will be beneficial to all the students involved.

Please contact: Dr. Hong-Jin Sun
E-mail: sunhong@mcmaster.ca
Phone Number: (905) 525-9140 x 24367 or x27565

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