JSU Professor named a Fulbright US Scholar

Ashley Morrison, The Anniston Star, Ala.
·3 min read

Apr. 22—Dr. David Thornton is a professor of computer science at Jacksonville State University. He is also an avid gamer.

It is that passion for games along with a tremendous aptitude for mathematics and computing sciences that landed him the coveted honor as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar for 2023-2024 for Austria.

Fulbright scholars are selected by the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Program; the program has existed since the late 1940s as a cultural exchange between the United States and many other participating countries. Fulbright scholars are highly motivated and passionate individuals from across all disciplines.

Thornton's selection under the program was announced to Jacksonville State University representatives at the April board of trustees meeting.

While in Austria, Thornton will serve as the visiting Fulbright professor to Graz University of Technology where he will assist in the development of a "virtual reality and gamification development project" and instruct two courses to students there at the university.

The virtual reality project, Thornton says, is actually pretty cool. Under the direction of the esteemed Dr. Johanna Pirker at Game Lab Graz, he will be working on a few projects. One of those projects, Pirker calls "Maroon," which is a virtual reality physics simulation.

"You can go in there as a student and put on the headset and practice visualizing magnetism or seeing how this motion works with different coefficients of friction or what-have-you, so that they can learn effectively by doing some really neat experiments," Thornton said.

Thornton will contribute to the project by adding speech controls so that the user can give voice commands while in the VR.

Another program Thornton will be working on has to do with reading minds — literally.

Using what is called electroencephalography (EEG) hardware, Thornton said the wearer can place the device on their head while in the game and it can read basic thought processes and emotions such as stress or focus levels.

"If we can tell that you're stressed out, we can change the difficulty or give more support. That can have all kinds of shapes," Thornton continued, meaning the game can read how the user is feeling and change accordingly. It's called dynamic difficulty adjustment.

While some of the EEG headsets can cost upwards of $10,000, Thornton and his cohorts will be working with sets in the moderate range, he said.

In Thornton's office at JSU's Ayers Hall are rows and rows of gaming sets that date back to 1977. Asked if he played games in his free time as well, Thornton said he did.

"I've been a gamer since Super Mario Brothers. I have a whole museum in my office," Thornton said. "Really when I played the first Legends of Zelda in 1987, that was really when I said that was my thing."

Thornton is hoping that the program will not only benefit both universities, but the students as well.

"What it will hopefully lead to is some long time term relationship between the institutions," Thornton said.

Thornton said he hopes JSU graduates and undergraduates might have future opportunities of project partnerships because of the program.

Staff Writer Ashley Morrison: 256-236-1551. On Twitter: @AshMorrison1105.