Alvaro Joffre Uribe Quevedo

My interest in immersive technologies began when I started working with virtual reality (VR) as part of my undergraduate Mechatronics Engineering studies. I had the opportunity to implement and develop several simulations for industrial processes and mechanical design. After witnessing the vast number of VR applications and its potential impacts outside of engineering, I pursued an engineering VR developer position at the Virtual Reality Center at the Universidad M. Nueva Granada University in 2004. That experience led me to expand my understanding of VR and simulation while engaging in further medical applications, including periodontal ligament simulation and anatomical 3D visualizations. As a result, I had the opportunity to design a VR undergraduate course, which I taught for two years to students in the Mechatronics and the Multimedia Engineering programs at the Universidad M. Nueva Granada in Bogotá, Colombia.

In 2007, I pursued graduate studies at the Mechanical Engineering Department at the Universidade Estadual de Campinas, in São Paulo, Brazil. My master's work involved the development of a VR environment for teleoperating a human-like gripper within a robotics work-cell. For my doctoral work, I was awarded a scholarship from the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP). My research focused on designing a lower-limb exoskeleton coupled with a VR scenario to help those with reduced mobility engage in assisted physiotherapy. It was during my doctoral studies that I obtained a broader understanding of the importance of simulated scenarios in health care, and since then, I have been working with VR, human-computer interactions (HCI), and games.

Upon completing my graduate studies, in 2012 I obtained an Assistant Professor tenure-track position at the Universidad M. Nueva Granada, where I acquired grant-based funding to conduct research on VR focusing on medical applications. As a result of my research, I obtained a postdoctoral fellow position, which started on September 21, 2015 at the Games Institute at the University of Waterloo. My postdoctoral research focused on serious games and game-based learning, aiming to better understand the role of game technologies to improve transfer and retention of knowledge in medical training.

My research in VR has led to interdisciplinary collaborations seeking to find innovative approaches to address challenges in various fields. More specifically, I have focused on medical applications where VR can provide immersive, interactive and effective complementary tools to practise procedures such as cardiac auscultation, intra-venous and intra-osseus access, and eye examination. Alongside my research in VR, a component that plays an important role in its adopting is engagement. Researching games has led me to investigate the design and use of VR and 3D user interfaces towards creating interactive and meaningful scenarios. Areas of application of this research have led to project in health care in the form of exer games and serious games.

