Sabarish V. Babu, PhD
Professor
Visual Computing and Interactive Media
College of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX. 77843
Email: svbabu [at] tamu [dot] edu

Howdy, I am a tenured full Professor of Visual Computing and Interactive Media in the College of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts (PVFA) at Texas A&M University.  At Texas A&M University, my students and I innovate, design, implement and evaluate immersive and interactive eXtended Reality (XR) systems. My Google Scholar profile is Here. I am a Senior Member of IEEE. As per CSRankings.org, a ranking system based on significant publication metrics, I rank number 1 in the US in the VR research field.

My research interests broadly span the areas of XR (VR/AR/MR), Applied Perception-Action and Cognition in XR, Virtual Humans and Avatars, and 3D Human Computer Interaction. My students and I have published over 140 peer-reviewed papers in these areas of research. We have received 8 Best Paper Awards in premier IEEE and ACM research venues including ACM Symposium on Applied Perception (2022, 2020 and 2016), IEEE Virtual Reality Conference (2023 and 2018), IEEE Symposium on 3D User Interfaces (2016 and 2007), and IEEE International Conference on Healthcare Informatics (2013). We have also received Best Presentation Awards in IEEE Virtual Reality Conference (2024), ACM Symposium on Applied Perception (2021), and several Honorable Mentions for best paper and presentation awards including an Honorable Mention for Best Paper award at IEEE VR 2023 and ACM SAP 2020. I have graduated 9 PhD students, 8 MS CS students, and several undergraduate honors students in my research group. My PhD graduates are currently serving as faculty members at Clemson University, University of Central Florida, UNC Wilmington, and Morehouse College, as well as industry research positions in Meta Reality Labs, Microsoft Research, and other XR/CG/Visualization firms. Please see my list of peer-reviewed papers in the Publications page, and my past and present research projects in the Projects page.

Previously, I served as a faculty member in the School of Computing at Clemson University for sixteen years – first as a tenure track Assistant Professor (2010-2016), then as tenured Associate Professor (2016-2025), and tenured Full Professor (2025). Prior to Clemson, I served as an Assistant Research Scientist and Post-Doctoral Fellow (2007 to 2010) in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Iowa.  I earned my PhD (May 2007) in the Department of Computer Science at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.  I also hold an MS degree in Information Technology (May 2002) and a BS degree in Biology with a concentration in Microbiology (May 2000), from UNC-Charlotte.      

I was the General Chair of the IEEE Virtual Reality Conference 2016. I have served as a Program Chair/Co-Chair of multiple venues, including IEEE Virtual Reality Conference 2017, and recently ACM Symposium on Applied Perception 2025. I serve in various leadership roles in conferences and journals related to the Virtual Reality research field, including the Editorial Board of IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics and MDPI Virtual Worlds journals. My research has been partially sponsored by the National Science Foundation, Department of Labor, and corporate foundations from industry such as Medline Inc., Prisma Health Inc., Bon Secours Inc., and Adobe Inc. and more recently BMW Inc.