Principle Investigator

Caleb Vatral, Ph.D. (they/them)

Dr. Caleb Vatral is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Tennessee State University. Dr. Vatral leads the MIMIC Lab, conducting research on a range of topics related to interactive media and its intersections with AI. Prior to joining TSU, they recieved their Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University with a focus in applied intelligent systems. When they are not working, you can find them playing a variety of video games (especially indie games), watching anime with their wife, or taking their dog on adventures in the parks around Nashville.

Current Students

Egypt Garrett (she/her)

Egypt Garrett is a senior Computer Science major and Mathematics minor at Tennessee State University, pursuing the Accelerated Master’s Program in High-Performance Computing and Bioinformatics. Her research in the MIMIC Lab centers on exploring player immersion and interaction design in extended-reality environments, with an emphasis on how control schemes and sensory feedback influence user experience. Egypt’s broader interests include gameplay engineering, human-computer interaction, and the intersection of creativity and technology in game development.

Other Collaborators

• Deo Chima, Ph.D. from Tennessee State University
• Ali Sekmen, Ph.D. from Tennessee State University and Pangea Tech Consulting
• Gautam Biswas, Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University and the Open-Ended Learning Environments Lab