Jacob Belga

Jacob joined ISUE in Fall 2019 and received his Bachelors of Science in Computer Science from UCF in 2020, then also received his Master's of Science in Computer Science from UCF in 2023. Upon graduating, he returned to UCF to pursue his PhD. Jacob's research interests include Human-Computer Interaction, Virtual/Augmented Reality (VR/AR), and Human-Robot Interaction. From both his research and professional experience, Jacob has worked on projects involving natural language processing, audio analysis, simulated experiences in AR, face/object recognition, and image processing.

Publications

Belga, J., McMahan, R., and LaViola, J. "Effects of Virtual Reality System Fidelity on Presence using the Fidelity-based Presence Scale", Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26), Article 610, 12 pages, April 2026.
Williamson, B., Powell, P., Ghamandi, R., Belga, J., LaViola, J., Chawla, N., McMahan, R., Middleton, M., Kluck, M., and McKendrick, R. "Using Mixed Reality and Artificial Intelligence for Complex Task Guidance in a UH-60 Environment", Proceedings of the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation, and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) 2025, 14 pages, December 2025.
Belga, J., Ghamandi, R., Chawla, N., McKendrick, R., McMahan, R., and LaViola, J. "An Investigation of Look Cues and Pick Cues for Guidance in Dense Operating Environments", Proceedings of the 69th Human Factors and Ergonomic Society International Annual Meeting (HFES 2025), 7 pages, October 2025.
Belga, J., Skarbez, R., Hmaiti, Y., Chen, E., McMahan, R., and LaViola, J. "The Fidelity-based Presence Scale (FPS): Modeling the Effects of Fidelity on Sense of Presence", Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '25), Article 1150, 15 pages, April 2025.
Pfeil, K., Badillo-Urquiolla, K., Belga, J., Sera-Josef, J., LaViola, J., and Wisniewski, P. "Using Co-Design with Streamers and Viewers to Identify Values and Resolve Tensions in the Design of Interpersonal Wearable Telepresence Systems", Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, Vol. 8, No. CSCW1, Article 148 (21 pages), January 2024.
Maslych, M., Hmaiti, Y., Ghamandi, R., Leber, P., Kattoju, RK., Belga, J., and LaViola, J. "Toward Intuitive Acquisition of Occluded VR Objects Through an Interactive Disocclusion Mini-map", Proceedings of the 2023 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (VR '23), 460-470, March 2023.
Belga, J., Do, T., Ghamandi, R., McMahan, R., and LaViola, J. "Carousel: Improving the Accuracy of Virtual Reality Assessments for Inspection Training Tasks", Proceedings of the 28th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology (VRST ‘22), Article 1, 10 pages, November 2022.
Pfeil, K., Masnadi, S., Belga, J., Sera-Josef, J. V. T., and LaViola, J. "Distance Perception with a Video See-Through Head-Mounted Display", Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '21), Article 528, 1-9. May 2021.