By Dave Larsen
University of Dayton computer science major Ryan Zmuda sits at his laptop, piloting a white sports car in an immersive multiplayer racing simulation. When Zmuda turns his head to the left, his photorealistic avatar in the game turns its head in real time and looks out of the driver’s side window.
Zmuda, a senior from Hilliard, Ohio, wasn’t merely playing a video game. Working with faculty mentors from computer science and engineering, he spent his summer developing a real-time, interactive system for creating lifelike digital versions of people, with the overarching goal of enhancing virtual presence.
His project uses computer webcams to track where players’ heads are facing and an advanced processing technique called Gaussian Splatting, which offers a significant boost in visual coherence and realism, to render their avatars.
“We’ve reached a point where we have two players that are synched across the network and you can play on multiple computers and see each other looking around,” he said. “As far as I know, synching the avatars of players in this way is not utilized in games. I also don’t think there are many real-time games using Gaussian Splatting, so in that regard, both of these things are relatively new.”
Zmuda’s research project was one of four selected by UD’s Science and Engineering Catalyst Center for its 2025 summer fellowship program, which connects faculty from the College of Arts and Sciences and School of Engineering to support student-led research in emerging areas of science and technology.
Science and Engineering Catalyst Center Co-Director Brian Rigling said the summer fellowships provide students opportunities to work with two faculty, one from the sciences and one from engineering, for an extended summer experience.
“Working in close collaboration with a faculty member on a research project is one of the best experiential learning opportunities we can offer a student,” said Rigling, Ohio Research Scholar for Sensor Exploitation and Fusion and professor in the UD Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Zmuda’s faculty mentors were Ju Shen, associate professor in the UD Department of Computer Science and director of the Interactive Visual Media Lab, and Vijayan Asari, professor in the UD Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and director of the UD Center of Excellence for Computational Excellence and Machine Vision, also known as the Vision Lab.
Zmuda is the founder and president of UD’s Game Development Club. Shen serves as the club’s faculty advisor.
This year’s summer fellowship project teams also included:
- Brandon House, a junior premedicine and neuroscience major from Louisville, Kentucky, explored the development of super-small magnetic particles called “nanobioconjugates” that can target and destroy harmful bacteria like Listeria. His faculty mentors were Yvonne Sun, associate professor in the UD Department of Biology, and Erick Vasquez-Guardado, associate professor in the UD Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering.
- Tyler Leffew, a senior computer information systems major from West Milton, Ohio, developed a visibility-based pursuit-evasion algorithm to allow a mobile robot to map its environment, generate an occupancy grid and plan a pursuit strategy. His faculty mentors were Nick Stiffler, assistant professor in the UD Department of Computer Science, and Krishna Kidambi, assistant professor in the UD Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
- Derek Schindler, a senior biochemistry major from Columbus, Ohio, worked to advance a new approach to producing electro-spun nanofiber mats using a 3D-printed conductive, gelatin-based polymer electrolyte. These mats, made from a web of tiny fibers, have filtration, biomedical and electronic applications. His faculty mentors were Justin Biffinger, associate professor in the UD Department of Chemistry, and R. Kirk Pirlo, assistant professor in the UD Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering.
Leffew’s project applied theoretical work by past students to a simple, real-life system — in this case, a robot vacuum outfitted with a light detecting and ranging (LIDAR) sensor that can generate data about the robot’s surroundings in a maze.
He spent much of the summer trying to bridge the gap between digital and physical systems, running computer simulations to produce something close to real-world data that he could apply to the robot’s onboard computers.
This is where the integration of science and engineering systems came into play.
“In all my time in computer science, you never talk about physical systems,” Leffew said. “It’s a lot of theory and computation. When you bring in engineering, it’s just another layer of difficulty that you have to work out — especially on a small system like this, where you have such a small computer and hardware and software constraints.”
Science and Engineering Catalyst Center Co-Director Tam Nguyen, associate professor and director of UD’s graduate program in computer science, said the center is committed to cultivating the next generation of researchers and problem-solvers through meaningful multidisciplinary research experiences.
“These fellowships play a crucial role by immersing students in real-world challenges from diverse perspectives, guided by faculty members who advance innovation, critical thinking and collaborative leadership,” Nguyen said.
Top photo: Ju Shen, Ryan Zmuda and Vijayan Asari in UD's Interactive Visual Media Lab.
Middle photo: Tyler Leffew and Krishna Kidambi with a mobile robot in UD's Robotics Lab.
