Virtual reality is a hypothetical three-dimensional visual world created by a computer.

Virtual reality is widely used in video games and military training.  Can it make a difference in public safety and policy-making decisions?  Can it be used to solve complex environmental, medical, and social problems?  A National Science Foundation (NSF) grant, aimed at interdisciplinary research, is helping UCF researchers find out.

The NSF grant is funding the Forest Fire Project.  Researchers from three seemingly unrelated disciplines-computer science, psychology, and economics-are involved.  They are: Dr. Charles Hughes, director of Media Convergence Laboratory; Dr. Stephen Fiore, director of UCF's Cognitive Sciences Laboratory at the Institute for Simulation and Training; and Dr. Elisabet Rutström, who specializes in experimental economics.

The aim of the project is to find out if a virtual reality presentation of wildfires might influence or motivate local residents to invest in wildfire protection, such as prescribed burns and other protective efforts.  For more information about virtual and mixed reality research at UCF, view the five minute video at:

http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/science_nation/wildfire.jsp