Salam Daher
Assistant Professor, Informatics
3420A Guttenberg Information Technologies Center (GITC)
About Me
Dr. Salam Daher is an Assistant Professor in Informatics. Her research focuses on using computer graphics, virtual and augmented reality to improve training, especially in the healthcare simulation domain.
During her PhD she developed a new class of augmented reality patient simulators called Physical-Virtual Patients (PVP). The PVP allows healthcare educators to interact with a life-size simulated patient by providing real-time physical tactile cues (e.g. temperature, pulse), auditory cues (e.g. speech, heart sounds), and rich dynamic visual cues such as facial expressions (e.g. pain, emotions) and changes in appearance (e.g. skin color, wounds).
Her expertise and interests include creating 3D synthetic environments (e.g. virtual campus tour), and modeling interactive 3D virtual humans with animated facial expressions, speech, and body language for the purposes of simulation and training in the education, military, and healthcare domains.
Dr. Daher is a multidisciplinary person who loves to combine computing, with engineering, arts, science, languages, and various disciplines to solve real world problems.
During her PhD she developed a new class of augmented reality patient simulators called Physical-Virtual Patients (PVP). The PVP allows healthcare educators to interact with a life-size simulated patient by providing real-time physical tactile cues (e.g. temperature, pulse), auditory cues (e.g. speech, heart sounds), and rich dynamic visual cues such as facial expressions (e.g. pain, emotions) and changes in appearance (e.g. skin color, wounds).
Her expertise and interests include creating 3D synthetic environments (e.g. virtual campus tour), and modeling interactive 3D virtual humans with animated facial expressions, speech, and body language for the purposes of simulation and training in the education, military, and healthcare domains.
Dr. Daher is a multidisciplinary person who loves to combine computing, with engineering, arts, science, languages, and various disciplines to solve real world problems.
Education
Ph.D.
; University of Central Florida
; Modeling and Simulation
; 2018
M.S. ; University of Central Florida ; Modeling and Simulation ; 2015
M.S. ; University of Florida ; Digital Arts and Science ; 2006
B.S. ; Lebanese American University ; Computer Science ; 2004
M.S. ; University of Central Florida ; Modeling and Simulation ; 2015
M.S. ; University of Florida ; Digital Arts and Science ; 2006
B.S. ; Lebanese American University ; Computer Science ; 2004
Experience
Courtesy Faculty at University of Central Florida, College of Nursing
Courtesy Assistant Professor,
October 2019 -
Awards & Honors
2022 The SSH 2021 Technology Innovator of the Year Award, Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH)
2018 NCWIT 2018 Collegiate Scholarship Award Winner, National Center for Women and Information Technology
2017 RADM Fred Lewis Postgraduate I/ITSEC Scholarship , IITSEC
2016 Link Fellowship for Modeling and Simulation, Link Foundation
2004 Rhoda Orme Award, Lebanese American University
Website
2025 Fall Courses
CS 488 - INDEPENDENT STUDY IN CS
CS 700B - MASTER'S PROJECT
CS 725 - INDEPENDENT STUDY I
IS 489 - INFO UNDERGRAD THESIS RESEARCH
IS 701B - MASTER'S THESIS
IS 491 - SENIOR PROJECT - IS
IT 488 - INDEPENDENT STUDY
CS 489 - COMPUTER SCIENCE RESEARCH PROJ
CS 701B - MASTER'S THESIS
IS 790A - DOCT DISSERTATION & RES
CS 726 - INDEPENDENT STUDY II
CS 790A - DOCT DISSERTATION & RES
IS 700B - MASTER'S PROJECT
IS 776 - IS RESEARCH STUDY
IS 726 - INDEPENDENT STUDY II
IS 792 - PRE-DOCTORAL RESEARCH
IT 201 - INFORMATION DESIGN TECHNIQUES
CS 792 - PRE-DOCTORAL RESEARCH
IS 488 - INDEPENDENT STUDY IN INFO
IS 725 - INDEPENDENT STUDY I
CS 700B - MASTER'S PROJECT
CS 725 - INDEPENDENT STUDY I
IS 489 - INFO UNDERGRAD THESIS RESEARCH
IS 701B - MASTER'S THESIS
IS 491 - SENIOR PROJECT - IS
IT 488 - INDEPENDENT STUDY
CS 489 - COMPUTER SCIENCE RESEARCH PROJ
CS 701B - MASTER'S THESIS
IS 790A - DOCT DISSERTATION & RES
CS 726 - INDEPENDENT STUDY II
CS 790A - DOCT DISSERTATION & RES
IS 700B - MASTER'S PROJECT
IS 776 - IS RESEARCH STUDY
IS 726 - INDEPENDENT STUDY II
IS 792 - PRE-DOCTORAL RESEARCH
IT 201 - INFORMATION DESIGN TECHNIQUES
CS 792 - PRE-DOCTORAL RESEARCH
IS 488 - INDEPENDENT STUDY IN INFO
IS 725 - INDEPENDENT STUDY I
Past Courses
IS 350: COMPUTERS, SOCIETY AND ETHICS
IT 201: INFORMATION DESIGN TECHNIQUES
IT 201: INFORMATION DESIGN TECHNIQUES - HONORS
IT 201: INFORMATION DESIGN TECHNIQUES
IT 201: INFORMATION DESIGN TECHNIQUES - HONORS
Research Interests
I am a multidisciplinary person with a background in computer science and software engineering, mathematics, digital media, and arts. I enjoy collaborative projects involving other disciplines such as healthcare, education, and languages to solve real world problems. My expertise and research interests include computer graphics, virtual and augmented reality, creating 3D synthetic environments (e.g. virtual campus), and modeling interactive 3D virtual humans with animated facial expressions, speech, and body language for the purposes of simulation and training in the education, military, and healthcare domains. During my PhD, I developed a new class of augmented reality patient simulators called Physical-Virtual Patients (PVP). The PVP allows healthcare educators to interact with a life-size simulated patient by providing real-time physical tactile cues (e.g. temperature, pulse), auditory cues (e.g. speech, heart sounds), and rich dynamic visual cues such as facial expressions (e.g. pain, emotions) and changes in appearance (e.g. skin color, wounds). I would like to continue the research related to simulation and training especially in areas that involve simulating humans, and multi-sensory applications whether for healthcare, mental health, or other domains.
