Margarita Vinnikov
Assistant Professor, Informatics
973-596-6252
3802 Guttenberg Information Technologies Center (GITC)
About Me
Dr. Margarita Vinnikov (Ph.D., York University, Canada), Assistant Professor in Department of Informatics, joins NJIT from the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada where she was a human factors research officer, specializing in cross reality and immersive displays, including flight and driving simulations. She has extensive experience in prototyping and developing experimental platforms for these kinds of simulations using various languages, libraries and platforms. While at the NRC, for example, she worked with pilots and aircrew using augmented and virtual reality technology to improve the safe operation of helicopters and other aircraft during low visibility conditions. She also studies human-computer interaction, with an emphasis on visual and audio perception. While earning her Ph.D. at York University, she researched gaze-contingent, multi-sensory immersive environments, which change the display based on a user's gaze location, with real-time simulations of impaired vision. She used eye- and head-tracking to simulate different visual defects to conduct psychophysical experimentation, using quantitative methods to investigate the relationship between visual and auditorial stimuli and a participant's experience or behavior, in various virtual environments. She has worked for many years for a pre-college program teaching students how to develop games while employing diverse technologies and programming languages. Her research has been published in journals such as the International Journal of Human-Computer Studies and ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction.
Education
Ph.D. ; York University ; Computer Science ; 2015

M.S. ; York University ; M.Sc. Computer Science ; 2009

B.S. ; York University ; B.Sc. Specialized, Honors, Computer Science ; 2006

B.Ed ; York University ; Intermediate/Senior Computer Science & Mathematics ; 2006

Website
http://margaritavinnikov.com
2025 Fall Courses
CS 701B - MASTER'S THESIS

IS 725 - INDEPENDENT STUDY I

IS 792 - PRE-DOCTORAL RESEARCH

IS 488 - INDEPENDENT STUDY IN INFO

IS 765 - METHODS IN INFO SYS RESEARCH

CS 489 - COMPUTER SCIENCE RESEARCH PROJ

CS 792 - PRE-DOCTORAL RESEARCH

IS 491 - SENIOR PROJECT - IS

CS 488 - INDEPENDENT STUDY IN CS

CS 700B - MASTER'S PROJECT

IS 700B - MASTER'S PROJECT

IS 701B - MASTER'S THESIS

CS 726 - INDEPENDENT STUDY II

IS 489 - INFO UNDERGRAD THESIS RESEARCH

IS 790A - DOCT DISSERTATION & RES

IT 488 - INDEPENDENT STUDY

CS 790A - DOCT DISSERTATION & RES

IS 726 - INDEPENDENT STUDY II

IS 776 - IS RESEARCH STUDY

CS 725 - INDEPENDENT STUDY I

DS 488 - INDEPENDENT STUDY IN DS

Teaching Interests
Within the context of teaching Informatics, Computer Science, or Mathematics courses, and I am especially interested in teaching courses on VR/AR/MR and serious gaming, especially in the areas of digital image processing, computer graphics, and human and machine perception. I enjoy teaching fundamental programming courses in a variety of languages such as Java, C/C++, Python, and C#. In terms of more advanced topics, I like to teach courses addressing 3D computer graphics and shaders, as well as VR/AR/MR courses that address topics such as body tracking, calibration, and registration, simulation of different modalities and senses, and perceptual issues associated with simulating each modality.
Past Courses
IS 765: QUANTITATIVE METHODS IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH

IS 785: SPECIAL TOPICS

IT 201: INFORMATION DESIGN TECHNIQUES

IT 202: INTERNET APPLICATIONS

IT 382: GAME DESIGN FOR XR

IT 382: USER INTERFACES FOR EXTENDED REALITY

IT 383: ADVANCED TOPICS IN GAME DESIGN FOR XR

IT 383: GAME DESIGN FOR EXTENDED REALITY

IT 485: ST: CROSS REALITY (XR) DESIGN

IT 485: ST: MIXED REALITY FOR GAMES

IT 485: ST: SPECIAL PROJECTS

IT 485: TOPICS IN IMMERSIVE XR

Research Interests
My research interests are virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality (XR) technologies. Specifically, I am interested to explore immersion in increasingly complex visual, as well as auditory and tactile virtual worlds. I specialize in eye and body tracking as well as multi-sensory augmentation. In my research, I use simulations of real-life scenarios in virtual environments to improve the user experience with current XR technology.
In Progress
AR/VR in Crime Scene Investigation
Can VR/AR be used to effectively teach Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) in Forensic Science?

