"Squeals of delight echo through the University of Iowa’s MacLean Hall, followed by the excited voices of young people testing the latest in virtual reality technology—in this case, a virtual bike ride through a virtual neighborhood with virtual moving cars.
'Watch out for that car!'
'Oh my gosh! There’s another one coming.'
Inside the Hank Virtual Environments Lab, teenagers cluster near a stationary bicycle surrounded by video screens. As the teens take turns riding the bike, they listen to UI research assistant Pooya Rahimian explain how he uses behavioral and computer science techniques to study perception-action problems.
'This is so cool,' says Amy Liao, a 14-year-old from Iowa City, just seconds after jumping on the stationary bike for her turn.
Liao is one of 18 teens taking part in the first Perry Research Scholars Institute (PRSI), a two-week summer camp program for eighth-, ninth-, and 10th-graders organized by the College of Education’s Belin-Blank Center."