Few things are more essential to communication scientists in Communication Arts than a physical lab space to conduct live experiments, collect data, and advance their research. To meet that essential need, Vilas’s fourth-floor lab spaces used by faculty and students in Communication Arts have recently undergone significant upgrades thanks to funds from an Instructional Laboratory Modernization (ILM) grant that the department received in early 2024.
Catalina Toma, Professor of Communication Science, notes the importance of having updated and versatile technology in these spaces. “Our faculty are working on very different creative study methodologies and those all have different needs. It’s very important to have flexible spaces that we can be creative in and have access to the necessary technology,” Toma said.
Some notable additions to the space include new ceiling-mounted cameras that are much smaller and discrete, allowing study participants to focus on the experiment rather than feeling observed. New microphones have been added to the space as well. A beamforming microphone array system is now mounted to the ceiling of each room, virtually blending in with the white ceiling tiles. These new microphones provide directional recording and capture dialogue and noise no matter where a participant might be stationed or how loud they speak.
The installation of large flatscreen televisions in each study space also now allow researchers to introduce new and varying stimuli within studies or conference in experiment collaborators for research team meetings.
Updated technology directly assists undergraduate and graduate research assistants as well. Professor Lyn van Swol highlighted how students are being impacted by these updated facilities.
“Undergraduates are often trained to help run experiments in the fourth-floor labs, getting an understanding of how involved experimental research can be. Graduate students have access to state-of-the-art lab facilities that allow a variety of experimental designs, so that they can design very sophisticated experimental studies in which multiple recordings of groups are possible,” said van Swol.
The Communication Science teams are eager to get back into their physical lab spaces in the Spring 2025 semester. The new lab additions will allow in-person studies to resume following the many obstacles the Communication Arts department has faced in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and building restorations from a flood in Vilas Hall that occurred in 2019.
As projects like these lab modernizations wrap up, the Communication Arts department continually looks to what can be improved next. Creating a better community space in Vilas Hall for students, staff, and faculty to interact and strengthen connections is something the department hopes to achieve with donor support.
The department will also continue pursuing ILM grants to complete future projects like upgrading the Mirisch Seminar Room technology and purchasing items like advanced production LED lighting equipment, intro and intermediate camera gear, and a digital projection system. Finally, renovations to the building that will improve accessibility in Vilas–from lab spaces to classroom spaces–are an essential measure Communication Arts aims to complete in the coming years.