Learning Interactive Visualization Experience (LIVE) Lab
About The LIVE Lab
The LIVE Lab is a research lab at Texas A&M University in the School of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts where students learn to create interactive learning experiences while getting real industry experience. With the help of subject matter experts and instructional designers, students collaborate to make high-quality digital learning experiences, touching on every aspect of professional development including design, concept art, 3D modeling, development and management.
Through our expertise, research and rigorous scientific process we are able to create groundbreaking world-class interactive educational experiences that engage students and help teachers, developed in collaboration with industry and experts in their respective fields.
As part of our initiative to explore further use cases for game techniques and technology, the LIVE Lab has also spearheaded investigations into alternative methods for creating digital twins. We push the boundary of what is possible by allowing digital twins to be integrated with a variety of tools and programs to enable real-time monitoring, assessment and visualization in a process we call reality capture.
Meet LIVE Lab Management
Aaron “Tebo” Thibault
LIVE Lab director; director of games and esports; associate professor of practice
Email: thibault@tamu.edu
Aaron “Tebo” Thibault is a game developer, educator and researcher who focuses on the innovation of game-based technologies that support learning and deep representations of people, environments and complex interactive scenarios. He was a key leader for the mega-franchise “Borderlands,” developed retention techniques and story pipelines for the first massive multiplayer game “Ultima Online,” and created the Digital Warrior game-based learning platform for the US Army as part of a joint TAMU-UT Austin “UXXI” digital transformation initiative. He organized and advised foundational research at his Digital Media CoLab including rtNEAT, a breakthrough real-time evolutionary neural network technique invented by Ken Stanley and an example of a core research invention that can only occur with support of a lab-based game development team. Aaron also helped start and managed the world’s first graduate degree program for games, The Guildhall at SMU, and is an ACM SIGGRAPH Pioneer and former IEEE virtual reality program chair.
Dr. Michael Rugh
Associate research scientist
Email: michael.rugh@tamu.edu
With a background in mathematics, STEM education and game-based learning, Dr. Rugh leads
teams at the LIVE Lab to design and conduct research studies, present at national and international
research conferences, publish in high-impact journals and write grant proposals for new projects.
His teams study educational games, apps, simulations and virtual environments for learning and
assessment. They critically analyze existing curricula and published research to inform the design,
development and assessment of powerful digital tools for teaching and learning.
Shipra Sinha
Project manager
Email: shiprasinha@tamu.edu
I’m the project/lab manager at LIVE Lab, where I streamline team communication and ensure their requirements are met. I’m all about strolling and enjoying a good walk. Also, let’s talk animated movies — they’re my jam.
Gabby Fisher
Producer
Email: gabby.934@tamu.edu
I am a first-year masters student in Visualization. My focus is in both rigging and project management. I spend most of my free time curled up at home with a good book!
Abigail Blevins
Student project manager
Email: abigail.blevins@tamu.edu
I am a senior in Visualization. My focus is in rigging and project management, and I hope to work on video games with my family someday. I love “The Legend of Zelda” and “Lord of the Rings,” and can often be found listening to music or planning a D&D campaign!