This summer was a bit different to me than for the rest of my colleagues at Visual Analytics and Imaging (VAI) Lab Stony Brook University and SUNY Korea, as I spent it in Visualization Research Center of the University of Stuttgart (VISUS) for a short research trip. I got this opportunity through the PhD fellowship program, offered by the Transregional Collaborative Research Center (SFR-TRR) 161 at the University of Stuttgart, Konstanz and Max Planck Institute of Biological Cybernetics, Tubingen, Germany. I carried out my research in Stuttgart, with many Ph.D.’s and Post-Doc’s at single place and which was definitely a learning experience for me. The whole experience was very different for me but indeed fruitful.
My main project here includes Pair Programming involving two pair of Eye Tracking Glasses. Pupils Lab Eye Glasses too were new members of VISUS with me. However, we both got quite familiar with VISUS environment and conducted pilot study as a part of our project. In due course of time we got two papers too “Multi-Similarity Matrices of Eye Movement Data” and “Color Bands: Visualizing Dynamic Eye Movement Patterns” in collaboration with VISUS and VAI Lab in Workshop of Eye Tracking and Visualization ETVIS jointly held with IEEE VIS 2016, Baltimore, Maryland. I also got a chance to attend a very informative 3 days Research Seminar on Experiments in HCI at University of Konstanz.
Apart from research I had a wonderful time in Germany travelling different places on weekends. A trip to the Alps of Switzerland and Eiffel Tower was one of the best moment which was difficult without my trip to Germany. Together with my academic advisor Prof Klaus Mueller who visited University of Stuttgart during my stay, I also experienced the no speed limit zone of Autobahn which was thrilling experience.
In nut shell I really enjoyed my stay here in Germany both academically and socially!