Attention Guidance in Virtual reality
The project focuses on examining various factors contributing to car crashes in virtual reality simulations. Also, the project examines various displays and input for virtual driving simulators and the impact on realism, performance, situational awareness.

Education and Mixed Reality Tools
We look at various mixed-reality displays and compare them in the context of learning Chemistry.

Medical Ontology in Virtual Reality
The project focuses on Visualizing complex medical ontologies with thousands of nodes in VR. We are in the second phase of the project. We are actively writing the results of our first user study and developing an experiment for the second user study.

Conference Paper
"Usability and Recall Evaluation of Virtual Reality Ontology Object Manipulation (VROOM) System"
American Medical Informatics Association, November, 2023.

"Subjective Assessment of Commercially Common Input and Display Modalities in a Driving Simulator"
Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Computer-Human Interaction Research and Applications, 2022.

Conference Proceeding
"Virtual Reality Ontology Object Manipulation (VROOM)"
SCITEPRESS - Science and Technology Publications, 2022.

"A CASE STUDY OF SERIOUS GAMES WITH AUGMENTED REALITY FOR LEARNING FACILITATING IN CHEMISTRY"
15th annual International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation, November, 2022.

"Subjective Assessment of Commercially Common Input and Display Modalities in a Driving Simulator"
SCITEPRESS - Science and Technology Publications, January (1st Quarter/Winter), 2022.

"Travel Kinematics in Virtual Reality Increases Learning Efficiency"
IEEE, October (4th Quarter/Autumn), 2021.

"Adding Visibility to Visibility Graphs: Weighting Visibility Analysis with Attenuation Coefficients "
SIMAUD Conference 2021, July (3rd Quarter/Summer), 2021.

SHOW MORE
Conference Abstract
"Computing Visibility Analysis in Adverse Weather"
The Ninth International Conference on Design Computing and Cognition (DCC’20).

Journal Article
Margarita Vinnikov, Robert S. Allison, Suzette Fernandes. 2017. "Gaze-Contingent Auditory Displays for Improved Spatial Attention in Virtual Reality." ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction , vol. 24 , no. 3 , pp. 1-38.

Margarita Vinnikov, Robert S. Allison, Suzette Fernandes. 2017. "Gaze-Contingent Auditory Displays for Improved Spatial Attention in Virtual Reality." ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction , vol. 24 , no. 3 , pp. 1-38.

Margarita Vinnikov, R.S. Allison, S. Fernandes. 2016. "Impact of depth of field simulation on visual fatigue: Who are impacted? and how?." International Journal of Human-Computer Studies , vol. 91 , pp. 37-51.

Margarita Vinnikov, R. S. Allison, S. Fernandes. 2016. "Impact of depth of field simulation on visual fatigue: Who are impacted? and how?." International Journal of Human Computer Studies , vol. 91 , pp. 37-51.

Margarita Vinnikov, Stephen Palmisano, Robert Allison. 2015. "Heading Perception with Simulated Visual Defects." Journal of Vision , vol. 15 , no. 12 , pp. 1015.

Esther G. González, Robert S. Allison, Hiroshi Ono, Margarita Vinnikov. 2010. "Cue conflict between disparity change and looming in the perception of motion in depth." Vision Research , vol. 50 , no. 2 , pp. 136-143.

Chapter
Robert S. Allison, Tracey Brandwood, Margarita Vinnikov, James E. Zacher, Sion Jennings, Todd Macuda, Paul Thomas, Stephen A. Palmisano. "Psychophysics of Night Vision Device Halos." "Vision and Displays for Military and Security Applications," pp. 123-140. Springer New York, 2010.