Yohan Hmaiti

Yahya (Yohan) Hmaiti graduated with a B.Sc. in Computer Science from the University of Central Florida in 2024 and currently is a Ph.D. student in Computer Science at the University of Central Florida and a member of the Interactive Systems and User Experience (ISUE) Lab, advised by Dr. Joseph J. LaViola Jr. His research focuses on security and privacy, human-computer interaction in immersive environments, encompassing 3D user interfaces, virtual avatars, collaborative XR systems, and the application of machine learning within VR contexts. Yohan's current work explores user-centred privacy and security, the integration of generative AI and large language models into immersive interfaces, and the utilization of intelligent virtual avatars and natural language processing to enhance interaction in virtual environments.

Publications

Gottsacker, M., Hmaiti, Y., Maslych, M., Furuya, H., DeGuzman, JJ., Bruder, G., Welch, G., and LaViola, J. "From One World to Another: Interfaces for Efficiently Transitioning Between Virtual Environments", Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26), Article 1690, 17 pages, April 2026.
Gottsacker, M., Hmaiti, Y., Maslych, M., Bruder, G., LaViola, J., and Welch, G. "XR-First Design for Productivity: A Conceptual Framework for Enabling Efficient Task Switching in XR", 2025 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality Adjunct (ISMAR-Adjunct), 6 pages, October 2025.
Gottsacker, M., Hmaiti, Y., Maslych, M., Furuya, H., Bruder, G., Welch, G., and LaViola, J. "From Alt-Tab to World-Snap: Exploring Different Metaphors for Swift and Seamless VR World Switching", 2025 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality Adjunct (ISMAR-Adjunct), 2 pages, October 2025.
Maslych, M., Katebi, M., Lee, C., Hmaiti, Y., Ghasemaghaei, A., Pumarada, C., Palmer, J., Segarra Martinez, E., Emporio, M., Snipes, W., McMahan, R., and LaViola, J. "Mitigating Response Delays in Free-Form Conversations with LLM-powered Intelligent Virtual Agents", Proceedings of the 7th ACM Conference on Conversational User Interfaces (CUI '25), Article 49, 15 pages, July 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.
Hmaiti, Y., Maslych, M., Ghasemaghaei, A., Ghamandi, R., and LaViola, J. "Visual Perceptual Confidence: Exploring Discrepancies Between Self-reported and Actual Distance Perception In Virtual Reality", IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 30(11):7245-7254, November 2024.
Maslych, M., Yu, D., Ghasemaghaei, A., Hmaiti, Y., Segarra Martinez, E., Simon, D., Taranta, E., Bergstrom, J., and LaViola, J. "From Research to Practice: Survey and Taxonomy of Object Selection in Consumer VR Applications", Proceedings of the 2024 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality, 990-999, October 2024.
Ghasemaghaei, A., Maslych, M., Hmaiti, Y., Segarra Martinez, E., and LaViola, J. "Towards Better Throwing: A Comparison of Performance and Preferences Across Point of Release Mechanics in Virtual Reality", Proceedings of Graphics Interface 2024, 11 pages, June 2024.
Ghamandi, R., Kattoju, RK., Hmaiti, Y., Maslych, M., Taranta, E., McMahan, R., and LaViola, J. "Unlocking Understanding: An Investigation of Multimodal Communication in Virtual Reality Collaboration", Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '24), Article 602, 16 pages, May 2024.
Ghasemaghaei, A., Hmaiti, Y., Maslych, M., Segarra Martinez, E., and LaViola, J. "Throwing in Virtual Reality: Performance and Preferences Across Input Device Configurations", 2024 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops, 897-898, March 2024.
Ghamandi, R., Hmaiti, Y., Nguyen, T., Ghasemaghaei, A., Kattoju, RK., Taranta, E., and LaViola, J. "What And How Together: A Taxonomy On 30 Years Of Collaborative Human-Centered XR Tasks", Proceedings of the 2023 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality, 322-335, October 2023.
Hmaiti, Y., Maslych, M., Taranta, E., and LaViola, J. "An Exploration of The Effects of Head-Centric Rest Frames On Egocentric Distance Judgments in VR", Proceedings of the 2023 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality, 263-272, October 2023.
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.
Hmaiti, Y. "The Effects of Head-Centric Rest Frames on Egocentric Distance Perception in Virtual Reality", Honors in Major Thesis, University of Central Florida, Department of Computer Science, August 2023.