Hi! I am Fangyuan Cheng.
I am currently a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in Human Factors within the Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) at North Carolina State University, advised by Dr. Karen B. Chen in the Virtual and Augmented Reality Lab. My research interest is human cognition in immersive environments, with a focus on enhancing user performance and experience through interaction and interface design. I develop VR/AR applications for learning, information processing, and ergonomics assessment, and analyze their effects through behavioral, physiological, and subjective measures. My research has been published in Human Factors, IJHCI, Applied Ergonomics, HFES, and HCII. Before starting my Ph.D. journey, I gained experience as a user experience designer during internships at Microsoft (Beijing) and Accenture (Shanghai).
🔍 Research Interests
Learning and Cognition in XR
How to support reasoning, memory, and knowledge construction in XR?
XR-AI Integration to Enhance Task Performance
How to leverage AI capabilities to enhance user performance in XR?
Interaction and Interface Design for XR
How to design natural interaction and adaptive user interfaces for XR?
Physiological and Behavioral Measures in XR
How to better understand and assess user performance and experience in XR?
🏛️ Education
- 2023.09 - Present, PhD Student in Industrial Engineering (Human Factors), North Carolina State University.
- Minor in Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE)
- 2020.09 - 2023.06, Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering (Interaction Design), Tongji University.
- 2016.09 - 2020.06, Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering (Industrial Design), Hunan University.
📑 Publications
Human Factors · Published
Elicitation and Assessment of Hand-based Gestures for Information Processing in Immersive Environments
Fangyuan Cheng, Emily Fang, Karen B. Chen
Highlight: This study produced an initial set of 32 candidate gestures for information processing in immersive environments, which were subsequently validated and evaluated, resulting in a refined set of 19 gestures.
International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction · Published
Supporting Relational Knowledge Construction through LLM-Assisted Concept Mapping in Virtual Reality
Fangyuan Cheng, Bingyi Su, and Karen B. Chen
Highlight: CmapVR supported more extensive and higher-quality relational knowledge construction than the other conditions, resulted in lower extraneous cognitive load, and was preferred by participants over browsing in VR.
Human Factors · Accepted
Effects of Virtual Reality and Cueing Elements on Performance, Workload, and Visual Behavior in Scale Cognition
Fangyuan Cheng, Tyler Harper-Gampp, Rebecca Planchart, Mitchell Dunning, Matthew Peterson, Cesar Delgado, and Karen B. Chen
Highlight: Scale Worlds helped correct learners’ misconceptions and expanded their comfort zones at extreme scales, and the signaling elements served to modulate the learning process.
Applied Ergonomics · Published
Exploring the integration of large language models in human-robot collaboration: Effects on performance, mental stress, and trust
Bingyi Su, Fangyuan Cheng, Lu Lu, Liwei Qing, SeHee Jung, and Xu Xu
Highlight: LLM integration boosts HRC task efficiency and trust while reducing mental workload, though it also raises physiological arousal, pointing to a need for greater system transparency.
HFES'26 · Published
Analysis of Muscle Activation Patterns as Indicators of Gestures’ Ease of Use
Fangyuan Cheng and Karen B. Chen
Highlight: sEMG from eight arm muscles showed that easy-to-use gestures had greater biceps activation, lower extensor carpi radialis activation, and less forearm flexor co-activation, demonstrating promise for sEMG as an objective index of gestures’ ease of use.
🥉 HFES'25 · Published [Best Student Paper Honorable Mention]
Mental Models of Gestural Interaction for Information Processing in Virtual Reality
Fangyuan Cheng, Emily Fang, Karen B. Chen
Highlight: Five categories of mental models were identified: linguistic-symbolic, spatial-manipulative, metaphoric, social-conventional, and traditional graphical user interface-derived.
HFES'25 · Published
Examining User Interactions With Signaling Elements in a Virtual Reality Learning Application
Emily Fang, Robert Kulasingam, Fangyuan Cheng, Matthew Peterson, Cesar Delgado, and Karen B. Chen
Highlight: A think-aloud study of three types of signaling elements in Scale Worlds found that numerical measures were a particularly salient cue for conceptualizing the size and scale of entities in VR.
HFES'24 · Published
Study of Graphic Armatures, Multimodal Cues, and Numeric Measures in Virtual Reality on Learners’ Performance and Workload
Fangyuan Cheng, Tyler Harper-Gampp, Rebecca Planchart, Mitchell Dunning, Matthew Peterson, Cesar Delgado, and Karen B. Chen
Highlight: This study examines the influence of graphic armatures, multimodal cues, and numeric measures on scale learning in Scale Worlds.
Applied Ergonomics Conference 2025 · Published
Evaluation of an Augmented Reality Workplace Reach Zone Visualization Tool
Madison Roy, Fangyuan Cheng, Jeffery Hoyle, Karen B. Chen
🏆 HCII'23 · Published [Best Paper Award]
Cooperation Mode of 2D and 3D Interfaces on Destination Planning Tasks in the Location-based AR Application
Fangyuan Cheng, Qing Gu, Xiaohua Sun
Highlight: This study focused on how 2D and 3D interfaces in Location-based AR applications cooperate to better support destination planning tasks in the urban shopping area.