Matthew Peterson, Ph.D.
Bio
Dr. Matthew Peterson (CV) is a researcher and educator with a professional background in graphic design and interaction design. He studies visual representation, especially in novel user interfaces in both evolving and emerging technologies. His funded projects have fully supported (tuition + stipend) 17 semesters for College of Design students (MGXD & PhD), in addition to hourly support of multiple students.
Peterson is a collaborator with Helen Armstrong (GXD) on explainable and mediated AI in interface design, through three Department of Defense grants totaling $500,000. This led to the visualization of LLM uncertainty through an interactive prototype and speculative videos, a framework for semiotic control in generative AI within a broader investigation on strengthening memory traces through interface design, and the development of an AI confidence score system for governmental implementation and testing.
Peterson is also a collaborator with Karen Chen (Industrial & Systems Engineering) and Cesar Delgado (STEM Education) on a $1.34 million NSF project: “Virtual Reality to Improve Students’ Understanding of the Extremes of Scale in STEM” (shown above). Central to this project is Scale Worlds, a virtual environment that allows students to apparently scale themselves by powers of ten, down to the size of a proton and up to the size of a supermassive star. The project has engaged hundreds of students from elementary to undergrad. It has been shown to improve students’ scale cognition and to increase their interest in STEM careers. The team used a “function mapping” approach in the development of Scale Words, ensuring that theory guided design decisions. This is described in two articles first-authored by MGXD students: Brian Sekelsky on cross-platform development, and Rebecca Planchart on rapid development.
Additional scholarship includes: theory development on the nature of visual metaphor (in advertising); collaboration with Kevin Wise (Media, University of Illinois) in his media lab on the cognitive dimensions of visual metaphorical ads; and collaboration with Cesar Delgado on the cognitive dimensions of scientific visualizations. The latter followed earlier work on how imagery creates cognitive workspaces, engages users through challenges, and encodes time through graphic devices.
Peterson is editor of Visible Language, the oldest academic journal in design, in a three-university consortium including the University of Leeds (UK) and the University of Cincinnati. The Visible Language Consortium is particularly concerned with bridging the gap between industry and academia in the field of interface, experience, and communication design. This reflects Peterson’s investment in the maturation of design as a discipline, through mentorship of design students — including in his graduate seminars Scholarship & Academia in Design and Curriculum & Pedagogy in Design — and dissemination to the design field. He has described the challenges that design departments and design faculty face in integrating design research with other disciplines at research universities — by outlining his own struggles.
Education
Ph.D. in Design NC State University College of Design
Master of Graphic Design NC State University College of Design
Bachelor of Graphic Design NC State University College of Design
Area(s) of Expertise
Research interest areas: visual representation; visual metaphor; visual narrative; scale cognition; explainable AI; typography; image function; semiotics; the nature of design research and the nascent discipline of design
Technologies utilized in research and instruction: virtual reality (VR); augmented reality (AR); artificial intelligence (AI); and text-to-image generative AI
Publications
- Sense of Presence and the Illusion of Self-scaling in Virtual Learning Environments , Lecture Notes in Computer Science (2024)
- Co-Designing a Science Lesson with VR in Middle School Science , Leveraging Embodied Cognition Using Virtual Reality in Middle School Science Education (related paper set). (2024)
- Does Shrinking and Growing in VR Induce Awe In Young Students? , Proceedings of the International Conference of the Learning Sciences (2024)
- Does Shrinking and Growing in VR Induce Awe among Young Students? , Proceedings of the 18th International Conference of the Learning Sciences. International Society of the Learning Sciences (2024)
- Impact of VR Science Lesson on Students’ Knowledge of Scale , Leveraging Embodied Cognition Using Virtual Reality in Middle School Science Education (related paper set). National Association of Research in Science Teaching 2024 (2024)
- Impact of a VR Science Lesson on Reform-Oriented Nature of Science Instruction , Leveraging Embodied Cognition Using Virtual Reality in Middle School Science Education (related paper set). National Association of Research in Science Teaching 2024 (2024)
- Isolating and Addressing Theoretically-Grounded Limitations from the Rapid Translation of Interaction Design across Media Platforms , Proceedings of DRS (2024)
- Learning Scale in Virtual Reality: Experiences and Perception of Immersive Technology at a Public Middle School , Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting (2024)
- Student Impressions about a VR Science Lesson , Leveraging Embodied Cognition Using Virtual Reality in Middle School Science Education (related paper set). National Association of Research in Science Teaching 2024 (2024)
- Study of Graphic Armatures, Multimodal Cues, and Numeric Measures in Virtual Reality on Learners’ Performance and Workload , Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting (2024)