Research: Systems of Agency & Technical Infrastructure
A sustained line of inquiry into immersive storytelling, professional literacy, and institutional frameworks.
Primary Case Studies
Nantucket XR: Harbor Visualization Project
Featured Case Study — Current ResearchA site-specific virtual heritage installation designed for the Nantucket Whaling Museum. This 180° spatial reconstruction utilizes a 'Temporal Telescope' approach, aligning the digital environment with the viewer's physical elevation on the museum's roofwalk to facilitate an immersive historical overlay.
Methodology
This 180° spatial narrative was reconstructed using a combination of 19th-century Sanborn maps, lithographs, and archival photography from the Nantucket Whaling Museum. The digital environment was built at a 1:1 spatial scale to align with the physical roofwalk elevation of the museum, allowing for a seamless 'Temporal Telescope' experience.
Technical Workflow:
- Modeling: Accurate architectural reconstruction of the Steamboat Wharf and surrounding harbor infrastructure
- Spatial Alignment: Calculated viewpoint elevation to match the museum's observation deck, ensuring proprioceptive alignment for VR binocular users
Interactive 180° Experience
Technical Documentation
Model Development Stages
Wireframe of Key Area
Physical Installation Context
Areas of Interest Study
Evolution of Nantucket XR Inquiry
The Binocular Interface: Established the initial visual logic for site-specific immersive history, utilizing custom virtual binoculars to bridge physical space with digital maritime archives.
The Digital Twin: Developed a high-fidelity virtual tour of the 1805 Old Gaol to solve critical accessibility challenges. This phase established a scalable methodology for resource-limited institutions to mediate restricted heritage sites through interactive spatial callouts.
User Agency in VR: An immersive experience utilizing game-engine technology to transform static digital twins into navigable environments. This research investigates how self-directed exploration in 3D space enhances cognitive connection to heritage sites.
Liberty Hall 360: A Revolutionary Wedding
Foundational Case Study — Established ResearchA 2020 NY Emmy®-nominated immersive experience in two formats: ultra-widescreen digital HD and 360° Virtual Reality. Produced at Kean University in collaboration with students, faculty, staff, alumni, and the Liberty Hall Museum in Union, NJ.
Interactive 360° Experience
Collaboration: Large-scale interdisciplinary collaboration: students, faculty, staff, alumni across graphic design, history, communication, writing, and theatre.
Creative Technology & Systemic Infrastructure
This inquiry investigates how custom-coded software and user-centered visual systems dismantle technical and professional barriers in design education. By architecting foundational frameworks for agency, these tools translate theoretical research into applied institutional infrastructure. This work moves beyond traditional visualization to establish a permanent logic of professional literacy, ensuring the complex requirements of the creative economy remain transparent and accessible to the student.
MajorSpec: Designing Dignity-First Hardware Literacy
Beta Phase / Peer-Review PipelineAn agency-centered hardware advisory framework designed to bridge the technical gap in design education through major-specific stability floors.
Spectrum Framework: UI/UX
Desktop Experience
Mobile Experience
Wait for the render — Thoughtful workflow with time for iteration and refinement
Balanced speed — Real-time preview with moderate complexity and responsive feedback
Immediate feedback — Fastest iteration for rapid prototyping and experimentation
CraftRole: Navigational Scaffolding for Person-Environment Fit
Active Development — Pilot PhaseA digital taxonomy and professional identity tool exploring the intersection of creative coding and industry roles. CraftRole provides a framework for designers to navigate evolving professional identities through structured data and role visualization. MajorSpec (Hardware) and CraftRole (Professional Identity) form a unified ecosystem for student professional readiness.
Role Taxonomy: UI/UX
Mobile Experience
Desktop Experience
Students explore a structured taxonomy of creative industry roles, mapped to real-world practice areas and emerging fields.
The tool surfaces role-environment fit by matching student competencies and interests to specific professional pathways.
Scaffolded outputs guide students toward actionable next steps — portfolio focus, internship targets, and degree alignment.
Community Agency & Social Impact
Beyond institutional and virtual environments, this inquiry extends into Community-Engaged Research through collaborative co-design. By applying a systemic visual logic to public health and social equity, these initiatives co-author communication frameworks with community stakeholders. This work translates complex social data into accessible, high-impact narratives, ensuring that the resulting visual systems remain a sustained resource under the command of the communities they serve.
The Happiness Collaborative: Cultivating Affective Agency
Co-founded with Denise Anderson, Department Chair: Robert Busch School of Design
The Happiness Collaborative is a platform for Community-Engaged Research that investigates the intersection of design, public health, and collective wellbeing. By connecting students, faculty, and community partners through interdisciplinary design-build pilots, the initiative translates "joy" from an abstract concept into a functional social infrastructure. This work applies agency-centered methodologies to embed measurable vitality into the public sphere—co-designing visual systems that foster social cohesion, celebrate local identity, and ensure that the emotional and technical resources of the design process remain a sustained asset for the community.
Social Impact
Partner: Jewish Family Services of Central NJ
Scope: Redesign, rebuild, and rebrand of the Urban Community Garden that directly supports the Charlotte Shak Food Pantry.
Interdisciplinary: Graphic Design, Architecture, Environmental/Sustainable Science
Status: In Progress — Physical build and wayfinding/volunteer support package scheduled for April 2026.
Design-Build
Team: Camille Sherrod (Lead), Henry Stankiewicz, Denise Anderson
A design-build workshop focused on sustainable architecture at Kean University. The Happiness Collaborative participates in the physical build and synthesizes the process through visual storytelling, ensuring the joy of making is documented as a core pedagogical outcome.
Status: In Progress — Physical build scheduled for May 2026. Multimedia documentation package to follow.
Research-Engaged Pilot
Team: Venesa Alicea-Chuqui, Henry Stankiewicz, Maria Syed
Development of a high-fidelity digital twin and VR experience for the community of Jayuya, Puerto Rico. This project explores the intersection of spatial accuracy and cultural preservation, reimagining a decommissioned youth detention center as a community-driven hub through immersive visualization and community-engaged learning.
Status: Site research and initial concept prototyping in progress.
Reflection Booth: Latino Perspectives on Language, Race, and Ethnicity
Civic Agency Installation — MACLAS 2026A participatory research installation that transforms the act of data collection into a moment of spatial reclamation. Developed in partnership with the 2026 Middle Atlantic Council of Latin American Studies (MACLAS) Conference, the Reflection Booth provides a semi-private, multilingual environment for audiovisual reflection on how time, place, and space shape the Latino diaspora. The installation operationalizes the Integrative Layer to create an ethical infrastructure for narrative inquiry — ensuring that oral histories are not simply data, but a form of Civic Agency that allows communities to revisit and redefine their collective identity in real-time.