Advisory Board participates in research presentations, GatorEye Demonstration

April 16, 2018

In addition to the general business meeting joined by the Dean’s Leadership Council, the EFTI Advisory Board participated in research presentations and student interactions on their visit to Gainesville on April 13th.

In the morning activities, the advisory board members had the chance to interact with faculty and graduate students about current research projects.

The first presentation, The Science of Online Tourism Advertising – Emotions & Tourism Stories, the advisory board got to see what it was like to be a participant in an experience where what you see and hear and how you react are emotionally measured. Through the use of GSR sensors and eye-tracking devices, they learned how the researchers discover emotions in real-time while reading travel stories or tourism videos.

In the second presentation, VR Saftey Video Demonstration, the advisory board was able to experience a 360 video, shot in Finland, with a voice over safety message through a VR headset. This presentation, given from Drs. Lori Pennington-Gray and Ashley Schroeder from TCMI, showed the advisory board that TCMI is dedicated to preparing the tourism industry to effectively manage crises.

In the third presentation, the advisory board was driven down to the University of Florida’s Natural Area Teaching Laboratory for a GatorEye Demo Flight. Facilitated by TES Group faculty member Dr. Angelica Almeyda-Zambrano, the advisory board watched the launch of an unmanned “flying laboratory.”