Christopher You

About me

👋 Hi, there! I'm Christopher, a PhD candidate focusing on on virtual agents, applied AI/LLMs, virtual reality, embodiment and machine learning to promote health and wellbeing. Much of my research is also conducted collaboratively with organizations, such as the Mayo Clinic, to support NIH/NSF grants addressing cancer disparities within underrepresented populations. I am completing my Human-Centered Computing PhD (M.S. in Computer Science, 2022) at the University of Florida with Dr. Benjamin Lok in the Virtual Experiences Research Group.

LIVE BOBA CAM

Outside of research, I enjoy traveling, spending time on the lakes, and (poorly) playing golf. To the right is my beloved cat Boba.

I'm actively pursuing research positions in the field of human-computer interaction and computer science, particularly with virtual agents, AI/ML/LLMs, and AR/VR/XR technologies.

Research Interests

Virtual Agents

Project(s): Embodied Interactions With Virtual Agents, Virtual Agents in Mental Health Conversations, GET PrEPD Psychiatry
AI/ML

Project(s): Fine-Tuned BERT & Data Augmentation to Classify..., Clinical Trial Enrollment Project
Virtual Reality

Project(s): Embodiment & Agency of Virtual Avatars
Mental Health & Healthcare

Project(s): Virtual Agents in Mental Health Conversations, Clinical Trial Enrollment Project

Curriculum Vitae

Download CV

Education

Ph.D. in Human-Centered Computing, University of Florida
Aug 2020 — May 2026
Department of Computer and Information Science Engineering

Advisor: Dr. Benjamin Lok
M.S. in Computer Science, University of Florida
Aug 2020 — Dec 2022
Department of Computer and Information Science Engineering

Advisor: Dr. Benjamin Lok
B.S. in Computer Science, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
Sep 2018 — May 2020
College of Science and Engineering

Advisor: Dr. Evan Suma Rosenberg

Experience

Research Assistant, Virtual Experiences Research Group
Aug 2020 — Present
• Embodied interactions in virtual reality and virtual human conversations.

• AI-driven virtual humans to support mental health conversations

• Tailored virutal human education to support clinical trial enrollment for underrepresented populations (R24/U01 Grant)

• Virtual human platform to help those with psychiatric disorders interact with healthcare providers (Get Prepd Psychiatry Grant)
Research Assistant, Davidson DRiVE Lab
May 2022 — Aug 2022
• Mentored undergraduate students in VR/AR development via Unity in virtual embodiment, flight simulation, and UX/UI design

• Concurrently developing two applications via Unity for embodiment in VR to study implicit bias and sense of embodiment; two publications developed in collaboration with DRiVE Lab.
Software Development Engineer Interventions, Amazon
May 2020 — Aug 2020
• Developed auto-complete feature for Amazon Help Services to be incorporated into services such as Alexa Help Domain and Amazon Customer Service Help Search.

• Utilized a knowledge graph to generate results by natural language processing, synonym mapping, SPARQL, and front-end UI development
Research Assistant, Illusioneering Lab
Oct 2018 — May 2020
• Created virtual environments in Unity to prototype and study redirected walking techniques in virtual reality. Published poster (2019) and paper (2022).

• Worked with graduate students to conduct pilot tests for studies, participate in lab meetings, conduct qualitative and quantitative analysis, and assist with human studies in VR.

Articles

Published Manuscripts

Journal Articles

[16] You, C., Ghosh, R., Vilaro, M., Venkatakrishnan, R., Venkatakrishnan, R., Maxim, A., ... & Lok, B. Alter egos alter engagement: perspective-taking can improve disclosure quantity and depth to AI chatbots in promoting mental wellbeing. Frontiers in Digital Health, 7, 1655860.

[15] You, C., Venkatakrishnan, R., Venkatakrishnan, R., Han, Z., Lok, B., & Peck, T. (2024). A sense of urgency on the sense of agency: Challenges in evaluating agency and embodiment in virtual reality. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics.

