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ICAT Day

May 4, 2026

Promotional graphic for ICAT Day featuring the text “Creativity + Innovation Showcase, May 4, 2026,” with digital network lines and small images representing VR, architecture, and audio visualization.

Monday, May 4, 2026
3pm-5pm

Center for the Arts

The annual ICAT Creativity + Innovation Day is hosted by the Virginia Tech Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology to engage and connect the public to the latest creative and innovative works of students and faculty members. This celebration will be held on Monday, May 4, 2026. Projects from transdisciplinary courses, projects affiliated with ICAT, and community projects will be on display for the public. This space and time are provided to share more about your research with individuals across disciplines and build mutually beneficial relationships. 

Exhibitors

TEAM
  • Anika Clark-Desai, College of Architecture, Arts, and Design, Industrial Design

  • Vanya Angara

  • Anishka Kolli, Engineering Education, IDPro

  • Tihnan Ahmed, College of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering

  • Eden Miller, College of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering 

WaffleBot - Autonomous Waffle Machine

The WaffleBot team combines engineering, design, and programming to develop an autonomous waffle-making machine. Team members applied these skills across ideation, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering to design the motor and heating systems, while software development enabled system control and text-based commands that automate the entire waffle-making process. The love the team put into WaffleBot is what makes our waffles better than your Granny's cooking.

Southwest Virginia Sound Scenes at SEEDS

The team brings together experts in biology, education, audio engineering, and computer science. The convergence of arts and sciences makes an ideal platform to present the unique auditory landscape of Southwest Virginia. First, field recordings of ambience, flora, and fauna are recorded with traditional audio recording methods as well as the latest in soundfield recording technology. The team designed a graphical user interface and software to control which sounds are played when, as well as an informal assessment, matching animal sounds to an image. 13 high fidelity loudspeakers will be installed in the Nature Center's new Bennett House location at Wong Park where the sound will be decoded from a 3-D audio format called Ambisonics to listeners. When the jukebox is not actively used, ambient sound scenes from Southwest Virginia will provide atmosphere and context to the rest of the nature center.

TEAM
  • Shuang Wu, College of Architecture, Arts, and Design

An Immersive Experience - Mood Cocoon, Art Therapy Through Light Healing

Abstract blue-lit installation with flowing translucent fabric and mist.

Mood Cocoon was developed through iterative prototyping, spatial design, and user testing. We explored how light, sound, and material affect emotional response, using programmable lighting, motion sensing, and EEG feedback. The project brings together graphic design, lighting design, psychology, and creative technology through collaborative development.

TEAM
  • Sabina Borjes, College of Architecture, Arts, and Design, Industrial Design 
  • Prehaan Parikh, Archimedes
  • Madison Kim, College of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Archimedes
  • Abby Sobal, College of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Archimedes
  • Will Draper, College of Engineering, Archimedes

Nav-Cap: An Assistive System that Promotes Independent Training for Swimmers with Visual Impairments

Nav-Cap would be set up on land. Participants will be blindfolded and given a swim-cap and bone-conduction earphones. They will walk in a straight line until they hear a beep: the turn signal. At this sound, they will turn and head back. The technical aspects would be explained after the activity.

TEAM
  • Rodrigo Sarlo, College of Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, VIBEs Lab at Virginia Tech

Passive Gait Sensing via Floor Vibrations

Participants will observe their being measured by simply walking past the exhibit! Floor mounted sensors will capture the small vibrations generated by participants' footsteps and use that to estimate cadence (steps per minute) and gait speed. An interactive display will show the raw data and how that gets converted to gait information.

TEAM
  • Dustin Dennis, College of Architecture, Arts, and Design
  • Ian Shoemaker, COS

Dark Matter Revealed: A Virtual Reality Chronicle

Two people using VR headsets facing a glowing galaxy simulation.

Participants will observe documentation of an immersive virtual reality lesson about dark matter developed by Visual Artist, Dustin Dennis and Theoretical Particle Physicist, Ian Shoemaker. This event will feature recorded video of visuals and audio from the VR experience. Documentation will include excerpts and scenes from the VR program, including guided audio narration voiced by physicist Ian Shoemaker.

TEAM
  • Jon Catherwood-Ginn, College of Architecture, Arts, and Design, School of Performing Arts
  • Hoda Eldardiry, College of Science, Computer Science

AI Ethics and Policy Through Theatre

Two people shouting toward a third person who covers their ears, illustrating overwhelming noise or conflict.

To create this project, faculty in computer science and applied theatre co-designed and facilitated play-based sessions focused on AI ethics and policy. These "low tech/high talk" workshops invited students to examine their views and visions for responsible AI design through storytelling, improv games, and facilitated dialogues.

