Dr. Avinash Gupta is a Specialized Teaching Assistant Professor in the Department of Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering at UIUC. He is also a faculty affiliate in the Jump Simulation Center, CI-MED. He teaches software and hardware engineering courses in the Masters in Health Technology program. He completed his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Oklahoma State University in the Fall of 2021. He has a Master’s Degree in Product Design and Manufacturing and Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Engineering. His research focuses on the creation of human extended reality interaction (HXRI)-based environments in healthcare. He serves as a Co-Principal Investigator in a multi-university NIH grant for the Center for Research and Education on Aging and Technology Enhancement (CREATE). The grant involving Weill Cornell Medicine, Florida State University, and UIUC focuses on understanding how virtual reality technology can be used to foster cognitive and social engagement among aging adults. Dr. Gupta is also working as a Principal Investigator on two internal grants funded by Jump Arches – UIUC in which he is investigating the role of Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence in nurse education and the role of Mixed Reality in neonatal training.  He has published his work focusing on Human Extended Reality Interaction (HXRI) in leading journals such as IEEE Systems and IJCARS. He has also showcased his research at prominent conferences such as IEEE SeGAH, IEEE VR, and IEEE SMC, among others. His research Interests include eXtended reality (XR), human eXtended reality interaction (HXRI), cyber physical systems, and AI and ML for XR.