Envision Center develops VR incident response and recovery training in FEMA-funded project
The Rosen Center for Advanced Computing’s Envision Center has collaborated with a team at Purdue and Texas A&M’s Engineering Extension Service to develop virtual reality (VR)-based trainings to help public safety officials better respond to cyberattacks during disasters.
The project, known as Cyber Security Awareness and Strategies to Enhance Resilience of Recovery and Response Operations During Disasters, is funded with a $1.5 million grant by the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
FEMA had an open call for proposals as part of the agency’s Higher Education Program, which engages academia, emergency management professional organizations, and practitioners to collaborate and innovate through education and research to meet national challenges. The team applied and was selected.
“This is the first virtual reality training course funded by FEMA,” says Umit Karabiyik, an associate professor in computer and information technology and a co-PI on the project. “It’s really one of a kind.”
Other current and past PIs on the project include Mesut Akdere, professor of technology leadership and innovation, Jin Wei-Kocsis, associate professor of computer and information technology, and Eric Dietz, professor of computer and information technology.
In 2021, the team won the People’s Choice Award at the 23rd Annual Emergency Management Higher Education Virtual Symposium held on June 8-10, 2021. The criteria for the award was based on the topic addressing a current emergency management problem, the synergy between the academic and practitioner communities, the team presentation, and the organization of the poster.
The project originally began in 2020 and for the first three years the team focused on developing the content and the virtual reality platform.
“We knew we needed someone with very strong experience with virtual reality development, and the Envision Center was the perfect partner,” says Karabiyik.
“The Envision Center did a great job throughout this process.”
Since July 2023, the team has been accepting students for both VR and web-based learning modules, and a total of more than 100 students have already registered for the course, with the majority having finished and passed.
Karabiyik reports that the VR component was a particular hit with participants, even though it was initially daunting to some who hadn’t used VR before, and the immersive scenarios were especially useful for learning the course concepts.
The training consists of a series of scenario-based, immersive, experiential learning modules in which cyber incidents and attacks occur concurrently with natural and man-made disasters. Through these scenarios, participants observe cause-and-effect reactions to the ubiquitous connected Internet-of-Things (IoT) technologies and identify strategies and techniques to adapt and prevent IoT-based attacks.
The goal of the program is to increase the community’s ability to prevent an attack and continue to enhance the community’s resilience during times of catastrophic disasters.
The team has developed an artificial intelligence-powered customizable VR-based training program that is adaptive to the learner. In addition, they’ve developed a web-based platform tailored to operate on individuals’ devices.
Interested participants can learn more about the course and register here.
The Envision Center, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, provides novel solutions to effectively communicate complex research topics.
Located in the basement between Stewart Center and the Purdue Memorial Union (STEW B001), the Envision Center holds multiple lab spaces as well as a large conference room and a motion capture stage. The space can also be used for client meetings, training seminars, and small events.
Computer graphics, advanced visualization (sight), auditory (sound), haptic (touch), and multimodal interaction integrate with state-of-the-art high performance computation to assist researchers, instructors, and leaders in their quest for new knowledge and innovative products.
Virtual simulation, multimedia production and data visualization and analysis are just some of the services the Envision Center offers the Purdue community.
To learn more about the Envision Center and see examples of recent projects, visit the Center’s website. For more information about working with the Envision Center, contact envision@purdue.edu.