About the Lab

The ISR VR Lab started the way many good ideas do: with frustration. In the early 2020s, U-M researchers wanted to use VR and AR to study behavior and interventions—but the tools weren’t built for research. Projects stalled. Ideas shrank.

“There was no middle ground,” Dr. Richard Gonzalez, Faculty Director, recalls. “You scaled down your vision or spent months building infrastructure. Either way, the technology was dictating the science.”

We launched the ISR VR Lab in 2025 to change that. Housed at the Institute for Social Research, the lab makes immersive research possible without asking teams to code or configure the tech themselves. We handle the complexity so investigators can focus on the science. The impact has been immediate. Now, teams are studying aging, mobility, social connection, and more at the ISR VR Lab. Many are using immersive tools for the first time.

We believe the future of social science isn’t just about observing people, it’s about building environments where we can simulate, intervene, and learn. That’s the promise of immersive research. We’re building the infrastructure to make it real.

Our People

We’re not just XR enthusiasts—we’re behavioral scientists, operations experts, programmers, and participant engagement specialists. And we’ve all worked on studies that required wrestling with hardware, timelines, or datasets to make them “research ready.” That’s why we built a lab that lowers those barriers for others.

Richard Gonzalez, PhD

Faculty Director, Amos N. Tversky Professor of Psychology and Statistics

“I’ve spent my career building transdisciplinary teams. The ISR VR Lab is part of a long arc in my work, developing infrastructure that lets good ideas become rigorous, fundable studies.”

Alicia Carmichael, MS

Research Process Director

“Our job is to absorb the complexity so PIs can focus on asking better questions. That’s how we generate rigorous, human-centered data.. If you’re not sure how to start, you’re in exactly the right place.”

Donna Walter, BS

Operations Manager,
Participant Engagement Specialist

“We run a smooth ship. Participants are the heart of research, and I make sure every detail is in place so the experience is seamless for them and for the research team.”

Brandon Labbree, MA

Research Area Specialist

“I handle the tech — from programming to preprocessing — so your XR project doesn’t hit a wall before it even begins.”