Dr. Aleshia Hayes is an Assistant Professor in University of North Texas’ College of Information in the Department of Learning Technologies. Dr. Hayes is passionate about developing, evaluating, and iterating on technology used for learning in formal and informal environments. Previously Dr. Aleshia Hayes was founding Director of SURGE (Simulation Research and Game Experience) VR lab at Purdue University in Fort Wayne where she led design, development, testing and implementation of Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality, Serious Games and gamified Learning Technology tools for commercial and military partners. In addition to a passion for the effective implementation of emerging technology for learning, Dr. Hayes works tirelessly to encourage students at all levels to pursue STEM education and STEM careers with the explicit goal of expanding and diversifying STEM education and the STEM workforce. Her efforts to recruit students into STEM range from public exhibits of Virtual Reality, to K12 classroom visits, to app development camps for middle and high school aged students to hosting interdisciplinary game development events. Dr. Hayes leverages her research funded by NSF, NIH, the Department of Defense and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to inform Learning Technology design and implementation across learners from K12 and university levels to the workforce.
Dr. Aleshia Hayes - Learning Technology, VR/AR/ MR Scholar 