Dr. Aryabrata Basu, an expert in virtual reality and digital visualization, has joined the University of Arkansas at Little Rock as an assistant professor of computer science and research fellow for the Emerging Analytics Center, the university’s premier research center for virtual/augmented reality, visualization, and interactive technologies.

“I am very excited to join UA Little Rock,” Basu said. “I have already met the great faculty members and support staff in the Department of Computer Science and the Emerging Analytics Center, and I look forward to the teaching and research opportunities to come. There is a lot of potential here to expand upon, and I want to bring new paradigms of visualization to the people through the Emerging Analytics Center.”

Basu’s research includes human-computer interaction, investigating human spatial decision making in virtual reality, and enhancing virtual reality immersive experiences in education. Some of his past projects include the Apollo 15 Learning Hub, Slave Voyages, and Envisioning Baroque Rome.

“Dr. Basu’s enthusiasm is infectious. During the interview process, Dr. Basu reached out to Dr. Ghosh in the Department of Chemistry to explore research collaboration opportunities,” said Dr. Albert Baker, chair of the Department of Computer Science. “This bodes extremely well for cross-disciplinary collaboration. With his expertise in extended reality (AR/VR), natural user interfaces, computer graphics, AI, and haptics, he will enhance and expand research and teaching in established opportunity areas offered by the department. His record of research in the application of his expertise in the healthcare field opens exciting opportunities for research funding. We welcome Dr. Basu with open arms.”

A native of Kolkata, India, Basu joins UA Little Rock from Emory University, where he spent six years as a visual information specialist and research scientist at the Emory Center for Digital Scholarship. He was responsible for creating digital media and 3D models through graphic design, imaging processing, and data visualization for digital scholarship programs as well as researching new methods of visualizing data, including 3D, virtual reality, and augmented reality.

Basu has a bachelor’s degree in information technology from West Bengal University of Technology in India and a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Georgia. Basu and his wife Dipannita live in Little Rock with their four-year-old son Aaron.