Chapter
Behdokht Kiafar, Salam Daher, Shayla Sharmin, Asif Ahmmed, Ladda Thiamwong, Roghayeh Leila Barmaki.
"Analyzing Nursing Assistant Attitudes Towards Geriatric Caregiving Using Epistemic Network Analysis."
"Communications in Computer and Information Science,"
pp. 187-201. Springer Nature Switzerland, 2024.
Conference Proceeding
"Simulation of an Aware Geriatric Virtual Human in Mixed Reality"
IEEE, March, 2024.
"Matching vs. non-matching visuals and shape for embodied virtual healthcare agents"
March, 2019.
"A systematic survey of 15 years of user studies published in the intelligent virtual agents conference"
November, 2018.
"Physical-Virtual Agents for Healthcare Simulation"
ACM, November, 2018.
"Cognitive and Touch Performance Effects of Mismatched 3D Physical and Visual Perceptions"
August, 2018.
IEEE, March, 2024.
"Matching vs. non-matching visuals and shape for embodied virtual healthcare agents"
March, 2019.
"A systematic survey of 15 years of user studies published in the intelligent virtual agents conference"
November, 2018.
"Physical-Virtual Agents for Healthcare Simulation"
ACM, November, 2018.
"Cognitive and Touch Performance Effects of Mismatched 3D Physical and Visual Perceptions"
August, 2018.
SHOW MORE
Journal Article
Dahlia Musa, Laura Gonzalez, Heidi Penney, Salam Daher.
2023. "Technology Acceptance and Authenticity in Interactive Simulation: Experimental Study."
JMIR Medical Education , vol. 9 , pp. e40040.
Dahlia Musa, Frank Guido-Sanz, Mindi Anderson, Salam Daher. 2022. "Reliability of Wound Measurement Methods." IEEE Open Journal of Instrumentation and Measurement , vol. 1 , pp. 1-9.
Salam Daher, Adrian Clark, Roghayeh Barmaki. 2022. "Editorial: Immersive Technologies in Healthcare." Frontiers in Virtual Reality , vol. 3 .
Sarah Jane Mee, Salam Daher, Joanna F. DeFranco. 2022. "Alexa, M.D.." Computer , vol. 55 , no. 2 , pp. 85-89.
Dahlia Musa, Laura Gonzalez, Heidi Penney, Salam Daher. 2021. "Interactive Video Simulation for Remote Healthcare Learning." Frontiers in Surgery , vol. 8 .
Dahlia Musa, Frank Guido-Sanz, Mindi Anderson, Salam Daher. 2022. "Reliability of Wound Measurement Methods." IEEE Open Journal of Instrumentation and Measurement , vol. 1 , pp. 1-9.
Salam Daher, Adrian Clark, Roghayeh Barmaki. 2022. "Editorial: Immersive Technologies in Healthcare." Frontiers in Virtual Reality , vol. 3 .
Sarah Jane Mee, Salam Daher, Joanna F. DeFranco. 2022. "Alexa, M.D.." Computer , vol. 55 , no. 2 , pp. 85-89.
Dahlia Musa, Laura Gonzalez, Heidi Penney, Salam Daher. 2021. "Interactive Video Simulation for Remote Healthcare Learning." Frontiers in Surgery , vol. 8 .
SHOW MORE
Conference Abstract
"Interactive Video Simulation for Healthcare Education: Technology Acceptance and Perceived Authenticity"
22nd International Meeting on Simulation in Healthcare (IMSH 2022), January (1st Quarter/Winter), 2022.
"Interactive Video Simulation: A Remote Solution"
June, 2021.
"Tracking Eye Gaze in Unity3D for Training"
GMIS, October (4th Quarter/Autumn), 2020.
22nd International Meeting on Simulation in Healthcare (IMSH 2022), January (1st Quarter/Winter), 2022.
"Interactive Video Simulation: A Remote Solution"
June, 2021.
"Tracking Eye Gaze in Unity3D for Training"
GMIS, October (4th Quarter/Autumn), 2020.
Professional
Frontiers in Virtual Reality - Virtual Reality in Medicine
Editor, Journal Editor , 2021
Frontiers in Virtual Reality - Virtual Reality in Industry
Editor, Journal Editor , 2020
Editor, Journal Editor , 2021
Frontiers in Virtual Reality - Virtual Reality in Industry
Editor, Journal Editor , 2020