TEAM
  • Phan Nguyen, College of Science, Computer Science

Loopy: Automation of generation of spatial audio

We built an end to end spatial audio pipeline that takes a song, analyzes musical features like beats and lyrics, maps them into motion/spatial behaviors, then renders an interactive output. The process required audio engineering, Python backend work, frontend web development, cloud deployment, and iterative tuning/testing to improve dull sound and overall immersion.

TEAM
  • Martha Sullivan, College of Architecture, Arts, and Design
  • Ralph Hall, CLAHS/ VT Honors College
  • Edward Nkhata, Malawian community organizer
  • Alexander Helden Nyasulu, Malawian community organizer

Vimbuza Healing Systems, Safeguarding Indigenous Knowledge in Malawi

An exhibit featuring a community-produced documentary short film describing the UNESCO recognized Vimbuza Healing System of the Tumbuka people and other prototypes from TEAM Malawi’s initiatives in aquaponics, health communication, drone applications in public health, and medical device development.

TEAM
  • Evans Ahenkorah, College of Architecture, Arts, and Design, College of Natural Resources and Environment

Repurposing A problem into Art

Hand holding a textured sheet of handmade or organic material.

With the help of plant science, we identify what plants are invasive and learn about its properties including if and which part can be used for making paper, and then after harvesting we dry and make ash from the stem with the help of the chemistry department. These materials are then handed over to the creative technologists to make paper from the plant with the caustic soda as a breaking agent for the fiber.

TEAM
  • Daryl Soh, College of Architecture, Arts, and Design, Creative Technologies
  • Estefania Perez-Vera, College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, Alliance for Social, Political, Ethical, and Cultural Thought

The Anthropocene: The Time is Now

Zebra-patterned fabric backlit with a shadow of a moving hand.

For ICAT Day, we are planning on bringing some of the actual scenic elements used in the performance into the exhibition (such as our painted backdrop, shadow light fixture, and shadow puppets) in order to invite the audience to see how the set worked altogether, and for them to see the materiality and the mechanisms involved in the visual storytelling of the design. Additionally, we will have a digital presentation with productions photos of the entire show for audience members to see and grasp what the scope and the scale of the show was during the actual performance.

TEAM
  • Francielly (Elly) Rodrigues, College of Engineering, Computer Science
  • Doug Bowman, ICAT, College of Engineering, Computer Science, CHCI
  • Mason Szczesniak, College of Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • Meaghan Dee, College of Architecture, Arts, and Design, Graphic Design, School of Visual Arts
  • Leo Robbins, College of Architecture, Arts, and Design, Graphic Design
  • Todd Ogle, University Libraries, Applied Research in Immersive Experiences and Simulations

CalmAR: Envisioning calm and intelligent near-future AR experiences

Augmented reality interface over a scenic path, showing fitness stats and an incoming call being answered with a gesture..

AR glasses are believed to be the next computing paradigm, but might also be stressful or risky. CalmAR reduces these risks and supports productivity through unobtrusive, context-aware interfaces. This exhibit showcases our vision for AR systems that enhance user abilities without overwhelming them.

Open at the source

Drosera Obscura

Drosera Obscura is a deeply immersive XR project that dissolves the boundaries between the organic and the digital through a multisensory environment shaped by sight, sound, scent, and touch. Set within a speculative post-human bogscape, the experience invites participants to explore a living world of animatronic flora, reactive soundscapes, and tactile interfaces that blur the line between virtual and physical space. Inspired by evolved carnivorous plants and their symbiotic relationships with sound and synthetic biology, the project transforms passive observation into active participation.

QMist: Demystifying Quantum Education

QMist is an educational app that introduces quantum information science through a series of structured, easy-to-follow modules. Starting with the basics, QMist guides learners step by step toward more advanced concepts such as entanglement, quantum gates, and algorithms.

Responsive Sound Space

Responsive Sound Space is an interactive system that transforms how we experience sound in shared spaces. Using a shape-changing wall, dynamic projections, and spatial audio, the system transforms its shape, visuals, and acoustic environment, creating a continuously evolving spatial experience. Designed for classrooms, performance venues, and public spaces, this project explores how adaptive sound design can make environments more engaging, flexible, and immersive.

 

For Ruth & Violette

For Ruth & Violette plays with poetry and encryption to subvert networked communications infrastructures. Based on a code-poem used by intelligence operatives in the Second World War, the piece harnesses alternative uses of Zoom to engage with the complex history of obfuscation in relation to covert broadcasting methods. The title of the work references the origins of the poem and the lives encoded within it. Paul O'Neill is an artist and assistant professor at the Huston School of Film & Digital Media, University of Galway, Ireland. His practice and research focus on our collective dependency on networked technologies and infrastructures.