Research Grants

• National Sciences and Engineering Research Council NSERC, Discovery Grant April 1, 2018, 5 years Development of a virtual reality usability framework that correlates physiological and qualitative assessment data $115,000 Alvaro Joffre Uribe Quevedo PhD
• National Sciences and Engineering Research Council NSERC, Engage Grant March 29 – September 30, 2019 VR framework as a non-literacy alternative to increase work readiness awareness for job seekers $24.743 Alvaro Joffre Uribe Quevedo PhD Industry partner: ORIGIN
• Public Services Health and Safety Association Canada April 2019 Virtual Reality Hands-On Evaluation PSHSA Working at Heights Training $28.334 Alvaro Joffre Uribe Quevedo Industry partner: PSHSA
• Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, Scientific Research Grant March 2019 - February 2020 Applied virtual reality for lower back pain physiotherapy as a tool to alter pain perception and its tracking through physiological measures and user interactions through non-invasive techniques Phase I $28,000 Principal Investigator: Lina Peñuela MSc Co-applicant: Jorge Tolosa Cubillos MD, Alvaro Joffre Uribe Quevedo PhD
• Innovation York and the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program, Type: Industrial Research Assistance Program Collaborative/competitive adaptive VR training environments $10,000 Main applicant: Michael Jenkin PhD. Co-applicants: Bill Kapralos PhD., Alvaro Uribe PhD. Industry partner Alex Theorodou, Ocutherapy
• UOIT SSHRC Small Grants Program June 2018 - March 2019 Usability testing of a gamified educational network $2,000 Main applicant: Bill Kapralos PhD Co-applicant: Alvaro Joffre Uribe Quevedo PhD
• Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, Scientific Research Grant March 2018 - February 2019 Design and development of a virtual reality simulator prototype for myocardial infarction treatment phase I $35,000 Principal Investigator: Byron Perez Gutierrez Co-applicants: Norman Jaimes, Osmar Perez, Alvaro Joffre Uribe Quevedo, Bill Kapralos, David Rojas
• Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, Scientific Research Grant February 2017 – February 2018 Development of a monitoring posture exergame prototype based on occupational health exercises for maintenance workers phase I $20,000 Main applicant: Alvaro Uribe PhD Co-applicants: Bill Kapralos PhD, David Rojas PhD(c), Lina Peñuela MSc
• Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, Scientific Research Grant February 2017 – February 2018 Development of a multimodal tool for cardiac auscultation training phase I $20,000 Main applicant: Alvaro Uribe PhD Co-applicants: Bill Kapralos PhD, David Rojas PhD(c), Byron Pérez MS.
• Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, Scientific Research Grant February 2015 – February 2017 Central venous access pediatric simulator phase I $95,000 Main applicant: Byron Pérez MSc Co-applicants: Alvaro Uribe PhD, Norman Jaimes MD
• Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, Scientific Research Grant February 2014 – April 2015 Neonatal Central Venous Access Simulator $35,000 Main applicant: Byron Pérez MSc Co-applicants: Alvaro Uribe PhD
• Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, Scientific Research Grant February 2014 – April 2015 Interactive tool for lower limb physical activity monitoring $18,000 Main applicant: Alvaro Uribe PhD Co-applicants: Byron Pérez MSc
• Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, Innovation Grant March 2014 – May 2015 Interactive defibrillator guide $4,800 Main applicant: Alvaro Uribe PhD Co-applicants: Norman Jaimes MD, Byron Pérez MSc
• Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, Innovation Grant March 2014 – May 2015 Virtual manikin for convulsive diagnosis based on facial symptoms $4,800 Main applicant: Alvaro Uribe PhD Co-applicants: Norman Jaimes MD, Byron Pérez MSc
• Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, Scientific Research Grant Design and Implementation of a motion capture system for3D animation based on an anthropomorphic humanoid robot $13,000 Main applicant: Alvaro Uribe PhD Co-applicants: Hernando León PhD, Byron Pérez MSc
• Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, Undergraduate Scientific Initiation Grant July – December 2013 Serious game for upper limb exercising $400 Main applicant: Alvaro Uribe PhD
• Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, Undergraduate Scientific Initiation Grant July – December 2013 Manikin development for virtual avatar animation $400 Main applicant: Alvaro Uribe PhD
• Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, Undergraduate Scientific Initiation Grant February – July 2013 Development of an educational multimedia to use a carpenter’s square in graphical expression $400 Main applicant: Alvaro Uribe PhD
• Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, Undergraduate Scientific Initiation Grant February – July 2013 Development of a face expression detection tool using Kinect $400 Main applicant: Alvaro Uribe PhD
• Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, Undergraduate Scientific Initiation Grant July – December 2012 Postures and gestures detection to monitor physical activity $400 Main applicant: Alvaro Uribe PhD

Infrastructure and Equipment Grants

• UOIT Research and Infrastructure Funds RIF May 2018 – April 2019 Upgrading the Human Machine Laboratory $40,217 Main applicant: Miguel Vargas Martin PhD Co-applicants: Patrick Hung PhD, Amirali Salehi-Abari PhD, Alvaro Joffre Uribe Quevedo PhD
• UOIT Research and Infrastructure Funds RIF May 2018 – April 2019 UOIT Computational Infrastructure for Artificial Intelligence $50,000 Main applicant: Amirali Salehi-Abari PhD Co-applicants: alma Karray PhD, Patrick Hung PhD, Miguel Vargas Martin PhD, Khalil El-Khatib PhD, Shahram Heydari PhD, Faisal Qureshi PhD, Christopher Collins PhD, Julie Thorpe PhD, Alvaro Joffre Uribe Quevedo PhD

Undergraduate Research Awards Program

• National Sciences and Engineering Research Council NSERC, USRA Grant April - August 2018 Development of an interactive dialogue system prototype for VR in medical applications, based on motion and gesture user inputs $6,000 Student: Jacky Yang Main applicant: Alvaro Joffre Uribe Quevedo PhD
• National Sciences and Engineering Research Council NSERC, USRA Grant April - August 2019 Prototyping of a virtual reality walking user interface $6,500 Student: Marco Valdez Balderas Main applicant: Alvaro Joffre Uribe Quevedo PhD