VAR Lab

The Landing Place is a mental health smartphone app under development. The self-help app will provide tailored help to users seeking to manage symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress. The app will engage users in psychoeducation and provide tangible coping skills, focusing on emotion regulation among other domains. Our goal is to make The Landing

During the Fall 2022 semester, VAR Studios and Teaching and Learning with Technology (TLT) collaborated to host a 3D Scanning Roadshow event at the Penn State Behrend campus. The event welcomed Behrend faculty, staff, and students to the Merwin 214 lab space, where they could participate in and experience the 3D creation process firsthand. Some

In the Spring of 2020, the VAR Lab teamed up with the Hagen History Center to bring the past to life through five interactive exhibits. The VAR Lab’s team included Dr. Chris Shelton, Marcus Jacobs, Lauren Cass, and Justin Williams. They focused on creating a unique and engaging experience for visitors to the museum.  Exhibit

VAR Lab is thrilled to announce the launch of its latest immersive exhibit, "The Perry Telescope: A Virtual Perspective," at the Hagen History Center in Erie, PA. This digital companion to a display case located alongside an interactive screen features Commodore Oliver "Hazard" Perry's telescope from the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of

The Virtual Hike of the Wintergreen Gorge project was a unique opportunity for Penn State Behrend to showcase one of its local gems to the wider community. The project, which took place from February to June 2021, was the result of the Assistant Director of Alumni Relations approaching the VAR Lab at Behrend with a

A collaboration between VAR Lab and the Game Development minor’s capstone course to create a video game based on the deep history of the Behrend campus!

We are excited to announce a new collaboration of VAR Lab with the Educational Equity and Diversity Programs of Penn State Behrend. As a first step, we are working to assist with the facilitation of diversity and equity awareness of the students by offering virtual and augmented reality resources. Later on, it is our hope

In addition to VAR Lab’s ongoing “Fort LeBoeuf in VR” project, we have also partnered with a larger historical preservation effort in Erie, PA, to preserve the history associated with the Fort Presque Isle site. On the eastern edge of what is now the city of Erie, colonial French forces, then British forces, and finally

The aim of this project is to bring the history of Behrend to life using immersive reality (XR). Much of Penn State Behrend’s history is only available, through books, or by visiting the John M. Lilley Library to view the Penn State Behrend Archives. The archives offer an abundant collection of artifacts, documents, and audio/visual

VAR Lab is collaborating with La Roche University (Department of Justice, Law and Security; CSI Lab) and Mercyhurst University (Applied Forensic Sciences undergraduate program and the Forensic and Biological Anthropology master’s program) individuals at to explore the potential for (a) lidar scanning in forensic settings and (b) creating immersive educational experiences for us by forensic