[14] You, C., Peck, T., Stuart, J., Gomes de Siqueira, A., & Lok, B. (2024). What my bias meant for my embodiment: An investigation on virtual embodiment in desktop‑based virtual reality. Frontiers in Virtual Reality, 5, 1251564
Conference Articles

[13] Ghosh, R., You, C., Venkatakrishnan, R., & Lok, B. (To appear). The impact of health literacy in a virtual agent intervention addressing barriers to cancer clinical trial participation. Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Human‑Agent Interaction, 1–8

[12] Ghosh, R., You, C., Venkatakrishnan, R., & Lok, B. (To appear). Exploring the influence of multiple virtual agents for addressing barriers to cancer clinical trial participation. Proceedings of the 25th ACM International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents, 1–8

[11] You, C., Benda, B., Rosenberg, E. S., Ragan, E., Lok, B., & Thomas, J. (2022). Strafing gain: Redirecting users one diagonal step at a time. 2022 IEEE international symposium on mixed and augmented reality (ISMAR), 603–611

[10] You, C., Ghosh, R., Maxim, A., Stuart, J., Cooks, E., & Lok, B. (2022). How does a virtual human earn your trust? guidelines to improve willingness to self‑disclose to intelligent virtual agents. Proceedings of the 22nd ACM International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents, 1–8

[9] You, C., Ghosh, R., Venkatakrishnan, R., Maxim, A., Peng, X., Tamboli, D., Huang, Z., & Lok, B. (In review). Build‑a‑being yourself: A practical system and method for embodied conversational agents in web‑based research.
Extended Abstracts, Posters, & Demos

[8] Kauer, T., Franco, C., Munroe, D., Flood‑Grady, E., Gaillard, T., George, T., Lin, T., Lok, B., Tucker, C., Vilaro, M., Webb, F., Wilke, D., Wilson‑Howard, D., Ghosh, R., You, C., Serat, J., Buhr, M., Murphy, C., van Mossel, A., …Krieger, J. (2025). Representation matters: The feasibility and impact of photo‑realistic and social identity‑matched virtual community health educators among black, hispanic, and rural adults. Science of Community Outreach and Engagement Annual Conference, 1

[7] Huynh, L., You, C., Lok, B., & Blue, A. (2025). A patient chatbot to support interprofessional learning. Collaborating Across Borders IX, 1
[6] Munroe, D., Kauer, T., Franco, C., Ghosh, R., You, C., Ford, H., Lok, B., & Krieger, J. L. (2025). Connecting communities: Developing a provider portal to enhance cancer trial diversity. Science of Communication Outreach and Engagement Annual Conference, 1

[5] Kauer, T., Franco, C., Lok, B., Tucker, C., Lin, T., Flood‑Grady, E., Ghosh, R., You, C., Wilson‑Howard, D., Gaillard, T., Anton, S., & Kreiger, J. (2025). Connecting older adults to clinical trials: Developing the alex clinical trial referral portal. 14th Annual Alliance Meeting for Healthy Aging Conference, 1

[4] Kauer, T., Franco, C., Munroe, D., Flood‑Grady, E., Gaillard, T., George, T., Lin, T., Lok, B., Tucker, C., Vilaro, M., Webb, F., Wilke, D., Wilson‑Howard, D., Ghosh, R., You, C., Serat, J., Buhr, M., Murphy, C., van Mossel, A., … Krieger, J. (2025). Representation matters: The feasibility and impact of photo‑realistic and social identity‑matched virtual community health educators among black, hispanic, and rural adults. Science of Community Outreach and Engagement Annual Conference, 1

[3] Ghosh, R., Maxim, A., You, C., & Lok, B. (2024). Real‑time virtual human for promoting clinical trial education and recruitment. 2024 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops (VRW), 1184–1185

[2] Jurczyk, K., You, C., Nourani, M., Gupta, M., Anthony, L., & Lok, B. (2021). Romadoro: Leveraging nudge techniques to encourage break‑taking. Adjunct Proceedings of the 34th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology, 66–69

[1] You, C., Suma Rosenberg, E., & Thomas, J. (2019). Strafing gain: A novel redirected walking technique. Symposium on Spatial User Interaction, 1–1